Detailed Eurasier dog breed History
Development of the Eurasier
The idea to create the perfect companion dog first seeded in the mind of Nobel Prize winner ethologist Konrad Lorenz. He was interested in recovering the original Spitz-type dog which throughout time evolved into two branches, a European and an Asian one. A dog very similar to his goal was the Russian Laika, but dog imports from Siberia were not allowed during that time period. Julius Wipfel of Germany is the person who fulfilled Lorenz’s dream by mixing Wolf-Spitz (a dog breed later renamed Keeshond) and Chow Chow dogs as the starting stock. His intention was to bring back to life the oldest family of domestic dogs, the ancestor of both Asian and European Spitzes before it evolved into two branches, and not just create a new dog breed.
Starting stock
The Wolf-Spitz (Keeshond)
This breed is considered to be closest to the original spitz type and is also the largest of the group; it is a dog that bonds strongly to its family and is very loyal. It possesses no hunting instinct and it is also a good watchdog. Its strong maternal instinct was a desired trait, but its predisposition to bark a lot and its very abundant coat were not preferred traits.
The Chow-chow
This is an Asian dog breed that is also a very good watchdog. It tends to have a strong personality and be wary of strangers. Traits that had to be avoided and not passed onto the final result were: the health problems specific to Chows, poor reproduction and very independent temperaments.
Results
The offspring of this first mixture were called Wolf-Chows and they were considered to be pretty close to the preferred ideal, however Mr. Wipfel wanted to refine this dog’s character and grace further more; he decided to include Samoyed dogs in the next crossbreeding.
The Samoyed
This breed is among the oldest breeds of dogs in the world, and it takes its name from nomadic Siberian people. The Samoyed is also known by many as “the smiling dog” The traits needed from this breed were its good health and gentle temperament.
The final result: the Eurasier dog breed
The Eurasier dog is a medium sized Working dog of the Spitz family with balanced proportions, a soft and rich, medium-length, coat, and pricked ears. All colors of the coat are accepted except all white, white patches (pinto) and liver. Males are between 52 to 60cm, 23 to 32kg, and females are 48 to 56cm and 18 to 26kg. The coat is self cleaning not high maintenance. A weekly thorough brushing should maintain it in good condition. Daily brushing might be needed during seasonal shedding, which occurs during the spring. Since this dog was meant to rejoin the European and Asian Spitz-type branches all in one, the breed was thus named Eurasier.
