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Originally Posted by Mikael
The Norwegian and English governments used a report from the US and compared Saarloos and Cs Wolfdogs whit the Hybrids in the US, and certain Wolfdogs was up to 98% Wolf, but in this report they call all Hybrids and High content Wolfdogs only "Wolfdogs", and sens (we) say CsV are up to 30% Wolf now CsV and Saarloos are not allowed there any more.
There fore counting Wolf Blood is not fore fun in my eyes  |
Well, I see your point now. But what makes the difference between a dog breed and dog/wolf hybrid is the level of predictability of the animal's appearance, character and behaviour. In case of CSV an exteremly tough and fast process of SELECTION for specific features took palce for several years. It was completed with a detailed breed standard and the establishmet of the breed. In in case of wolf/dog hybrids - there was no such targeted selection.
When getting a CSV the potential owner knows what animal he might expect (more or less
) . When buying a wolf/dog hybrid of any wolf blood content either 98% or 5%- he/she may expect anything - from a wolf to a dog or any combination of these.
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I think our breed is just very honest about our "roots", for better or worse - all breeds, if you go back in the history many decades or hundreds or thousands of years, would say a wolf was crossed with dog, or humans selected traits of wolves to use...blah, blah, blah - this history is not as important to other breeds as what queen owned it first, etc. Obviously in terms of conformation and purpose, the wolf was an important component to our CSVs - but the component, through the art and science of breeding has been controlled to only the "usable" qualities..
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You're absolutely right. Several elements seem to work "against" the breed: the term "wolfdog" itself, the clear and open attitude to the breed "history", the opennes of the owners/breeders about problems with pups' upbringing & dog training, not to mention the health problems, etc. etc.
But we have to choose: either we'll openly share information about the breed and particular dogs, honestly cooperate internationally at he level of clubs and particular owners, listen to each other and openly discuss various issues without prejudce OR spend time on anticipating what authorities in various countries think or may think and be bothered by that...
I don't consider the second attitude practical and I did explain the reason - we can never be sure what the authorities really think and what their true intentions/policies are.
I think that Per Olav's approach - the informative hard work 'at the bottom' is the best way to deal with institutional obstacles: people are scared of the unknown. When they get to know CSVs, see how the animals live and function in life, how predictable, and honest their owners are and how transpaent the breeding is (DNA, health tests etc. etc.)- they will be "domesticated" and stop treating CSVs and their masters as potential social threats.
