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male representative, came to us and inquired as to our objectives. We attempted to explain we were interested in the dog, of all things, and he sort of understood, but we decided to leave well enough alone and abandoned this camp. Myrna Shibboleth, a Chicago-born Israeli, resides in a picturesque farm on the foothills of Jerusalem where she breeds Canaans true to standard, sometimes adding outcross blood from dogs acquired from the Bedouins. I asked her when was the last time she had done this. I brought back two wild born dogs about two years ago, one was a year old male that was caught for me, and the other was a five week old puppy. I have had a litter from each of them, kept a female from the first, and now have a litter from the second, who has grown up to be a gorgeous dog. The puppies are now nearly seven weeks and looking very good, and the dog has been bred to another bitch. You can see all of them on my website (www.canaandogs. info) - the year old is Sharav me Arad, the wild born puppy is Tsuk Al Kashhar, and the daughter of Sharav is Briza me Shaar Hagai. There is a lot of information and photos on the site about dogs in the desert, also under “Judging the Canaan”, where there is a long article about Canaans in the desert. Could you please tell me, from your experience and knowledge, do the dogs we saw in the desert look enough like Canaans bred to standard? None of these are Canaans, they are mixed breeds. It is very rare to find pure Canaans with the Bedouins that live and spend a lot of time in the vicinity of towns - survival is much easier (garbage and such), and all sorts of mixed breeds are able to survive easily. The only pure Canaans now come from remote areas and from the Bedouins leading a very traditional lifestyle. Why do the Bedouins crop the dogs’ ears? Most of them don’t anymore. But two reasons - one, because the ears are easily torn in fights, and this way they are preventing injury, and second as a sign of ownership. In some countries, like Syria, they do this with salukis also. From what I saw, they are still treated as pariah dogs even though they get fed. I saw no relationship with humans, including the shepherds they accompanied. What is your opinion on this point?
80 Dog News
They are pariah dogs. They are not pets, they may have a relationship with the children and sometimes the women, the men do not have any relationship with them. Remember also, that mostly it is not the men that go out with the herds, it is the women and children. They throw them the leftovers, otherwise the dogs have to fend for themselves. They do not breed them, breeding is only by the natural selection of the dogs, and if the Bedouin need a guard dog, they catch a puppy and tie it in the camp until it gets used to them. However, they very much value them as a working tool, and it is rare to find a Bedouin that will be willing to give or sell a dog that is a good guard dog, they are too valuable to them. Always remember that we are talking about the traditional Bedouin society, not the ones who live in townships and work in the city. Given half the chance, are Canaans affectionate or do they remain aloof? Very affectionate and very devoted to their own people, aloof to outsiders. Much more affectionate than any other breeds I have had, but not in an all-over-you silly sort of way - they communicate with you in a way that is absolutely amazing. Despite Myrna’s plaudits, Canaans are not the pet of choice in Israel. They also tend not to do very well at shows due to their very light stride that does not have the pleasing drive and reach most judges look for. However, one of Myrna’s dogs was reserve BIS a long time ago and presently we have another star, this time a bitch bred, owned and handled by Inna Blayvas (born in Russia). Bat Yerushalayim Shel Zahav has amassed about 10 championship titles in Israel and Europe, has several group wins and last year became the first and only Canaan to ever win BIS at an all-breed show in Estonia. She still preserves the breeds’ characteristics and is true to type. So this is another Israeli tale of immigrants from the world over, a Bedouin dog adopted as a national symbol and two immigrant ladies doing wonders with the desert-born breed. •