Tahltan Bear Dogs - a Breed Living on the Brink

This Little Hunting Spitz from Canada is Nearing Extinction

Apr 26, 2009 Terry McNamee

You've come face to face with a black bear, and the only thing between you and the bear is a little dog. But when it's a Tahltan Bear Dog, you have nothing to fear.

The Tahltan people of northern British Columbia, Canada, were expert hunters, and their small dogs were their secret weapon. These dogs could track game, then chase the animals and turn them back towards the hunters. But bear-hunting was their specialty.

The little dogs were carried in packs to conserve their strength on a hunt until fresh tracks were found, when they would be turned loose. They were light enough to run on top of crusted snow that would not support larger animals. Working in pairs, one dog would annoy the bear from the front while the other attacked from behind. The dogs were nimble and quick, darting in and out and nipping the bear while avoiding its teeth and claws. They would hold it at bay until the hunters arrived to kill it, or until the bear’s nerve broke and it went up a tree or ran. They also guarded the camp at night.

Description of a Tahltan Bear Dog

Tahltan Dogs were a primitive breed. The females only came into breeding heat once a year, like wild canines, whilst most domestic dogs have two heats per year. The original Tahltan Bear Dog had a short, dense, harsh coat, large erect ears and a foxy face. Its tail was six to seven inches long, standing straight up with the hair fanned out like a brush. Longer tails may have been docked to achieve the correct length. They averaged 14 to 17 inches tall. Most dogs were black, often with white markings, but some were steel gray. White dogs with black or gray spots were less desirable, and those with long coats are believed to be crossbred with other types, particularly the Hare Indian Dog.

The most famous Tahltan was Stickeen, the hero of a book of the same name written by California naturalist John Muir, who travelled extensively in the northwest.

Canadian Kennel Club Recognition for the Tahltan

The Tahltan became quite well known in the 1930s and was added to the list of Canadian Kennel Club recognized breeds in 1939 or 1941. Unfortunately, the breed never caught on with outsiders, possibly due to stories that Tahltan Dogs always died when taken south. Such deaths likely resulted from diseases of domestic dogs to which this northern breed had no immunity.

By the mid-1970s, purebred Tahltans had almost disappeared in Canada. With no new registrations and the breed nearing extinction, the C.K.C. removed the dog from the Sporting Group.

Reviving a “Lost” Dog Breed

There are still mixed breed dogs in the Atling and Ross River area of B.C. that show Tahltan characteristics. While a dog that looks like a Tahltan could be created by “back-breeding” from these dogs, there are doubts that they would still have all the other characteristics that made the breed special.

The best hope for restoring the breed may lie with Kim Laflamme, a breeder of Indian Dogs in Oregon. It is known historically that Tahltan Dogs were highly valued and traded south to other First Nations. The Pueblo Indian Dog is a very similar breed which Laflamme believes has close genetic ties to the Tahltan, just as the Navajo (Dine) and Tahltan (Dene) people have. For several decades, he has had a pure line of Tahltans and Pueblo Dogs. He recently gave one of his last Tahltans (which has some Pueblo blood) to a Tahltan woman in B.C. who hopes to revive the breed in its homeland by crossing with her remaining partbred Tahltans. This American bloodline may be the last chance for the Tahltan.

Occasionally, people advertise “purebred” Tahltan Bear Dog puppies for sale. Buyers should be aware that, given the extreme rarity of this nearly extinct breed, it is highly unlikely that the animals being sold are the real thing.

Sources:

Canadian Kennel Club Book of Dogs. General Publishing Company Limited, Toronto, 1988.

Davis, Henry P. The New Dog Encyclopedia. Stackpool Books, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1970.

Dease Lake Community Website (see link above under Tahltan people)

First Nations Land Rights and Environmentalism in British Columbia

Jones, Arthur F. and Ferelith Hamilton. The World Encyclopedia of Dogs. Walter Parrish International Limited, London, England, 1971.

Laflamme, Kim. Personal correspondence, April 2009. (See photo for link.)

Lundberg, Murray. “The Tahltan Bear Dog”. Published on-Line at the Everything Husky Site (see photo for link), updated 2009.

Mincey, Everett K. and Karen E. “The Origins of the Tahltan Bear Dog”. Dog in Canada, Apex Publishers, Don Mills, Ont., November 1992.

Mincey, Everett K. and Karen E. “Confusion About the Tahltan?”. Dog in Canada, Apex Publishers, Don Mills, Ont., December 1992.

Stirling, Jim. “Native Canadian: The Tahltan Bear Dog.” Dog in Canada, Canadian Kennel Club, Toronto, Ont., October 1974.

The photo of the three Tahltans is from an article written by J. Blakiston-Gray and published in Dogs in Canada, January 1943. Used with permission of Dogs in Canada. The original caption reads, "Three typical Tahltan Bear Dogs. Left to right, they are: Ted-Jut, Etzerza and Klappan. Note the fox-like head and general keenness. Ted-Jut and Etzerza are owned by Constable Gray."

The copyright of the article Tahltan Bear Dogs - a Breed Living on the Brink in Dogs is owned by Terry McNamee. Permission to republish Tahltan Bear Dogs - a Breed Living on the Brink in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Three Tahltan Bear Dogs, 1943.	Female Tahltan from the 1930s.	The last CKC-registered Tahltan Dog.
Half-Tahltan with brush tail, bred by Kim Laflamme	Some Tahltans were white with dark spots.