The origins of the striking black wolf gray color

Thank you all for your well-wishes to Stanley in his new retirement!

During dinner tonight, I gave him a big hug from all of you who send your love.

He now shares a residence with our spayed twin girls, “the Marys”, Mary and Meriwether from the Frontiersmen litter who continue to await their forever homes.

A few of you expressed an understandable sadness at the news that Stanley has now retired.

I don’t blame you.

Stanley is amazing.

Not to worry, though.

We have several dogs/puppies from Stanley’s lines to carry on his great legacy.

Albreta is Stanley’s granddaughter and she gave us:

1. Yeti
2. St. Elias
3. Lincoln
4. Everest

And the first three of those will all produce that beautiful black wolf gray coat color with the silver undercoat, just like our beloved Stanley.

In fact, I imagine St. Elias (aka: Ripley) and Lincoln will both look very similar to Stanley, only larger.

I can’t wait to watch them grow up into the stunning American Dirus dog examples!

Just imagine more Stanley’s running around Dire Wolf Project headquarters.

It’s an exciting time for the breed to have so many beautiful black wolf gray breeding dogs to continue this grand unique color choice.

Do you know where the black wolf gray color came from?

Since we have never, nor will we ever, breed in gray wolf, just how did we come by this beautiful black color with the silver undertones just like the beautiful black gray wolves?

This melanistic marvel comes from…

Dun… dun… dun!

The Labrador Retriever

Lois introduced a black Lab/Malamute mix named Princess into the breed in 2012.

She was all black with a white spotted chest, round dark brown eyes, and large drop ears.

Nothing like anyone’s imagined dire wolf!

But Lois knew this mixed-breed female held the genes she needed to enhance the overall confident nature of the breed, as well as bring in the black wolf coloring and the thick, short, straight tail she wanted to capture.

And BAM!!

Three generations later, Stanley was born!

How did she know?

It wasn’t a lucky guess.

Lois has the ability to see past the immediate outward appearance of a dog.

And look at the genes that make-up the genetic content of a dog.

It’s truly an amazing process.

And now.

The American Dirus dog within the Dire Wolf Project is in the second generation from the next Lab mix addition with striking bright yellow eyes and a black wolf gray coat color.

It’ll be fun to watch this Opal’s line progress over the next few generations.

By the way, there are TWO puppies with this amazing black wolf gray coloring still available right now.

One is a second generation from the Lab/Shepherd crossbreed named Licorice with long legs and a happy energetic personality.

The other is a tiny fifth generation male named Hamilton with a big heart of gold snuggles and hugs.

Learn more about them at our puppies for sale page here:

https://direwolfdogs.com/dogs-for-sale/puppies/

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.