"William Clodius" wrote in message
...
Paul E. Schoen wrote:

Muttley and I met Larka once again on the NCRR trail:

http://www.smart.net/~pstech/Muttley..._200808-05.jpg
http://www.smart.net/~pstech/Muttley..._200808-06.jpg
http://www.smart.net/~pstech/Muttley..._200808-07.jpg

She is a Native American Indian Dog, a close relative of the wolf.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/nativeamericanindiandog.htm

She is a beautiful, well-tempered dog, and she and Muttley got along
very
well, walking in close proximity to each other for about 1.5 miles.

Paul and Muttley

There are a lot of different types of dogs being marketed as American
Indian dogs. FWIW our neighborhood had, and probably still has, a dog,
Dakota, that was identified as such a breed. It looks a lot like our dog
Peanut, generic medium sized medium length coarse hair yellow coat,
except he's male and has gorgeous slate blue eyes. (Peanut has gorgeous
yellow brown eyes that perfectly match her coat.)

Dakota looks a bit like this picture.
http://www.greatdogsite.com/breeds/d...an_Indian_Dog/
He also has a very good personality, which suggests to me that there is
little, if any, true "American Indian dog" in his makeup. The
desciptions and paintings of dogs in american indian camps suggest that
they were pariah breeds, similar to the Dingo, Basenji, and Shiba Inu,
with looser working relations with their owners than is typical of most
other breeds. They tend to be escape artists, difficult to control off
leeash, and harder to maintain interest in training.

From your link, it appears that there are significant differences between
"American Indian Dog" and "Native American Indian Dog", which is what
Muttley and I encountered. The AID looks more like a fox or coyote, and is
fairly small at 25-45 lb, while the NAID is more like wolf, husky, and
malemute, and is about twice as large. Larka is very submissive, but also
very intelligent, and her owner said she was difficult to control
off-leash.

The traits you mention sound a lot like Muttley, who has exhibited his
skills as an escape artist, and seems to have little interest in training.
He also seems to share some of the traits of my friend's wolf hybrid,
Cheyenne, who was not much interested in playing games, and maintained an
aloof and somewhat feral attitude. I don't think he has any wolf heritage,
but possibly some Mastiff or Anatolian.

Thanks for making a positive contribution to the discussion. I think there
has been some serious effort made to recreate the original NAID, with much
of that from Native Americans, and as long as there are unique breed
standards and good qualities, I see no reason to dispute the claim that it
is an actual breed rather than a hoax. I have met the dog, and she seems to
have many fine qualities that do not seem to be duplicated by any other
breed I know of.

Do you have any pictures of your dog Peanut?

Paul and Muttley