List of Dog breeds (Page 27)

Utonagan

The Utonagan is a dog breed (Canis lupus familiaris) that is under development using a procedure called breeding back. The Utonagan strongly resembles a wolf.

Appearance

The Utonagan is large and well-muscled but with a slender build so as to resemble a wolf as closely as possible. Adult males weigh around 70-110 lb and stand 25"-33" to the shoulder. Adult females are approximately 20lb lighter at between 55-90 lb and stand 24"-26" to the shoulder.

The breed has a thick double coat that appears quite different in winter and summer. The guard hair is straight and slightly coarse to the touch. The pelage can be silver grey, cream, or brown with black overlay and a characteristic wolf mask. It also comes in all white and all black.

Health

They do not eat as much as many other large breeds but are prone to obesity and bloating if overfed.

Some have thick coats that keep them warm in cool conditions but they have great difficulty staying cool in summer. This becomes a problem when walking the dog during hot weather, so owners must be careful not to overexercise the dog and to keep water available when playing.

Utonagan can live up to 10-14 years of age.

History

The name Utonagan was taken from a Chinook tale and interpreted as "Spirit of the Wolf".

The original dogs were bred by Edwina Harrison, who would often advertise them as wolf dogs. See link to article in external links. Buck, the founding father, looked like a husky. His more wolf-like pups were prized for breeding.

The breed now known as The Utonagan and the breed known as the Northern Inuit shared some common ancestors early in their history. The two breed societies initially both used the same breed name. The Utonagan Society developed its lines by returning to stock from the conceptual breeder, as such the Utonagan and Northern Inuit are therefore now two separate breeds. The breed consist of only three breeds of domestic dog: Alaskan Malamute, German Shepherd, and Siberian Husky.

The Utonagan was originally selectively bred from the Malamute, Husky and German Shepherd. The aim being to create a dog that resembles the Wolf as closely as possible by breeding back.

The development of the Utonagan is well under way in Britain with registration and records being held. All breeding stock must be KC/BVA eye tested and Hip Scored

These dogs have been bred in Britain for approximately fifteen years, but only recently has the breed been known as the Utonagan. Although initially record keeping was poor (the breed being at an experimental stage) This has now been rectified with official records being kept by the Utonagan Society of all pedigrees and registrations over the last year or so.