I know a Utonagan! A 6 year old female who goes to our dog park. Oh man she is awesome! I got into quite a long discussion with her owner one day. She is such a sweet girl with a great temperment. She acts like a pup still kind've with her energy level, but she is pretty cool.
At first I got her mixed up with a Native American Indian Dog. Koda goes to doggy daycare with one.
Personally, I feel that the Tamaskan looks more wolfy, but then again that is why they split the breed since they couldn't agree on what the standard should be.
From what I understand, it started with the Northern Inuit Dog...which then split up & the Utonagan was created....which then split up & the Tamaskan was created lol
I think the Tamaskan breeders are more strict on standard & health...~
1) The Appearance. They do not look even close to wolves. The dog in the video was especially non-wolfy and looked like a woolly or long-coated Malamute.
2) The Name. I find it ridiculous to attach an Indian name to the dogs. GERMAN shepherd and SIBERIAN husky are 2 of the founding breeds. The breed was developed in the UK. It's highjacking of a culture.
3) The motto "Spirit of the Wolf." Really? I think it highly unlikely these founders and supporters know what living with a wolf temperament is really like. I highly doubt that they have visited a high content wolfdog much less a real wolf as the wild wolf became extinct in the British Isles. I feel it's romanticism at its worst.
But I'll add also, whats the deal with wanting a breed to look like a wolf? Why are people so obsessed with wolves? Why do people (in general) seem to think wolves are better than dogs in some way? What's the deal?
Also, what else kinda bugs me about these dogs is that they sound like they have a great temperament, seems the breed should be sold on that more than the "wolf look" thing. I mean they kinda sound like a great hiking companion, no?
They mentioned the temperament, but they did it in like a "They look like wolves! Oh, and their temperament is good too... Did I mention how they look like wolves?!" kinda way. :oT
I have to agree with Brada and Ayk on this one xD. I found the Utonagan and the Tamaskans before I got interested in nihon ken at first I thought it was kind of neat but now...*frown* for reasons posted above and some more.
Weird that they don't fully mature until around fou years...xD I'm not really sure that's a good thing...
I don't think they look like wolves at all. I just thought it would be a cool dog for hiking like Brad mentioned. The woman at my dog park didn't try and make hers sound like a wolf, but bragged about her temperment and compared her laid backness to Koda's. Maybe she was too embarassed to mention that whole wolf thing. ha ha
I can only imagine that people would want a dog that looks like a wolf so it can be mistaken for a wolf. Instant attention.
I think our generation must have grown up seeing movies or reading books where somebody was raised by a pack of wolves or befriended by wolves. "Jungle book", "White Fang", etc. Those stories affected us more than "Peter and the Wolf" or "Little Red Riding Hood." As adults, we're still wired to really like wolves.
Since the average person rarely run into a real wolf or wolfdog owner that can provide re-education on the pains of owning one, people tend to still fall for the "breed hype" of the wolf.
I reckon they're beautiful dogs, but no interest in owning one at all. I think when I first saw pictures I thought they looked pretty cool, but after reading a bit about them I lost interest. I'm interested in dogs that were/are bred for hunting, and maybe in the future, guarding.
If they were selected to look like wolves they must have been shooting for the Euro variety (a much smaller shorter legged wolf compared to our NA wolves) as the dogs produced by this program are WAY smaller than a NA wolf and have very different markings.
Interesting video! I've never heard of that breed before, but I did research the Native American Indian dog a while back and thought they were very neat. I agree that they don't look very wolfy and I think I like the look of the Native American Indian dog more.
I think they're cool-looking, but I guess I don't really get the point. I'm with you on this one, Shigeru.
"I have to agree with Brada and Ayk on this one xD. I found the Utonagan and the Tamaskans before I got interested in nihon ken at first I thought it was kind of neat but now...*frown* for reasons posted above and some more." Couldn't have said it better!
I have no problem with the dogs. They do seem like good companions and probably great trail dogs. They also sound like a bit of a challenge which I personally like.
I agree the breed community is pretty f***ed up. It's all marketing and hype and a lot of politics and egos. But if you separate the community from the dogs themselves, I think they are pretty cool. It's silly to write off a dog because the people associated with the breed are morons.
Would I own one? Possibly. It would depend on too many factors to list here.
For what it's worth, I agree that Tamaskans look a bit more like actual wolves:
(click to open larger image in a new window)
Even so, the Utonagan in the video appears to be a lovely, happy dog. It sounds a lot like what you might get in a German Shepherd/Husky mix--intelligent, friendly and devoted to its owners, and requiring a lot of attention and exercise. This particular mix is readily available in rescues, and often looks a bit "wolfy":
I would go for a pretty rescue mutt first, but like Saya, I can't get too outraged by new breeds, just because they are new. They seem no more unnecessary to me than many other (non-working) dog variations, all of which were new at one time.
although they are pretty dogs, i agree, they don't look very much like wolves, you can tell that there is some of the GSD, husky and malamute in them as all three breeds have very distinctive facial features. wolves have a very certain look about them, i think maybe over time and more breeding, they can refine it a bit more. i'm all for new breeds, but not the designer dog thing. i do like the idea of having a husky-looking dog that has the more trainable temperament of a GSD, i hear huskies are roamers. there used to be a husky in my neighbourhood who would climb the owner's six foot fence and go walkabouts.
also the wolf thing stems from people who want to feel manly and cool, same type of thing as people who teach pitbulls and staffies to be aggressive. different dogs but same type of thing, just different preferences.
1) The Appearance. They do not look even close to wolves. The dog in the video was especially non-wolfy and looked like a woolly or long-coated Malamute.
2) The Name. I find it ridiculous to attach an Indian name to the dogs. GERMAN shepherd and SIBERIAN husky are 2 of the founding breeds. The breed was developed in the UK. It's highjacking of a culture.
3) The motto "Spirit of the Wolf." Really? I think it highly unlikely these founders and supporters know what living with a wolf temperament is really like. I highly doubt that they have visited a high content wolfdog much less a real wolf as the wild wolf became extinct in the British Isles. I feel it's romanticism at its worst.
EXACTLY to all of these things. I can't tell you how much this annoys me. There are plenty of these kind of dogs in Alaska, and we call them, well, dogs! They're just mixed breeds and sometimes sweet and fun, but why?
First, this dog looks nothing like a wolf. Have these people ever SEEN wolves? WTF? On that note, perhaps they should hang out with some wolf hybrids for awhile if they want to see how wolves behave...My mother has had 5 now, and I really DON'T recommend them. They're not like dogs at all, if the wolf percentage is high.
And the name thing REALLY sets me off. Which Native language did this come from, exactly, and what does it have to do with this dog? I guess it is not as stupid as the Native American Indian Dog--who came up with that? Why not name it the Indian Indian dog, because that's pretty much what the name means. And again, which Native people do they believe had this dog? Because contrary to some people's opinion we Native people are NOT all one group, so a Tlingit dog would be different from a Yupik dog and those northern dogs would be very different from a Comanche dog, etc. And I'm not even considering Native people like the Maya or Aztec who would have very different dogs indeed.
Ugh. It is just ridiculous. The worst kind of romanticism on so many levels: of dogs, of wolves, and even worse, of Native peoples.
(Sorry for the rant....can you tell this kind of stuff makes me crazy?)
To Daisy - As far as Huskies being roamers,I think it depends on the dog. My brother has two huskies and they don't roam far at all. He has them off leash all the time but, he started that training at a young agee so that could be part of it. The only time he has them on a leash is where there are cars. If they're at the park or in my back yard(which has no fence) they're off leash.
hmm...I definatly think new breeds are cool, I can't knock someone for trying to do something like that but, still not really into the whole wolfy thing.
I think this is pretty ridiculous... They don't look like wolves at all and that name... Well I have nothing to add on that topic.
What annoys me most about this is that people want to have a dog that LOOKS like a wolf, but has no wolfish behaviour at all. Wolves are wild animals, that have prey drive and are not loveley to everything around them. So waddya want? A wolfish dog or a doggish dog? If people want a dog that resembles the wolf, they gotta go after the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog. (Which I am a biiig fan of... Perhaps one day if I own a house in a more rural area...)
hi RedAutumn,
i think you're right, i mean, i've never owned a husky so all i know is from what people have said about their dogs ^^ the husky in my neighbourhood would walk off-leash alongside his owner, but the minute everyone left him alone at the house, he was out of there...maybe they just needed a taller fence lol.
There are so many breeds that are trying to look like wolves, I can't keep track of them all.
These dogs just look like husky/GSD crosses, not like wolves at all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's hard to find out more about their temperament because everyone just talks about their looks. They just say the temperament is "good", but that's pretty wide open to interpretation.
The Utonagan just look like Malamute Xs to me. I think the Tamaskan dogs achieved the "wolfy" look more than the Utonagan managed.
Here's where I get ridiculously opinionated and needlessly zealous. I'm not really a fan of any of these Malamute/GSD/Husky mixes they're trying to push to look like wolves. I really can't understand it, and I feel like these kinds of mixes will get all the wrong people looking into REAL wolfdogs, which makes me nervous. I can't help but feel irritated because I feel like the people who were at the head of this project and the people who are interested in these dogs are trying to make these dogs into something they're not and don't appreciate what a DOG has to offer, they're only interested in how they can get a dog to fit their image of a wolf. That's not to say everyone who is interested in this breed is that way, and I'm not saying the breed itself is bad...
I'm just... very strongly... not a fan. That turned into a unintended rant.
Comments
At first I got her mixed up with a Native American Indian Dog. Koda goes to doggy daycare with one.
I think the Tamaskan breeders are more strict on standard & health...~
I am not a fan because of:
1) The Appearance. They do not look even close to wolves. The dog in the video was especially non-wolfy and looked like a woolly or long-coated Malamute.
2) The Name. I find it ridiculous to attach an Indian name to the dogs. GERMAN shepherd and SIBERIAN husky are 2 of the founding breeds. The breed was developed in the UK. It's highjacking of a culture.
3) The motto "Spirit of the Wolf." Really? I think it highly unlikely these founders and supporters know what living with a wolf temperament is really like. I highly doubt that they have visited a high content wolfdog much less a real wolf as the wild wolf became extinct in the British Isles. I feel it's romanticism at its worst.
Also, what else kinda bugs me about these dogs is that they sound like they have a great temperament, seems the breed should be sold on that more than the "wolf look" thing. I mean they kinda sound like a great hiking companion, no?
They mentioned the temperament, but they did it in like a "They look like wolves! Oh, and their temperament is good too... Did I mention how they look like wolves?!" kinda way. :oT
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Weird that they don't fully mature until around fou years...xD I'm not really sure that's a good thing...
Tara, both "breeds" were created by "selectively breeding" the same 3 breed of dogs.
Yes I know. :-)
I think our generation must have grown up seeing movies or reading books where somebody was raised by a pack of wolves or befriended by wolves. "Jungle book", "White Fang", etc. Those stories affected us more than "Peter and the Wolf" or "Little Red Riding Hood." As adults, we're still wired to really like wolves.
Since the average person rarely run into a real wolf or wolfdog owner that can provide re-education on the pains of owning one, people tend to still fall for the "breed hype" of the wolf.
----
(below are Eurasian wolves)
"I have to agree with Brada and Ayk on this one xD. I found the Utonagan and the Tamaskans before I got interested in nihon ken at first I thought it was kind of neat but now...*frown* for reasons posted above and some more." Couldn't have said it better!
I agree the breed community is pretty f***ed up. It's all marketing and hype and a lot of politics and egos. But if you separate the community from the dogs themselves, I think they are pretty cool. It's silly to write off a dog because the people associated with the breed are morons.
Would I own one? Possibly. It would depend on too many factors to list here.
I wouldn't bash anyone who owned one though and I wouldn't mind meeting one, buy owning one no thanks.
(click to open larger image in a new window)
Even so, the Utonagan in the video appears to be a lovely, happy dog. It sounds a lot like what you might get in a German Shepherd/Husky mix--intelligent, friendly and devoted to its owners, and requiring a lot of attention and exercise. This particular mix is readily available in rescues, and often looks a bit "wolfy":
I would go for a pretty rescue mutt first, but like Saya, I can't get too outraged by new breeds, just because they are new. They seem no more unnecessary to me than many other (non-working) dog variations, all of which were new at one time.
also the wolf thing stems from people who want to feel manly and cool, same type of thing as people who teach pitbulls and staffies to be aggressive. different dogs but same type of thing, just different preferences.
I guess I should elaborate.
I am not a fan because of:
1) The Appearance. They do not look even close to wolves. The dog in the video was especially non-wolfy and looked like a woolly or long-coated Malamute.
2) The Name. I find it ridiculous to attach an Indian name to the dogs. GERMAN shepherd and SIBERIAN husky are 2 of the founding breeds. The breed was developed in the UK. It's highjacking of a culture.
3) The motto "Spirit of the Wolf." Really? I think it highly unlikely these founders and supporters know what living with a wolf temperament is really like. I highly doubt that they have visited a high content wolfdog much less a real wolf as the wild wolf became extinct in the British Isles. I feel it's romanticism at its worst.
EXACTLY to all of these things. I can't tell you how much this annoys me. There are plenty of these kind of dogs in Alaska, and we call them, well, dogs!
First, this dog looks nothing like a wolf. Have these people ever SEEN wolves? WTF? On that note, perhaps they should hang out with some wolf hybrids for awhile if they want to see how wolves behave...My mother has had 5 now, and I really DON'T recommend them. They're not like dogs at all, if the wolf percentage is high.
And the name thing REALLY sets me off. Which Native language did this come from, exactly, and what does it have to do with this dog? I guess it is not as stupid as the Native American Indian Dog--who came up with that? Why not name it the Indian Indian dog, because that's pretty much what the name means. And again, which Native people do they believe had this dog? Because contrary to some people's opinion we Native people are NOT all one group, so a Tlingit dog would be different from a Yupik dog and those northern dogs would be very different from a Comanche dog, etc. And I'm not even considering Native people like the Maya or Aztec who would have very different dogs indeed.
Ugh. It is just ridiculous. The worst kind of romanticism on so many levels: of dogs, of wolves, and even worse, of Native peoples.
(Sorry for the rant....can you tell this kind of stuff makes me crazy?)
hmm...I definatly think new breeds are cool, I can't knock someone for trying to do something like that but, still not really into the whole wolfy thing.
They don't look like wolves at all and that name... Well I have nothing to add on that topic.
What annoys me most about this is that people want to have a dog that LOOKS like a wolf, but has no wolfish behaviour at all. Wolves are wild animals, that have prey drive and are not loveley to everything around them. So waddya want? A wolfish dog or a doggish dog?
If people want a dog that resembles the wolf, they gotta go after the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog. (Which I am a biiig fan of... Perhaps one day if I own a house in a more rural area...)
i think you're right, i mean, i've never owned a husky so all i know is from what people have said about their dogs ^^ the husky in my neighbourhood would walk off-leash alongside his owner, but the minute everyone left him alone at the house, he was out of there...maybe they just needed a taller fence lol.
These dogs just look like husky/GSD crosses, not like wolves at all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's hard to find out more about their temperament because everyone just talks about their looks. They just say the temperament is "good", but that's pretty wide open to interpretation.
Here's where I get ridiculously opinionated and needlessly zealous.
I'm not really a fan of any of these Malamute/GSD/Husky mixes they're trying to push to look like wolves. I really can't understand it, and I feel like these kinds of mixes will get all the wrong people looking into REAL wolfdogs, which makes me nervous. I can't help but feel irritated because I feel like the people who were at the head of this project and the people who are interested in these dogs are trying to make these dogs into something they're not and don't appreciate what a DOG has to offer, they're only interested in how they can get a dog to fit their image of a wolf. That's not to say everyone who is interested in this breed is that way, and I'm not saying the breed itself is bad...
I'm just... very strongly... not a fan.
That turned into a unintended rant.