Utonagan Breed Profile

Nadia Carlyle of Carrara Utonagan

The Utonagan has been selectively bred to look as close to the Canadian Timber Wolf as possible, with an exlemplary temperament.

The Utonagan has been bred exclusively in England since the 1980's by a breeder with a vision of a wonderful new breed that harked back to earlier days. The Utonagan looks as much like a wolf as we can achieve without actually containing any wolf content, other than the percentage in all breeds of Canis familiaris.

Utonagan, as with all new breeds, started out as a cross, we took the Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky and German Shepherd Dog, which we thought would best achieve the results required. As you can see, we managed to get a dog, which looks immensly like a wolf, and very much like the wolf-dogs that are becoming popular, but without the need for a Dangerous Animals Licence.

Utonagan are a rare breed and have not yet managed to attain Kennel Club recognision, although that is one of the aims of the society (www.utonagan.com). However we were able to get a Utonagan to crufts this year, which is a great achievement. Mahtal Iskote @ Carrara appeared in the Good Citizens' ring, in the PAT Pet Parade (www.petsastherapy.org.uk) on Friday 11th March 2005. We hope that this will create more interest in this fabulous breed.

With Utonagan being such a rare breed of course there are some unscrupulous people out there breeding for money and not worrying about health issues, or breeding what they are calling Utonagan but are not. In order to combat this the Utonagan Society has placed strict breeding rules in place and will not register any dogs that do not conform.

We advise anyone interested in Utonagan to contact the Utonagan Society to verify the autheticity of any litter found. When looking for a puppy please visit as many breeders as possible before deciding on a pup. All breeders associated with the society will provide backup and take the dog back if there is a problem, if they are not able to a Utonagan Rescue has been set up in conjunction with the society, just in case.

Utonagan are a very intelligent breed, home bred and handeled from an early age. We encourage all breeders and new owners to feed raw food as we have found that it produces a healthier dog. We also encourage the use of Jan Fennells' (The Dog Listener) method of training, and Jan herself, owns two dogs and is president of the society.

The temperament of these dogs is so sound, that the society has been invited to work in association with Pets as Therapy, and leaflets about registering to be a PAT dog are set to be given out with every pedigree from the beginning of April 2005.

Should any owner have any questions or worries about their dog or bitch, the Utonagan Society is there to help.

Nadia Carlyle owns Mahtal Iskote @ Carrara, the first Utonagan PAT dog. Iskote has been successful at curing cynophobia and was also the first Utonagan to appear at Crufts. (www.carrara-utonagan.com)

Jan Fennell is president of the Utonagan Society, and has published 4 books and is about to release a DVD on her method of training called “Amichien Bonding”, these can all be purchased via her website: www.janfennellthedoglistener.com