We would like to welcome ALL Utonagan owners and enthusiasts to join us in celebrating this magnificent breed!
THE UTONAGAN
The ancestors of the Utonagan were brought together by a lady called Eddie Harrison who imported selected sled dogs to Britain and then added Alaskan Malamute, German Shepherd and Siberian Husky, her ambition being, to breed a dog that resembled a timber wolf. They were first sold as wolf-dogs, and yes there are many stories saying that she did indeed keep a few hybrids that were used in our breeds creation, but these are hearsay, there are no records to look up, and no way of knowing what is fact and indeed what is fiction. There is no proof that this was the case and even if it were the dogs are so far on that it would be diluted to minimal, and therefore not relevant.
It was decided that the name wolfdog gave the wrong impression, and as they were dog to dog matings, this name was changed to Northern Inuit. Further down the line and mainly due to different opinions, the breed Northern Inuit became two separate breeds, The Northern Inuit and The Utonagan.
The breeders of the now Utonagan created different mixes of these dogs with the input of other breeds, always moving towards a Timber wolf look a like with no wolf content.
Utonagan means - Spirit of the Wolf
Sadly in the beginning there was never any intention that these dogs would become so popular so record keeping was very sparse, there have been many gaps left in the pedigrees, health records and registrations, infact truth be told its a complete mess. So a few breeders and owners and enthusiasts came together to discuss the future of this wonderful dog. We are starting again, taking a back step and opening up our breeding pool, we are health testing, recording, collating all relevant information. We are bringing in new stock, using the backbone founder Utonagan and mixing some fresh Founder Dogs from German Shepherd, Northern Inuit and founder crosses.
We hope to improve health, trainability, wolf like looks, and also keep very concise and true records of the creation of our breed. We have therefore changed our name to “The British Utonagan” to enable us to be the only registration body to hold records of all of our dogs so in the future we can apply for Kennel Club recognition.
The British Utonagan is a new breed in the making which we feel is worth promoting as a breed worth recognising. We have a lot of work ahead, and hope that we at BUA do our dogs, and our breed proud.
All Images And Text Copyright To The British Utonagan Association 2007 All Rights Reserved.
