Hi, new here :)

[AraiNI]

Cool! Do you belong to the Will county dog parks by any chance? The one near me (Black road, Joliet) always has about 100 huskies...in this weather we are the majority and its a bunch of fun....of course, I tend to look like that kid off of A Christmas Story when I bundle up for the dog park, but you do what you've got to do.

To be quite frank, NIs were bred as mutts from different dog breeds in an attempt to create a dog that just looked more wolf-like. As far as I know, there is no real attempt on the breeders' parts to create a breed with a function beyond selling pets. NIs are not accepted in the AKC, and from what I understand, it isn't even a goal.

I don't think the people that started the breed realized that they were creating a breed...I think they were just breeding to make a dog more for themselves, and when the popularity kicked off, there was no one sensible enough to record anything. I know the main woman behind it, Eddie, bred her dogs for no one but herself...and then other people fell in love with her dogs and took over.

Since its a large dog, everyone thinks that it should have a working purpose, but I think more people are happy with its purpose as being a companion dog, though there are some that do Agility and Obedience with their dogs...Lupa has her puppy championship in APDT Rally, and we'll be starting for her RL1 after she's a year old.

As for Recocgnition...well its not AKC anyway, since Lupa's only the third over here....the NIS committee is really torn between the idea. Some want it so that their dogs can be seen as a true breed and so that people can have the option to compete in KC competions. Others are afraid of how much control the breed club will have over breeders. As most that have researched NI are aware, they have enough problems with people breeding willy-nilly without a thought, what will happen when the puppy mills learn that the NI is going to be more popular? At least thats what they say.

Each to their own, I suppose. I'm happy with my girlly either way.