Tamaskan vs. Utonagan

[Caesar]

HI,

hope, that nobody takes it the wrong way, I just want to get a lot of information about this lovely breed!

So, where exactly is the difference between the Utonagan and the Tamaskan? As far as I found the right information in the net, they both had the relatives once.. right?

Greetz from Vienna,
Paul

[Sylvaen]

Well, the temperament / character of the 2 breeds is very similar... the main differences are appearance and health.

Utonagans tend to look a lot like NAIDs (North American Indian Dogs) and they also allow the piebald / "ink spot" color pattern. This breed tends to allow for quite a degree of variation: one Utonagan doesn't necessary look like another Utonagan. As far as I know they don't have a set Breed Standard or, if they have recently created a Breed Standard, then there it is a very loose one as I've seen all types... some with floppy ears, blue eyes, curly tails, long coats or short coats, etc.

IMHO the Tamaskan breed is much more uniform and consistent, with a strict breed standard, which means that not only do all individuals look similar to one another but (in my opinion) this breed is also the most wolfy-looking.

Health-wise, I think Tamaskans are also better off because in the early Utonagan days there was a lot of inbreeding so many of the bloodlines now suffer from genetic diseases, such as epilepsy. Though some Tamaskan bloodlines do share ancestry with Utonagan bloodlines (which is where most of the Tamaskan health issues stem from) the problem is that not many Utonagan breeders do health tests (hips, etc) so it's a bit of a gamble.

The Tamaskan Dog Register insists that all breeding dogs are hip tested and DNA profiled (as a minimum). Also, any and all health problems are reported to the Tamaskan Heath Database so we can track the issue, find out where it's coming from, and prevent it from happening again. You can visit that site to see all the recorded health problems, which shows that the Tamaskan is very healthy in comparison with most other purebred dog breeds that exist today.

I also researched Utonagans when I was first looking into getting a puppy and it soon became clear to me that the Tamaskan Dog was definitely a better choice with regards to temperament, health and appearance.

[Taz]

I think the utonagan have a standard, will look it up for you.

I know the british utonagan, the new utonagan offshoot have a standard, but think it has more allowance for variation than the tamaskan one, infact I know it does, will look that one up to.

Many of the uts/british uts, look like collie crosses as there was collie used in the breeding. Lovely looking dogs but in my opinion not wolf like by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly not as consistant in type as the tamaskan.

I know that the british utonagan people are saying that they're now going to try to sort out the mess with regards to health and genetic diversity, by hipscoring elbo scoring and litter eyescreening all dogs/puppies, as well as having yearly clear eye tests for breeding dogs. They're planning and have already crossed to gsd, and are planning to bring in malamute and siberian husky, as well as northern inuit. Personally, I'm suspicious, I've heard it all to many times before. 'We're going to solve the problems, the founder breed is a mess, we can and will put it right' etc etc, I'll believe it when I see it.

[Caesar]

HI,
thx a lot! This is what I thought!:)

Greetz
Paul

[Taz]

British utonagan standard.

http://www.britishutonagan.com/breedstandard.htm

I know colour is definately one area of variation, but not sure what the others are, as havn't compaired the british ut standard with that of the tamaskan.

[Annie]

Hello, everyone!!

Can someone tell me what´s the difference brtween Utonagan and Tamaskan? This isn´t the same breed isn´t it?

Cause I saw some beautiful pics of Utonagan


photo sharing sites

I think I´m gona lose my mind because of all that perfection of these dogs!!

Sorry if a thread like mine already exsist.

Bye

[HiTenshi16]

Some of the Foundation dogs that helped start the Tamaskan breed were Utonagans. I can't find any reference anywhere, but I believe the standards of both breeds are different, like how the Utonagan is accepting of some different colours and coat types.

[sky]

That is Loki. Born out of Silver Lights at Blustag. Blustag was a founder in the Tamaskan Breed after leaving the Utonagan Society. So as Jo stated several Utes were used a foundation dogs for the Tamaskan. This beautiful dog like my own Tamaskan suffers from epilepsy.

[Tiantai]

According to what Debby told me and a few others on youtube in the past, Utonagans have a slightly wider range of coat types and physical body structures while Tamaskans are more strictly limited to a tighter standard. Some Utonagans may have floppy ears but that trait is actually not accepted by the Utonagan Society and rather something they are trying to breed out of the dogs. Other than that, I don't know much.

[Hawthorne]

To be fair, Lynn was not the only breed founder.
There was Alba, Moonstone, and I really think Polar Speed should be acknowledged in there, too.

[Tiantai]

To be fair, Lynn was not the only breed founder.
There was Alba, Moonstone, and I really think Polar Speed should be acknowledged in there, too.

Yep, and so was Redkite and a few others which are all acknowledged on the pedigrees on Rahne's database site under construction

[HiTenshi16]

Yep, and so was Redkite and a few others which are all acknowledged on the pedigrees on Rahne's database site under construction

Those are dogs to help make the Utonagans and Northern Inuits, not breed founders.

[balto13]

To be fair, Lynn was not the only breed founder.
There was Alba, Moonstone, and I really think Polar Speed should be acknowledged in there, too.

Moonstone and Polar Speed usually aren't talked about when founders are mentioned. To be honest I don't know much about them, how they feel about the breed now, or the health of the tams they helped produce. Makes me pretty intrigued. Do you know if info on those two breeders are floating around on the forum?

[Katlin]

Moonstone stopped breeding after seeing what Kevin did to their dogs. Polar Speed still breeds finnish huskies if I remember correctly.

[Ryphen]

That's unfortunate. It's sad someone had to ruin it for them.

[Aislinn2204]

What are the origin breeds of the Utonagan?

regards
Marko

[Sylvaen]

What are the origin breeds of the Utonagan?

It seems they were predominantly arctic breeds (Husky / Malamute / etc) mixed with German Shepherds.

[Taz]

And some collie.

[Hawthorne]

Pedigree info for Polar Speed dogs can be found online at pawvillage.com You can trace the roots of just about all the Polar Speed dogs found in the Tamaskan all the way back to the founders for the husky. Pretty cool!