History of the Northern Inuit

In the 1990's, there was an increase in the amount of advertisements offering "Wolf Hybrid" pups for sale. As the recent "Pit Bull" horror stories from an over zealous tabloid press emerged, the RSPCA and other authorities grabbed the chance to try and have many people prosecuted and thier dogs confiscated under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act. Because of all the controversy surrounding any wolfy looking dogs, a group of people got together to try to safeguard the future of a particular line of these dogs.

The dogs were given the name "Northern Inuit Dog" due to the Northern breeds and Inuit type dogs that were used to create the breed. Two of these original Wolf types were imported to the UK from The USA as "Wolf Hybrid Dogs" and their progeny were sold up and down the country as "Wolf Hybrids".

At the time of the NI being established, one of the breed founders (Julie Kelham) had the local authorities hammering at her door, trying to seize her dogs as dangerous wild animals. Although they went away empty handed, it resulted in a court case being brought against her at the local magistrates court on the 20th June 1998. At this time, the NI was well established as a breed of dog and not as a Wolf Hybrid. The end result of the court case was a not guilty verdict due to the fact that it could not be proven what wolf content was in the breed.

The NI has since flourished and is rapidly gaining in popularity, therefore the Northern Inuit Society was formed to govern the breeding and well being of this wonderful dog. Although some members in the past were obviously not satisfied with the NI as it was, and went on to cross their dogs with other breeds, which resulted in several splits. This is how the breeds such as the Utonagan, British Inuit, Timber Wolflike Dogs and the Tamaskan were created and their own breed clubs being formed.

So, the question still remains,"is there any wolf content in the NI"? This is the question that many people ask, and now with the help of The Embark DNA Test we know they have varying amounts of wolf content in them!