In 1954, collectors for the Australian Museum observed these dogs around villages situated at on Mount Giluwe in the Southern Highlands Province. In 1956, Albert Speer and J. P. Sinclair obtained a pair of singing dogs in the Lavani Valley that was situated in Southern Highlands Province. The two dogs had been obtained from natives. The dogs were sent to Sir Edward Hallstrom who had set up a native animal study center in Nondugi, and from there to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. In 1957, Ellis Troughton examined the two singing dog specimens from the Taronga Zoo and classified them as a distinct species Canis hallstromi in honour of Hallstrom.