An Answer To A Thorny Question?

 

American Indian Dog

"It’s not a wolf, and it’s not a coyote; it’s an American Indian dog. known for its long, pointy ears, thick coat, intense stare, and impressive build."

Some people call these "working companion animals" and we know from archaeological work in Europe that "domesticated" wolves lived and walked with humans many thousands of years ago. According to the experts at the Animal Corner (hands up I have tried to isolate who this is but there are so many charities, etc with "animal centre" in their title it's difficult) the Native American Indian Dog is believed to be up to 30,000 years old. It is also believed that it is possible that the breed shared parts of North America with some of the earliest Native Americans to inhabit the land. A note here is that archaeological evidence is finding evidence of the occupation of America pre Clovis Culture. That means the breed is likely older than thought.

Again, some specialists have even theorized that the Native American Indian Dog breed could be the missing link between wolves and the modern dog as we know it today

After indigenous peoples (American Indians) were segregated onto reservations they were often left without enough resources to live on let alone the resources necessary to maintain the ancient breed.

I would hi9ghly recommend this Nevada Wild post:

https://findingnevadawild.com/the-american-indian-dog-danger-cave-and-realizing-some-of-the-oldest-canine-bones-ever-found/

Above and below American Indian Dogs // White Wolf Pack

You will come across web sites or notes in books that tell you coyotes have been found with varying amounts of domestic dog in them. The same applies to wolves in the United States and it is far less common in European and Asian wolves. It is always assumed that the dog DNA came from dogs introduced by Europeans -amongst the first would have been Spanish war dogs during "La Conquista de América" (The Conquest of America) starting in the 1490s. Successive European invaders/colonists also had domestic dogs with them.

Any of these running off and going feral could have been DNA contributors, Experts will tell you how any domestic dog would be killed by wolves but exceptions to this are known. Similarly, coyotes "being wild animals" would never accept a domestic dog into its pack and would likely kill it....the experts say. Even after the story of "Ghost".

Experts always like to have their opinions and yet, if dog DNA is found in wolves was it the equivalent of a drunken one night stand (I am being sarcastic there in case it was not obvious)? There are wolves caught on trail cams that it is said 2obviously have a lot of dog in them" (only DNA testing would really tell.

A tough, hardy breed that could survive hardship in the wild is far more likely to connect with a wolf or coyote and breeding take place. The American Indian Dog (AID) could be such a breed and when tribes were displaced and herded into reservations it is very possible that hungry dogs went off to hunt food and decided the wild was better.

I have tried to find examples of AID taxidermy and failed. Very unlikely that a "dirty mongrel" would be of interest to a taxidermist. How could we tell if wolves or coyotes had AID in them? DNA testing and, again, this type of intense work (requiring a sample of AID DNA) is not "sexy" enough for the grant grabbers in science. Wild canids are generally not of interest.

If the AID was around pre-Clovis Culture (The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture from the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years) then at any time in its existence the breed could have contributed to wolf or coyote DNA. Some person(s) may have also tried to cross breed wolves and coyotes with a hardier breed of dog (this was tried by English hunts throughout the 19th century for a better hunting animal and if there is one thing we do know it is that hunters in the United States liked to emulate their British counterparts who also went on coyote and wolf hunting 'holidays' to the US).

Modern attempts at hybridisation are often frowned down on especially when a cross breed escapes into the wild. Wolves are often shot as "hybrids" just based on their appearance and to be honest that is just an excuse and I have come upon US wildlife offices covering up on certain wolf kills -body, photographs of the dead animal, reports 'lost' and even the collusion of one local newspaper which also lost its recent press photos and every detail of their story -all 'lost'.

Dog DNA could in fact make wolves more hardy to disease in the long run, although distemper is a hazard to them.

Were domestic dogs of the European or American Indian Dog responsible for dog DNA in coyotes and wolves? I think that question remains open until there is a study. No one pays for intense wild canid research.