Do you breed REAL dire wolves?

Beautiful Direwolf

I had a completely different email in mind for today

until I received a mysterious…

and, if I’m honest,

slightly disturbing…

phone call yesterday afternoon.

I actually received a voicemail without the phone ringing through.

I have Robokiller on my cell, so sometimes calls don’t go through if the number isn’t in my contacts.

But this number didn’t go to Robokiller.

It didn’t ring through either, though.

It went straight to my normal voicemail,

which hasn’t happened since I added Robokiller to my phone.

No call… just a random voicemail notice popping up on my phone.

Strange right?

Anyway… the number came from Pensacola, Florida.

When I listened to the message, a soft older woman’s voice spoke very slowly with lots of dead air in between her words.

She didn’t introduce herself.

Instead, she launched right into her twenty-five second message,

——————-

“Yes…”

“Do you actually have dire wolf puppies?………………”

“I mean……”

“these……”

“are……”

“puppies……”

“known as…..”

“born.”

——————-

No kidding.

Well, needless to say, I was super curious about this, shall I say… interesting?, message.

SO…

I called her back.

Why the heck not?

My curiosity got the best of me.

When she picked up the phone, I introduced myself in an upbeat, polite manner.

“Hello. This is Jennifer from the Dire Wolf Project. How are you?”

“Is this the insurance company?” she retorted the moment my voice trailed off on the last syllable.

“No. This is Jennifer from the… Dire. Wolf. Project.”

My words were slow and clear in case of a processing difficulty.

(Internally, my mind was reeling from the strange feeling I had.)

With new-found clarity and speed she said, “Oh! Do you actually have REAL dire wolf puppies?”

I replied with naive confidence, “We breed 100% domesticated dogs with the look of the dire wolf. We do not have any dire wolf DNA in our dogs.”

SILENCE from the other end of the phone...

Then, “Oh.”

Then, more silence.

So, I continued with caution, a little uneasy at the ongoing silence, “Dire wolves were a prehistoric, extinct predator living during the Ice Age…”

“No, they’re not!" came a very forceful reply, cutting me off.

With resolve, she continued, “They still exist! Dire wolves weigh 500 lbs and are still alive.”

Now it was my turn for silence as I processed her insistent reply.

(I contemplated asking if she had seen one, but thought better of it.)

After a few uneasy seconds ticked by, she asked, “So, you don’t have real dire wolf puppies? Then, why do you call your dogs dire wolves?”

Trying my best to explain, I said, “We are a long-term project breeding domesticated dogs to look like the prehistoric dire wolf. DireWolf Dogs™ is the trademarked nickname for the American Dirus dog breed.”

Silence.

Then… “So, you don’t have real dire wolf puppies? I thought you might be breeding them.”

At this point, my head spun. I shook it from side to side in an effort to clear my mind. I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to escape this slow-moving ferris wheel of thought if I continued to indulge her. So, I quickly, but politely, answered, “No, we do not breed dire wolves. Thank you so much for your call. I hope you have a wonderful day.”

“Oh… okay,” her final words trailed off as I hung up the phone with some haste.

I wanted to share this bizarre exchange with you, Jody, because it occurred to me that this fundamental question might be on your mind, too.

After all, we do receive a few inquiries every now and then from people wanting a wolf dog.

I also recall one other time when someone emailed asking for a real dire wolf.

So, perhaps you are also wondering if our dogs are wolf dogs or real dire wolves.

As it states on every page of our direwolfdogs.com website, we breed 100% dog, 0% wolf™. American Dirus… prehistorically styled with nothing wild™.

One more time… we do NOT have any wolf, wolf dog, or prehistoric dire wolf DNA in our dogs.

And… if you were wondering if dire wolves still exist…

There is NO EVIDENCE that dire wolves still roam our North American landscape.

In fact, a few years back researchers were able to extract mitochondrial DNA from five separate fossilized dire wolves. They compared the DNA from these dire wolves to modern gray wolf DNA. The researchers’ findings seem to indicate that dire wolves were a separate species from the gray wolf and likely could not interbreed.

Click the link to an article I wrote explaining this in more detail:

https://direwolfproject.com/dire-wolf/dire-wolf-dna/

Furthermore, it is a myth passed down through fantasy and ancient mythology that dire wolves were 500-600 lbs.

There are two subspecies of dire wolf; the western dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus guildayi) and the eastern dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus dirus).

The smaller western dire wolf is estimated to have weighed on average 132 lbs.

The larger eastern dire wolf likely weighed 150 lbs with some specimens being larger.

Neither of these two subspecies could have exceeded 243 lbs due to skeletal limitations.

In comparison, the average weight of the largest gray wolf, the Yukon wolf, is 95 lbs for males and 82 lbs for females.

The Dire Wolf Project is ongoing. We have much more to accomplish before we reach a consistent type in overall appearance that mimics the real extinct, prehistoric dire wolf.

But we have many of the required traits needed to fulfill our goal of close dire wolf replication in bone and body structure.

It does take time because we continue to follow our founder, Lois Schwarz’s, strong convictions of health and temperament first.

When we finally get there, I wonder what will be staring back!

Remember: If you want to begin the journey toward American Dirus ownership, the first step is to complete the puppy adoption questionnaire so that we can get to know you better.

Click the link below for the application:

https://direwolfdogs.com/puppy-application/

And if you have been approved, placed your deposit, and are ready for a puppy, let us know.

You have until June 6th to reply to this email to tell us you wish to go active for the most current Genius Litter.

Here is the link to the official Dire Wolf Project waiting list:

http://direwolfproject.com/direwolf-dogs/waiting-list/

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs. 

Beautiful Direwolf

Stanley A Direwolf dog happy in his forest home

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