Wolfalike/Wolfdog - whats your breed and why? Discussions

How handsome can one boy be.......he is stunning. Beautiful lad. Thanks for that Ingi......brighten up my day no end

Take good care.

Seoniad.

Thanks Seoniad.

He is growing up well, just gone 10 months now. those pics were a couple of months ago.

He's beautiful Ingi

gorgeous boy ingi xx

What a stunning lad you have there Ingi.

Amen to that!

Add that annoying comment to "And look at those eyes!"

Yes, we know they are pretty, we live with them, they are pretty pain in the butts at home!


George and I had wondered why people thought that they looked like wolves until we were watching some show that had "native americans" in it, there was a "wolf" that was most definitely a husky with brown eyes. I think too many people believe what they see on tv.

Thanks everyone.

Could someone tell me when should he stop growing?

He is 10 month now and has slowed right down when it comes to putting weight on, will he have another growing spurt like kids do or is he at his full height now? he is about 25 - 25 1/2 inch at the shoulder and arround 34kg.

My Inka was still growing or seemed to be at 18 months, like a last wee growth spurt, hes about 271/2 inches to the shoulder and 42 kilos, they're like kids they seem to go chunky then stretch lolllll

Borderdawn that comment re border Terriers made me laugh...how very true most dogs with a high prey drive are terriers

Also I too hate Mals and Huskies being lumped in the wolfalike/wolfdog bracket...they are not.. they are Mals and Huskies...northern breeds...and as you kindly posted Mickb, some of the oldest established breeds...

Ingi is gorgeous...

and I am pleased when people sya oh my it looks like a wolf about my dogs (Utes) as that is infact what I am trying to breed "wolfalike" not because it makes me look hard but because it says I am achieving what I am trying to achieve...(and YES we have a VERY LONG way to go before it is achieved properly.

To turn the thread back to its original point can the Sarloos/ CWD owners say why they chose their breed over the others.... I am very interested in yur comments

What !! I'm sorry Becky, you may or may not like or dislike me, or my reasons, or not, for having the type of dogs I do, but to say that a husky looks nothing like a wolf is a bit like saying a fox doesn't look like a dog - you can quite clearly see that the 2 species are closely related, which indeed they are.

Now, bearing in mind that not only is the husky, in common with all domesticated dogs, directly descended from our friend the wolf, but in addition has an extra dollop added, your statement is totally extraordinary !!

Now you're talking ! With the exception of a wolf cross, you have a good point! A very ancient and much maligned breed, the poodle. My OH's grandfather used to live in the New Forest and bred standard poodles. He died sadly long before I came on the scene, but OH said they were magnificent dogs.

Not obsessed, neither do I believe everything I read. The history of the GSD has been corrupted in this country - to get the full and accurate story, you have to read the original stud book which is in the States. For obvious reasons, the fact that the most famous GSD of all - Hektor - was a wolf cross, has been erased by the GSD stud book in this country, but copies of the original can be purchased on various book sites, including Amazon, at rather a high cost unfortunately.

I choose to use my ears, eyes and commonsense as much as the internet and books. Several breeds, just like the GSD, have their origins in recent wolf input ... and jolly good thing too IMO. As I have said before, whether my dog were Tai, who is a cross, or a pure Sibe or a pure Mal, I would still be thrilled for people to ask me if he was a wolf. I think it is the very best compliment that anyone can pay my dog quite frankly. And I think it is extremely racist for sibe or mal owners to get all crinkly about it, quite frankly!! An analogy would be an alien from outer space landing on earth, and asking the first human being he met "Are you a cave man?" or "Are you a hunter gatherer?" Were this human to get all crinkly, pull himself up to his full height and pompously say, "No I most certainly am not, I am a human being!", this answer would be as ridiculous as the response of these sibe and mal owners! IMO

Incidentally, your boy is GORGEOUS Ingi ... and in my opinion, very wolfy looking, stunning dog.

Where on earth is your evidence for the fact that huskies have "an extra dollop" of wolf. The fact that Siberian Huskies and Malamutes have been identified genetically as amongst the 14 "ancient" breeds, is reason to believe that their relationship to the wolf is actually more remote than that of many other completely non-wolfy looking breeds.

Incidentally, there have been modern attempts to breed Siberian Huskies and wolves together in the hope of creating a sled dog with even greater strength and endurance. The progeny of such experiments have been a dismal failure as sled dogs and the experiments were given up as a bad job. None of these "wolfdogs", of course, made their way into the mainstream of the Siberian gene pool.

Mick

For starters, the regions where they originated!

But there are wolves in most areas of the world, just as there are dogs in most areas of the world.
There are foxes living 5 yards from our garden fence, but that doesn't mean they are related to my Leonberger, Shiba or Sibes ?????????





Mick

Have you read the research paper this information was taken from?

Sorry Greyhawk - not sure if that was directed at me or Gnasher. I haven't read the original, but I've read the transcripts and loads of articles related to these issues. One of the most interesting things about this research was that of the 14 ancient breeds identified, whose "genetic fingerprint" was more similar to wolves than to others, several are completely un-wolflike. This is the full list:

· Afghan Hound
· Akita
· Alaskan Malamute
· Basenji
· Chow Chow
· Lhasa Apso
· Pekingese
· Saluki
· Samoyed
· Shar-pei
· Shiba Inu
· Shih Tzu
· Siberian Husky
· Tibetian Terrier

Of course all dogs are presumably originally derived from wolves, but domestication (and separation from wolves) is now thought to have occurred at least 15,000 years ago and there is no evidence (genetic or otherwise) of more recent "dollops" of wolf genes more recently.

Both really I have the original paper and it states that the 14 breeds mentioned do have the closest genetic relationship to the wolf. When you said that their relationship is 'more remote' I wondered about the context you were using it in.

However there is also no proof there is any recent wolf blood added and the look of the nordic breeds is down to the environment they lived in.

I think that there are issues with taking these studies at face value. Firstly the genetic tests were carried out only on AKC recognised dogs (I read), which more than halved the number of breeds reviewed and secondly they were based on a limited number of dogs from a limited geographic area. So all the huskies tested could have come from a fairly narrowed gene pool of AKC line bred dogs. It is accepted that genetic traits can be bred out in relatively few generations, for example Italys wild wolf population has been infiltrated by dog genes, but scientist argue that the wolf base is adequately strong that the dog genes have no significant influence after several generations.

Below is a quote from the article published in 'Science' in 2004 outlining the study:

"This cluster includes Nordic breeds that phenotypically resemble the wolf, such as the Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky, and shows the closest genetic relationship to the wolf, which is the direct ancestor of domestic dogs. Thus, dogs from these breeds may be the best living representatives of the ancestral dog gene pool"

Read into it what you will.