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Pronunciation

Description

Temperament

Height, Weight

Health Problems

Living Conditions

Exercise

Life Expectancy

Grooming

The dogs inner hair coat which sheds only once a year in the spring time was woven into yarn and made an ideal weather proof garment or blanket. Bush the coat during the shedding season to cut back on unwanted hair inside the house.

Origin

Note, there are conflicting reports regarding this type of dog. The Dog Breed Info Center(R) does not know which the case may be, so we shall present all sides of the argument.

Some claim:
While it is very hard to prove that there are any authentic Native Dogs being bred, breeders were able to recreate that type of dog using books with descriptions and photographs of their village dogs.

Others have said:
The NAID is a recreation and not an ancient breed, created by one breeder who has put a registered trademark on the NAID name. No authentic purebred is owned by anyone.

Some take it a step further and claim:
Any dog sold as an Indian dog is not even a recreation. Original native dogs are extinct and have been since before the invention of photography. Indians themselves did not have a pure breed of dog. Theirs were mixed dogs. With the arrival of the Europeans, these dogs became interbred with dogs from Europe and other countries. Because the dogs were never a purebred dog, and because no one bothered to study into them much, it would be impossible to "recreate" them. The NAID were originally bred by crossing wolfdogs and are a new type of dog started by one breeder.

Origin according to some of the breeders:
The Native American Indian dog is a very rare, almost extinct breed of dog that was used by the Native Americans to pull travois and pack a backpack loaded with the family’s possessions' across thousands of miles of the North American continent. These dogs were used for hunting everything from quail to rabbits, bear to beaver, elk to caribou to moose and were even taught how to fish by the Native Americans. They were used to baby-sit the elderly and very young and guard the village from intruders. They accompanied the women and children while they were gathering berries, roots, herbs and other food sources and protected them from man and wild beast alike. They played a very vital role in the lives of the original Americans and were their sole beast of burden until the horse was introduced by the Spaniards. The U.S. government almost succeeded in making this breed of dog extinct in the 1800's. The Montagnais Indians who resided in the Northern most western side of Canada had a dog type they used for hunting and sled pulling. Their dogs were described as a mongrel shaggy beast, prevailing dark brown to black, of a rusty, worn hue with a slight admixture of white. Majestic View's Whitney is a descendant of the Montagnais and in the mid 1800's dogs of Whitney's color now called a tortoise shell color were often sold for as much as $30.00 each.  The Indians used this coat coloration of dogs in religious ceremonies as well as hunters and beast of burden animals. The Hare Indians of north western Canada had a dog described as a long haired dog, with patches of gray, brown or black over a white based hair coat. Webbed feet helped these dogs from sinking in the snow as they hunted elk and caribou. Their webbed feet also enabled them to pull large, heavy loads and they were excellent swimmers as well. The tails of the dogs of the Hare Indians did not curl tightly as did the dogs of the Eskimos and the whole village would share their dogs and the work the dogs were required to perform.

Group

Recognition