American Canine Association

Breeds

Canaan Dog


History

A rare breed and certainly ancient, the Canaan Dog breed can be seen in ancient stone carvings. This breed is native to Israel and was formed by crossing other native wild dogs at the time. The Canaan Dog was used for guarding and herding purposes.

Appearance

Both males and females weighing in between 35-50 pounds in weight and measuring 19-24 inches in height. This breed is a medium to large breed. Built lean and muscular, the Canaan carries a defined wedge shaped head with two triangular ears standing firm on top. Their severe scissor bite is ended with either a large black or brown nose depending on their coat color. Their almond shaped eyes are available in a dark brown or black. Their medium sized tail should be positioned upwards and slightly curved over their back. The Canaan Dog has a double layer coat that is short and thick. Commonly seen in blonde, they are available in brown, black, red, tan, black and white, tan and white, and all other color combinations and shade variations of these colors.

Temperament

Requiring a lot of physical exercise to remain calm and relaxed, this breed may not be for everybody. Best on a farm where he or she is able to have a daily job and work, the Canaan Dog is not fit for everyday family life style unless it has many jobs to do in and outside of the house. This breed is best suited for older children, 12 +, due to their typical behavior, activeness and being a natural herder. When herding dogs do not have farm animals such as sheep to herd, they will naturally attempt to herd their family members or other pets, which is an important note to make when considering this breed or similar ones. Please note that this breed is known to bark a lot. When not receiving proper mental and physical exercise, the barking will become excessive. With proper understanding and education of this breed, as well as positive reinforcement training methods, your Canaan Dog is capable of being a wonderful working partner and companion.

Grooming

Daily brushing and bathing when needed. This breed does shed.

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the Canaan Dog prior to adding one to your family to ensure you are able to provide the care and requirements for owning this breed. Do not add this breed to your family unless you are able to make a life long commitment to the life of your new pet, providing life long financial and physical care. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

© 2024 American Canine Association, Inc.