"From then until now" the Canaan Dog genes are found throughout the Negev in Israel, where puppies are occasionally collected, carefully evaluated for type and bred in a limited and carefully recorded way to dogs of known pedigree until a third generation is reached and the dog proves to breed true, and then the dogs are all added to the pedigree database as Canaan Dogs. The choice of puppies, the traits that make a puppy valuable to the gene pool of the world's Canaan Dog population, and is vital to the survival of the breed both in the wild and in the registered domestic home.
Such work is primarily carried out these days by Myrna Shibboleth following the guidelines set forth by the Menzels in their early structuring of what became today's registered purebred Canaan Dogs. Does this mean there are free-roaming Canaan Dogs in the deserts today? Mmmm, not so much. Not exactly, I should say. What it means is, there are still puppies being born in the wild that are then being allowed to grow and contribute new genetic material (although most likely distantly related to all the other Canaan Dogs worldwide) to the breed. It does not mean we're adding outside genetics, as these are the same tribes and their companions who have been adding puppies to the stud book for generations and all new puppies must be screened and evaluated and their offspring for several generations must meet certain guidelines before they're considered to be part of the purebred database. This action, by the way, is referred to as "having an open studbook" for purposes of adding dogs to the registration rolls.
This can, of course, lead to confusion and, in some cases, outright fraud when it comes to labeling a dog as a Canaan Dog (capital C, capital D, as of course the term canaan means "of Israel" and is used in casual conversation by those not speaking of pedigree and purebred, and of course not always of dogs). Due to the popularity now of the still-rare purebred, pedigreed Canaan Dog, there are rescue groups who are innocently or deliberately conflating the term and including their own street strays (buladi) as "canaan dogs" and selling them for a higher price than an ordinary mixed-breed street stray would fetch. (see what I did there?) Truthfully, a great many people who "rescue" a dog from the streets and shelters of the Middle East either believe or are told they have Canaan Dogs when in fact they do not, as a Canaan Dog must have a known pedigree and parentage to qualify as a member of this specific breed. Otherwise the dogs are buladi, which is not to say they're not perfectly wonderful dogs with a great many of the same traits and features of a purebred Canaan Dog. They cannot, however, be as predictable nor can they contribute to the gene pool of actual Canaan Dogs, the breed. They are also mixed with the genetics of perhaps many breeds, including the 'European' ones such as German Shepherds, Retrievers, etc. Basically, they're mutts that have the misfortune of finding themselves and their subsequent generations on the streets until someone takes them in and places them for sale as a 'rescue'. I applaud those who find their heart dog from the streets (of anywhere, actually) but caution against the belief that those are "indigenous canaans" or some such terminology used by retail rescue to part dog lovers with more of their money.
But why do they LOOK and/or ACT "just like a Canaan Dog"? Well, because the Canaan Dog is, literally, a product of breeding self-selection where survival of the fittest contributed to the outcome we know and love today; the shape and set of the ears and eyes, the square body, the moderate build and appearance, mid-size and appropriate coat are all functions of what a dog needs to survive the varying climate and terrain situations in that region and of course only dogs that survive get to breed on to the next generation. The same holds true for street dogs except those are most likely inclusive of genetics from feral (or previously-owned) dogs that descend from man-shaped populations outside the pure packs free-roaming alongside the Bedouin tribes and from which our modern Canaan Dogs have always been drawn, or from a combination of other breeds native to that general region (including Saluki, etc.). Similar circumstances in other nations result in their street strays often eventually resembling the Canaan Dog as well, but of course does not qualify those dogs for inclusion in the breed either.
In the long run, if you love your dog and are thrilled you get to share life with your dog, then your dog is a great thing for your life, even if you don't really have a Canaan Dog. All dogs can be just as loved. And, yes, retail rescue really does use fraud to get more money but hey, your dog was worth every penny and then some if you both love each other and that's all that counts, not what breed he or she ends up being.
*A note on DNA breed profiling: those tests that tell you what breed(s) your dog is, are PURELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT and get their answers from their database of submitted DNA, which relies not only on a broad enough spectrum of different breeds being submitted for their database AND the honesty of those doing the submission, and those same Retail Rescue joints that wish to capitalize on the desirability of the Canaan Dog breed are actually submitting their street mutt DNA labelled as Canaan Dog, so any 'rescue' street mutt with similar DNA will show up as Canaan Dog. Trust the breeders; there are actually so few of us world-wide that we have a fairly good handle on what dogs are and are not part of the Canaan Dog family.
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