More than a year ago, I explored the topic of woolly dogs, the unique, domesticated dogs of the Salish Sea. I would like to return to the subject, in part because I like dogs, but also to highlight some recent encounters with them. The first was at the Burke Museum, where I was privileged to see an amazing basket collected on the Skokomish Reservation and donated to the museum in 1932. Made of twined cattail leaves, it features several animals. On the top row are interspersed wolves and western grebes. According to Skokomish tradition bearer and artist
Given the state of genetics I suspect a recovery of Wooly Dogs is possible. The first step would be to recover the complete DNA of one, very possible. Then the DNA of existing dogs throughout the world would have clues as to which genes were responsible for the 'Wooly'. I would not be surprised if simply cross breeding and selecting those closest would come up with something very close to the 'original'. This was likely how Wooly Dogs lineage was established in the beginning.
Given the state of genetics I suspect a recovery of Wooly Dogs is possible. The first step would be to recover the complete DNA of one, very possible. Then the DNA of existing dogs throughout the world would have clues as to which genes were responsible for the 'Wooly'. I would not be surprised if simply cross breeding and selecting those closest would come up with something very close to the 'original'. This was likely how Wooly Dogs lineage was established in the beginning.
It will be interesting to see what they find with the genetic testing.