Genetics of registered Canaan dogs versus pariahs.

Here is an interesting illustration of just what the difference is between the pure free living pariah dogs and the pure Canaan “breed” established by simply capturing pariahs and breeding them for sale.  Kiva is a dog I saw as a puppy in 2013 in Israel. Her parents were Janey, a freeborn bitch from Jordan, and Tsuk, a freeborn from Israel. She now lives in America. Based on that information only her gDNA results could be expected to show her as a “village dog”. However she comes out as a Canaan. Looking deeper gives the explanation. Unlike most established breeds that have long been totally closed, the Canaan breed still adds new dogs after they have gone through a kennel club process. In simple terms this is based on the new dog coming from the area i.e. not from other continents where similar looking pariahs exist, then by breeding through 3 generations with the offspring breeding true to the look. The 3^rd generation can then be registered as a Canaan with the kennel club. When it comes to DNA identification of any breed this is of course based on what kennel clubs deem to be the breed.  At least two maybe three dogs related to Kiva have been incorporated into the breed and have had their DNA checked by Embark so are therefore now part of the Canaan breed profile. At least one of these was descended from a brother of Janey.  Therefore Kiva now fits the updated Canaan profile.  Sadly many of Janey’s pups from her 3 litters were considered “aggressive” and were killed rather than spend the time needed to work on this. This is NOT the way to go if breeders honestly want to preserve this type of dog.  Starting at bringing in more new dogs they should be fully tested with state of the art methods (Embark being the only available one with pariahs in their database). This would firstly ensure that the dog is not a mixture. It would also ensure that no potential genetically associated health issue is added and could become a problem in future.  There is no simple “marker” that says a dog is a Canaan. The only “Canaan” that may be found living free is one related to the few that have been used to create the “breed” or have been added to them.   There is no reason why a pariah or village dog that tests as a pure Arabian or Middle Eastern village dog should not be added to the Canaan breed if it also has no genetic health issue. Ideally it would be preferable to concentrate on allowing these free living dogs to live where they are and as they have done for thousands of years without human interference, provided they are not in unsafe areas where they are at risk of being killed.

Of the pariahs I tested the close relatives were all from the same pack of dogs living together.