Coyote Crossing

Preserving Bowwowdiversity

It just figures.

Not two days after I post the following on my Twitter feed:

I am incomplete without a dog. And I don’t think I want to ever have a dog again.

… I find my next dog.

Or at least her breed.

In fact, I’m not entirely sure, looking at some of the photos here, that my last dog wasn’t of this breed, at least in part.

There are detractors who say that American Indian Dogs are extinct, and that these lovely critters are “recreations” of the line, mixes of various wolfy-spitzy-looking breeds. Then again, there are plenty of people who act as if the original breeders of American Indian Dogs are also extinct. The man behind SongDog kennels, Kim La Flamme, says he began his work to save the breed by finding relict populations of the dogs living with First Nations people from Canada to southern Mexico, and breeding them. He says there are 800 of the dogs now in existence. He insists on interviews with prospective adopters, on spaying/neutering, and that the dogs he adopts out be returned to him if the placement doesn’t work out. Perhaps I’m naive, but I find all that reassuring.

Besides, just look at the ears.

In thinking about this, I do come up against the ethical ramifications of buying a pup from a breeder. Not that I don’t think it’s possible to be an ethical breeder: I do. It’s just that there are so many dogs in shelters needing help. But if LaFlamme is doing what he says he’s doing — saving a line from extinction that bears immense importance to the dog genome, a more-or-less ancestral line of dog without the inbred-to-hell-and-back nature of most current breeds, then that’s something I could feel good about taking part in. Plus, if I’m living with a cat, getting a young puppy would be a plus.

I don’t need to decide anytime soon: I won’t be getting any dog before I nail down more income and a more dog-friendly place to live. But I’ll be looking into these guys. Their temperament and size and general overall doggestalt just feel right to me.

And it feels good to be looking forward in this regard, rather than longingly backward.

Comments

This makes me very happy, hermano.

Looking through the songdog site, it does seem like he has a thing or two to learn about dog evolution. He claims, for instance, that the current consensus is that dogs didn’t evolve from wolves, which is most certainly not even close to being the case.

Wow.  That is a great set of ears.  We have two shepherds, both rescues.  They are wonderful, faithful, devoted, beautiful dogs.  But there is no doubt in my mind they are overly inbred.

Anyway, when the time is right—if it’s right—these dogs do look great.

But there is no doubt in my mind they are overly inbred.

Seriously, Edward. I mean look at the difference between the GSDs of a century ago and those of today.

Aw, hurray! That’s all I’ll say about it.

On reflection, it occurs to me that I probably shouldn’t have made up the word “doggestalt” when the perfectly cromulent word “tatsächlichehundenatur” already exists.

Hey guy!  Good to see you.

In the Catskills, they call those kinds of dogs pye dogs.  I’m not sure of the spelling; they’re supposed to be part coyote.

Fortunately Coalie and Caleb don’t have hips like that.  Their problem is their temperaments, which are extremely timid, especially Caleb.

Is there a fundamental difference between demanding that owners of these dogs render them infertile and Monsanto selling infertile seed? As objectionable as the idea of “racial purity” is among human, I can see why breeders would strive for it (sort of), but hedgemony doesn’t seem like the key to species-preservation.

I think that’s only enforced if a person isn’t a member of the Indian Dog breeder’s association, which at least theoretically refuses membership to puppy mills and the like.

Kitty!

oh my.  the ears! must nibble! these are gorgeous dogs.  Glad to hear the puppy-longing in this post, Chris.

When the right time and right dog comes along, I’m sure it will be an easy decision.
In fact, it won’t even feel like a decision.  It will just happen. 
The American Indian Dogs sound interesting—and yes, look at those ears and similar phyzeke. 
I agree regarding a lot of purebred dogs, but there’s also something to be said for consistency
when you happen to find it in a particular breed, and perhaps the AID dogs are that way.
For me, it’s the Rough Collies that seem to work best with my nomadic lifestyle.

Wow! This is big, and makes me smile. A lot.

Also, beware the power of the tweet, seems to be the lesson here.

So very excited by this news.

Agree with Bev. The dog finds the human, and the human finds the dog.

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