Tamaskan Dog

The Tamaskan Dog is a rare, large, athletic, wolf-like highly versatile working breed. This breed has a great stamina and makes a great dog for sled pulling. It is very loyal and will be a wonderful family dog.

The Tamaskan Dog is a young breed that was created in 1980’2 in Finland as a result of crossing different sledding breeds from Alba, Blustag, Blufawn and Moonstone Kennels. These dogs were later crossed with Siberian Husky, Northern Inuit Dog, the Utonagan, Alaskan Malamute, a few German Shepherds, Czech wolfdog, one Saarlooswolfhond and other arctic breeds including Finnish racing huskies. The breeders wanted to create a wolf-like dog with a good working ability and a wonderful temperament.
Originally the breed was named the Wolf-dog, and in 1988 the name was changed to Nothern Unuit, then to Utonagan. The first litter was produced in 2002, but only in 2006 the breed was given its modern name – the Tamaskan dog.

In 2006 first breed members were exported from Finland to Holland, United Kingdom and Sweden, and in 2007 to America and Germany. On 27th November 2013, the American Rare Breed Association recognized the Tamaskan Dog.

The Tamaskan Dog is used for sled pulling, as a show and family dog. It still remains very rare, but the interest in this breed is constantly increasing all over the world.

The Tamaskan Dog is a very loyal, loving, affectionate and intelligent companion. It forms very strong bonds with its family and it’s not a good idea to leave your dog alone for a long time, as it tends to suffer from separation anxiety.

The Tamaskan dog is a friendly breed that will be good with strangers and very gentle with children of all ages. Your dog won’t be a good guardian, but makes a good watchdog as it is alert and tends to bark if a stranger or a guest is approaching.

The Tamaskan dog will be good with other dogs and animals. It can live with other canines, cats, horses, rabbits, birds or ant other animal, but it is recommended to socialize your dog properly as it still has a prey drive.

The most common health problems for the breed include:

• cryptorchism;
• epilepsy;
• degenerative myelopathy;
• canine hip dysplasia;
• ear infections;
• deafness;
• eye problems;
• heat sensitivity;
• gastric torsion.

The Tamaskan dog is very easy to groom. Brush your dog once a week and more often during shedding season. Trim the nails when needed, clean the ears and brush the teeth.

The Tamaskan dog is a highly intelligent, obedient breed that is eager to please, willing to learn and easy to train, but it needs a dominant owner as it can be stubborn. You need to establish yourself as a pack leader from the very beginning. Your dog will learn basis commands very quickly and will be able to perform almost any task a dog can do.

However, Tamaskan dog must respect and completely trust its owner. You must be patient, confident, firm, but caring and gentle. Use positive methods and repetitive tasks. This breed excels in agility, obedience and sled racing.

The Tamaskan Dog is a very energetic and athletic breed that requires a great amount of daily exercise and mental stimulation. Your dog will need a long brisk daily walk and an opportunity to run off-leash in a secured area. The best choice for this breed will be agility training, pulling, obedience competitions or any dog sport or work.

This breed is definitely for an active family and won’t feel good in a small apartment. The Tamaskan Dog needs a lot of space and a large yard is strongly recommended. If your dog doesn’t get enough exercise it will become destructive, vocal and ignore basic training (like