Wolf lookalike breeders Controversial

Ok you know lots about labradoodles and have lots of first hand experience with these dogs and their owners, can you give me all of your first hand experiences of wolfdogs and owners, and how many??

Originally Posted by kcjack
Labradoodles are a mess just like wolf lookalikes.


im pretty sure that the owners of these dogs would not agree with you.

can someone please answer my question....what is the point/purpose of these dogs?

personal preference, as you prefer gsds.

The "point" of wolf-lookalike dogs..............................

(apologies in advance - this is gonna get a bit philosophical... )

My view, for what it is worth, is that human society has evolved away from its roots in the natural world. For millenia, humans were both part of and dependent upon that natural world. For the most part, modern humanity (at least in the developed west) has become alienated from its origins and now views nature as something completely separate from human existence. Our natural landscape has been replaced by concrete and our relationship with nature has been replaced by our subservience to manmade laws and market forces. Increasingly, this has become unsatisfactory to large numbers of people who feel somehow incomplete and unsatisfied in our modern world.
The answer for some is to turn to superstition and fanatical religiosity. Others try to obtain meaning through the accumulation of things. Some (and I include myself in this group) feel a need to re-establish a bond with nature in order to find meaning in a more natural order of things. As part of this, we are drawn to an appreciation of the "wild" - of creatures which "live" life in the moment rather than "experience" it almost second hand by interpreting everything through society's social/political filters.

Many of us have been drawn to an appreciation of "the wolf" as an idealised totem that seems to represent all that we have lost. With some of us it ends there and we are content to admire wolves from afar. With some of us (again I plead guilty) we try to take things a bit further by indulging in activities which take us a bit closer to nature (and which often involve an element of, sometimes quite considerable, risk) and make us feel really alive and, for the moment, at one with both nature itself and with our inner nature as natural beings - in my case, rock climbing, mountaineering, surfing, motorcycling and running sled dogs have satisfied this need.
Yet others, have taken their fixation with the wolf to the level where they wish to own their own personal wolf as a totem by which their self-image as "natural" beings is made obvious to all. It is this desire which creates the market for wolf-lookalike dogs, and this desire which, I believe has been the purpose behind their creation.

The cynical, commercial, unhealthy and unscrupulous breeding practices which have been used to supply this market is, of course, a different issue.

Just my two-pennorth.

Mick

quote mickb
Yet others, have taken their fixation with the wolf to the level where they wish to own their own personal wolf as a totem by which their self-image as "natural" beings is made obvious to all. It is this desire which creates the market for wolf-lookalike dogs, and this desire which, I believe has been the purpose behind their creation.

the whole of your post is indeed very true and how refreshing it was to read a post with some informative content in it.
i would like to emphasise on the part quoted ,that for me personally this is not the reason for having anything to do with this breed of dog.

Hi All,
I'm new and have have found some really informative and constructive comments here,however,I'm a little concerned by some comments re cross breeds,woolf lookalikes in particular.Some postings have been quite barbed.
The Dalia Lama once said "our prime purpose in life is to help others and if we can't do that,then don't hurt them"

Einstein once said

Hello Newbie
How come we have so many newbies posting on these threads?

That is a brilliant quote,
Oh you just made my day hun

yes it was rather good

thankyou mick for answering my question.

So if many of these 'breeds' are bred just to look like wolves, surely that defeats one of the reasons that wolves are so greatly admired?(they are wild, magnificent creatures that have not been altered by human intervention and have evolved to be the way they are)
please excuse my ignorance i really dont know much about the 'breeds'

I respect personal preference but I am talking more than that....surely thats like me saying i like gsds but would prefer them to have the temperament of a lab so i will breed them with labs until i get the dog that i desire...

Exactly - for me, a wolf-lookalike dogs will never be more than a poor imitation of the real thing. Some of the northern breeds - Mals, sibes etc have a slightly "wolfy" look about them, but this is the result of geography and climate, not human intention. They look the way they do because it is the most efficient and effective way to survive in arctic and sub-arctic conditions. Darwin, not design.

Mick

Yes, inkspot or inkmark is just another term for patchy.

Did anyone see Billy conolly doing the North West passage on T.V recently ?
The huskies / dogs on that did not look like the dogs we see in Britain today... so to say that Huskies Mals evolved and look the way they do to be able to survive in a certain climate imo is just B...$hit ! If that was the case the huskie's and Mals we see in Britain today would not be wearing such a plush coat !
The working dogs seen on that programme were obviously bred for a purpose, doesn't look like much thought went into the breeding programe by the locals, there was a broad spectrum of types there...

but surely mals and sibes were bred for their particular job and a breed standard achieved and dogs are now bred to that standard- like ANY breed? If we jsut left people breeding to no particular standard what would that acheive?

I didn't see the programme in question, but I imagine if they were crossing the NorthWest Passage, they would probably have been Greenland Dogs (if they were purebreds) which share many of the characteristics with other northern breeds, but nevertheless have their own look. If, as sounds more likely, they were Alaskan Huskies, then they are bred purely for performance and not for looks - hence the differing types.
Evolution is no longer a factor in the development of the established sled dog breeds so of course they haven't changed to accommodate UK conditions. Siberian breeders strive to maintain the original state of these dogs, not change it so it's not "B...$hit" just the simple truth.

Mick

Mmm thanks for your comments,food for thought.
Rafiki