Are we promoting "dire wolves?"

Many of you know that our esteemed Dire Wolf Project Inner Circle member, Jody-Lynn, is our resident executive assistant here at Dire Wolf Project headquarters.

She works tirelessly behind the scenes answering questions, updating the websites, building endless excel spreadsheets, and approving applications during the adoption process.

Jody-Lynn works from her desk with her two giant American Dirus dogs, Hercules and Finnegan, at the Dire Wolf Project’s Satellite Administration Office in Allen Park, Michigan.

Every morning, except weekends, Jody-Lynn and I have a conference meeting to go over the day’s tasks.

She is the best at keeping me in line!

Well, somebody has to do it or I’d be WAY farther behind answering emails.

Behind every successful person is someone happily working invisibly to prop them up.

That’s Jody-Lynn!

Well, a few days ago, the Dire Wolf Project received an adoption questionnaire from a woman who lives in Sweden.

Every so often, we receive questionnaires from people interested in purchasing a wolf dog, thinking that the Dire Wolf Project breeds wolf dogs.

Apparently, C. from Sweden thought the Dire Wolf Project bred wolf dogs, too.

And just as Jody-Lynn was trained to do, she did not automatically approve C., but made sure C. understood the exact nature of our dogs.

When she did… the conversation turned into something no one expected.

Good Afternoon C.,

Thank you so much for completing the answers to our puppy adoption questionnaire. It was a pleasure to get to know you better. 

Before we move on with your application, I want to make sure you understand our dogs do not have wolf content in them. While we breed our dogs to have that prehistoric wild look, they are 100% domesticated and will be excellent family pets. Some people see the wild look and assume some wolf content. We do not want to disillusion anyone or misrepresent our dogs, which is why we work hard to plaster our web pages with “100% dog, 0% wolf” and other trademarked slogans. Before we can process your application, please acknowledge that you understand that and accept the 0% wolf content. 

I want to make sure that you are indeed in the right place and don't have any misunderstandings about our dogs before moving further. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you so much. I hope to speak with you again soon.

Please note that: it is prohibited to keep or own wolf hybrids in Sweden. It is prohibited to keep or breed dogs particularly prone to aggression (Swedish Ordinance - SFS 1988:539, amended by SFS 1997:49 - on animal welfare).

Should you decide to adopt one of our dogs please look into importing

https://www.petrelocation.com/country/sweden

Dear Jody,

Then, I do not understand why do you portray yourself as “ Dire wolf project”.

What are you?

Best of luck,

C

Good Evening C.,

We are the Dire Wolf Project. We are working to bring back the look of the extinct dire wolf, in a large loving ,companion. 0% wolf, 100% dog.

Please see our website.

https://direwolfproject.com/

Hello Jody,

Thanks for replying.

I just don’t understand the advertising then…?

Aren’t you promoting “ Dire wolves”???

I’m

Confused 

Best,

C.

Obviously you are not serious.

Wish you the best with your American clients,

-C

Good Evening C.,

Yes, we are very serious about the objectives of the Dire Wolf Project. Please accept my apology for not replying in a more timely manner.

The goal of the breeding program is to develop a dog that resembles the extinct dire wolf, without using any wolf DNA, and has a calm gentle demeanor of a companion dog. Most wolf-like dog breeds began with a wolf hybrid to get the wolf look. Our program began with German Shepherd dogs and Giant Malamutes. We have never, and will never, add wolf to the mix.

All that being said, it is actually impossible to "back-breed" to bring the dire wolf back as it was an offshoot of the canid family before wolves and dogs evolved. Wolves and dogs are distant cousins of the dire wolf, not descendants. And, latest studies are proposing that dogs are not descendants of wolves either, but came from a common ancestor.

So, to answer your question, no, we are not promoting "Dire wolves", or "dire wolf-dogs", but DireWolf Dogs™.

Ah… the sweet aroma of “I didn’t have to take the time to answer this one myself.”

Thanks, Jody-Lynn, for your lovely professionalism and class.

Now, though, with so many new Dire Wolf Project Inner Circle members who’ve recently joined our email newsletter, I think it’s the perfect time for me to formally address this Swedish woman’s confusion.

Perhaps you, too, have joined our ranks thinking we sell wolf dogs.

It would be understandable because ALL other wolf look-a-like breeds are wolf dogs of varying percentage.

That’s right, the Dire Wolf Project is THE ONLY wild canid imitation breed to never have cheated by breeding in wild wolf content.

And just as Jody-Lynn clearly stated…

Nor will we ever!

Jody was also correct that our beloved domestic dog breeds are more related to ancient wild canines than to modern wolves.

Mixing ancient wolf DNA, still contained in our modern domestic dog breeds, with today’s wild canids negates 20,000+ years of domestication evolution.

Domestic dogs and modern wolves diverged from a shared ancestor approximately 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

This ancestor was likely a now-extinct population of wild canids that had traits distinct from modern wolves.

Think of the vast time lost, not to mention the beneficial domesticated behavioral DNA that vanishes the moment a wild canid enters the domesticated gene pool.

A dog breed hoping to breed back the exact bone and body structure of the extinct, prehistoric dire wolf could never mix modern wolf DNA into such a project.

It would completely defeat the purpose of breeding back the look of the extinct, ancient canid.

Held within the various dog breeds around the world are the remnants of a Paleolithic gray wolf ancestor no longer found to exist among modern wild wolves.

And the Dire Wolf Project aims to find these ancient genetic remnants and bring them together in an amazing dire wolf-look-a-like breed with the sweet, loving disposition that only 20,000+ years of domestication can achieve.

We have a few puppies still searching for their furever family.

Check them all out at the link below:

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.