American Tundra Shepherd

AMERICAN TUNDRA SHEPHERD

This breed originated from an experiment by the government in the 1960s. It was believed that crossing wolves with German Shepherds would give a superior breed, combining the strength, higher intelligence, higher stamina, and sharper hearing, eye and smell of the wolf with the all-round temperament and good training ability of the German Shepherd.

Frank Catania, who had 11 years of experience in training dogs for military and private use, established a 5-year breeding program with these crosses in 1968 to produce wolfdogs that could be used by the military in the Vietnam War and elsewhere. But like many other wolfdog crosses, they failed. These wolfdogs were very good at tracking, but had no motivation whatsoever to attack or protect people. The program was discontinued after 5 years, but they wanted to create a new variety.

In 1976, some of the 50% wolfdogs were bred back to German Shepherds. After a while this new breed emerged from these 25% offspring: the American Tundra Shepherd.

There is a very strict breeding program, the puppies are monitored by a certified person who sees how the appearance and character evolves in order to determine in which work program each wolfdog individually fits. The American Tundra Shepherd is massive, strong in appearance, always vigilant and pacing nervously to take in every sound and movement.