The standard appearance of a native yellow dog is: yellow coat, short and pointed mouth, flat forehead, high ears hanging forward, in a semi-erect position, and a sickle-shaped tail when walking. The hair is short and generally rough.

Big yellow dogs in different regions have small body size differences, but most of them have the above common characteristics. Under normal circumstances, most of the native dogs that are often called big yellow dogs are Manlu dogs, a kind of folded-eared dogs from the north. In addition, there are Northeastern hunting dogs and Songxiong dogs from Guangdong and Guangxi. These native dogs are widely distributed across the country. In various places, the length is about 25 to 55 centimeters, and it is often called a big dumb dog among the people.