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Date Posted: 03:46:54 10/02/00 Mon
Author: SoloWolf
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 63.166.216.16
Subject: The Ideal Situation

What would be the ideal situation as far as wolfdog breeding is concerned? The best dog breed in the mix, the best amount of wolf content...

I'd like to hear from those of you who breed--tell us what has worked for you (and what didn't).

How do we keep the breeding under control & police ourselves? Eliminate bad breeding practices (a "black list", perhaps?) and encourage the good ones? Educate less-informed breeders on how to accurately determine wolf content, and make sure they properly inform their buyers of what to expect from the animal? I suppose the registries were created to do this, but there are so many bogus registries...I have seen waaay too many low contents with "90%" registrations.

I was considering a web page of legitimate breeders, OR (better still) posting an email addy--or maybe a few, sorted by location--where prospective puppy buyers can be pre-screened, get helpful info with personalized responses, get links to informative sites, and--if they seem to be responsible folks--be given the names of respectable breeders in their area.

This is a post I put on another board--I'd really like to get some responses, from those involved with the breed:

"I recently came across an older post commenting about how wolf dog people should close the registry, stop introducing pure wolves & pure dogs, just use the lines already existing.
IF we stop introducing pure wolf, what we soon will have is just another dog.
The whole point to wolf dogs, what makes them so special, is that they are closely related to wolves. As close as we can get, without actually owning wolves which is illegal (or legally challenging). I doubt we would experience the same "connection" (for want of a better word) with a domestic "AKC registered Wolf Hybrid". That spark that makes them unique amongst all canine companions--"wild streak", if you will--the unusual way they think and act and learn...if they become a breed, we will lose that.
I don't care how wolfy the "AKC version" looks, it's not the looks that makes the animal. This is the one "breed" that is totally different from all the rest, because of its recent natural heritage. It is the animal that "Canis lupus" was meant to be.
That IS the standard--the recent ancestry. Not the size or the color or the structure of the teeth and chest and paws. It is a wolf dog if it is a few generations or less from being a wolf. If we are to establish guidelines/rules for breeding, it can't be "26 inches high, double coat, eyes
other than amber or brown are a disqualification...etc etc"...but rather it should be "less than 4 generations from pure, crossed with one of the following breeds: - -, reserved and aloof (but not aggressive) temperament". It is the *essence of the animal* that we want to preserve...and the looks will follow. [If we want to steer toward anything, IMHO it would be to aim for less timid (but still aloof) animals with diminished prey drive.]

Dunno, just some recent thoughts I had on the subject.

How about some thoughts on all this? :-)

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