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The Ryukyu dog, neither fearful nor aggressive, intelligent, alert, and quiet.

The Ryukyu dog originated in Okinawa. The breed was originally used to track and bay Ryukyu wild boar in packs. Much of the Ryukyu dog's history has been destroyed and misplaced, hence it is very sparse. The purebred Ryukyu dog was thought to be extinct after World War II due to food shortages and crossbreeding with Western dogs. In the early 1980s, Yoshio Aragaki, the founder of the Ryukyu dog Hozonkai, felt a strong urge to save the breed when he managed to find purebred Ryukyu dogs up in Yanbaru.

It is believed that years of living in the rainforest is why the Ryukyu dog has a dewclaw on the back of the foot. Because of this claw, they can climb trees. It has been speculated that this would have been evolutionarily favourable to them because of the high incidence of tsunami in Okinawa; they could climb trees quickly to evade the floods. However, this is unlikely to be true as only a small percentage of Ryukyu dog actually have working rear dewclaws. The preservation society sees the dewclaws as a throwback from hundreds of years ago when the dogs were genetically closer to wolves, and that the claws are used more often to brake when running.

The Ryukyu dog is described as a quiet dog that is capable of hunting in a group or on its own. They are agile, brave and not sensitive. They are natural hunters and have a high prey drive. Despite being a hunting dog, they are obedient, playful and good with children. They cannot be trusted around small animals, but are usually okay with cats if introduced to them early on. They can be escape artists and have amazing climbing abilities, especially those with working rear dewclaws, who can climb vertical trees. They are very smart and so require a lot of mental stimulation as well as physical stimulation.

Despite being bred, raised and used as a hunting dog for many years, they have been described by the Ryukyu dog Hozonkai as ideal for therapy dog work because of their calm, placid temperament when trained correctly; however, due to their high prey drive they are not suitable for disability assistance work.

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