CWD bred to CWD, Saarloos bred to Saarloos, is how I define pure.

Obviously only the best examples of the breed too, same as any dog breed.

No! .........

Nothing to do with affording the breed. The crossbreds over here make the same price as a pure bred in Europe.

Quarantine fees are so high that most wouldn't be able to afford those and with purchase, importation and quarantine you'd be talking double the above figure. If, like us, you have friends and/or family in Europe that would put up with a wolfdog for a good 8 months then it could come in on the PETS scheme. Either way, far easier/less stressful to pay £2500 to CW or Shoshone.

Good point!!! But good for the European breeders for protecting the breed and lines.

I'm glad they have put a stop to UK buyers, even though there are alot who want to breed pure (myself included), the way things are at present those people cannot guarantee that the offspring won't be sold to homes who think 'Ooo, I'll cross it with a husky'. The time will be right when the fad is over and the dogs become unfashionable.

And whose fault is that?


You say crossing is the only option...no it isn't, stop breeding the crossbreds, there's a thought. Why cross pure with crossbred WD's now? What is the purpose?

Thats a good point. It looks like any rationale in breeding these crossbreds has been lost. It now appears to be a free for all to breed any combination of any percentage of any of the breeds without understanding what charachteristics will be inherited; especially when the next (F2) generation comes along and all the odd traits start appearing. Is it just a case of people jumping on the band wagon and buying anything they can get there hands on?

I am not against cross breeds and have and have had many. But in mainstream dog breeding if someone offered you a dog that was 1/4 doberman, 1/2 GSD and 1/8th husky and 1/8th malamute would you think they were creating a breed or selling you a mutt? Especially if they were asking pedigree prices.

I would be interested to hear a clear argument from anyone breeding these animals as to what they hope to achieve.

As for the argument over small gene pools then the answer is quite simple; don't breed from them. If the answer is that the original breeds are difficult dogs for some people to handle then I guess the answer is that they shouldn't get these breeds, cross breeding may not solve this 'problem' either.

I have no complaints over the 2 original breeds but they are not dogs for everyone.

Both breeds have been carefully developed, even if you don't like the methods or people involved. To improve these breeds you would possibly need to go back to their roots and carefully choose the best GSD and European wolf lines to reintroduce what has been lost (if you think this is the case).

Okay...just an arbitary thing then, a line in the sand...not related to any underlying quality within the breeds you've mentioned.

Still not clear how the problems of excessively high COIs will be avoided within a small closed gene pool.

How can crossing the CsV or SWH with 'Inuits' who are dogs of an extremely dodgy background ever develop the breed or increase the gene pool? It doesn't work like that, the only way to increase the gene pool of the two breeds is to either re-introduce a very carefully chosen GSD with impeccable health test results, not just as a dog but back in his breeding lines, of a type to improve the SWH and CsV as a breed - so not necessarily a dog that could win a BOB in the showring as the GSD is nothing like a SWH or CsV in build, type or character. Or introduce pure Timberwolf to the SWH and Carpathian wolf to the CsV - the latter option is obviously far more risky not knowing the history of it's temperament and health.

If the 'breeds' are different then they embody different genetic material and therefor a cross would have access to a wider pool. A GSD or other canid would also widen the pool.

Small, closed gene pools = train wreck in the making