Canaan Dogs?

So there's this dog around here that i've seen at a couple trials. It is black and white and looks like a smooth coated border collie... only a little 'off'. I've always thought it was a border collie mix of some sort. Well, I was scribing today and that dog came up and I finally realized it's a Canaan dog. lol

I also realized I know absolutely nada about the breed. This dog is in starters(have only seen her run USDAA and there's only been 2 USDAA trials in the state). It seems pretty aloof compared to most herders. Is that correct?

Anyways, just a curiosity. I know nothing about the breed.

I've never met one, nor done much research (alright, probably not much help here ). But when I have researched them, everything says they are kind of odd dogs, kind of weird, warnings about them. I don't know personally though.

Most canaans I know are from the same breeder but they're all difficult to train, aloof, and catlike. They have a very special draw though, unique dogs.

Yeah this dog seems like it's mostly doing it's own thing a lot of time. Kinda reminded me more of a basenji than anything, which I guess makes sense considering they're pariah type dogs.

Yes, there is a well known Canaan bitch in our area, and I suspect this is one of her pups. Breeze (the dog) was aloof, but was also friendly and pretty playful. I've always admired them from afar, because as much as I love them I know they simply wouldn't fit into our household.

Ummm well back in the day I was on a puppy list for a Canaan puppy...litter on the ground, deposit paid...then Webster fell into my life and I gave up the deposit.

But the point is I did a fair amount of research on the breed then, and since then have met quite a few of them.

I was disappointed at the time (not about Webster but rather about not getting the puppy), but looking back I consider it all as having dodged a bullet.

Wow, you have certainly intrigued me. What were the ones you met like?

Never heard of them. Google showed me this:

http://cdca.org/what.html

The Canaan Dog, also known as Kelev K'naani, is a recent breed out of ancient Pariah Dog stock, and is the unique project of a pair of scientists, Drs. Rudolph and Rudolphina Menzel, dog experts and world authorities on Pariah Dogs, who loved Pariah Dogs and considered them worthy progenitors of what would become the modern Canaan Dog.
The Canaan Dog was developed from redomesticated Pariah Dog stock captured in the Palestine, where they were first used for guarding and tending cattle and sheep. The Israelis have since used the Canaan Dog for guard duties, as mine detectors during war times, as messengers, and as Red Cross helpers. The Canaan Dog possesses extremely keen senses of hearing and smell, and he can detect approaching intruders from a considerable distance, becoming instantly alert. He is an intelligent, trainable breed whose tracking ability is excellent. He shows definite talent as a stock dog and is able to compete in herding events. However, he does not perform as does a Border Collie or Kelpie with that degree of "eye". When raised with children and other pets, he becomes a devoted family companion and natural watchdog. He is aloof with strangers, inquisitive, loyal, and loving with his family. Because of the strong "denning" instinct of their recent semi-wild past, the Canaan Dog is naturally clean and easily housebroken. He does not require an excessive amount of exercise.
The medium-size, square body of the Canaan Dog is without extremes, showing a clear, sharp outline. He moves with athletic agility and grace in a quick, brisk, ground-covering trot. He has a wedge-shaped head with low-set erect ears, a bushy tail that curls over the back when excited, and a straight, harsh, flat-lying double coat.

I had been looking into them about two years before I got Hawkeye. I was turned off by the fact that it seemed many breeders had a part of their website devoted to talking about the "aggression" in the breed and why it's not really aggression and you just gotta learn their quirks.

Seems like a rather large percentage of the breed that I've met is shy and fearful and reactive. Boarding on systemic fear aggression. The owners/breeders tend to describe this in Poetic Pariah Dog terms but the reality is they seem prone to shyness in normal settings and often react with an I'll-get-you-before-you-get-me display. From sixty feet away.

At the end of the day they are dogs with a particular set of behavioral quirks but the breeders have a tendency to romanticize them into oblivion.

I guess in the intervening years I've decided I wanted a dog, not a mystical unicorn. A dog described practically, in dogs terms, whose parents and grandparents were expected to do something and thereby were assessed as working companions. Not worshipped for their ability to Instantly Recognize that the owners moved the bureau and alert to it (a trait shared with any remotely observant breed).

I have no doubt they are the right breed for many people. As for me, I got a resource guarding overstimulated food aggressive reactive dog from a friend instead for the price of a bag of dog food and hijacked his trip to the city pound. Doesn't sound like a bargain, sure, but with his underlying bold people-oriented genetics, he was "fixed" in six months and a therapy dog in less than a year. Also he turned out to be Webster. Hard to regret that.

^Much more succinctly put lol.

My experience with them is short, but quite similar to everyone else's.

When they were first accepted by AKC I saw a couple really nice ones that seemed rather stable and actually dog-like.

My last experience was at a show watching the rings. This lady had 3 or 4 of them and she crated about 40 feet from the ring. She had a couple dogs who would barely let the judge touch them, they cowered, or skirted away behind her, they also would barely walk on a lead and kept trying to dart in all directions. Her male "special" was lunging at the crate the entire time at dogs who were not even close to him, or just walking by minding their own business.

I was honestly hoping that her dogs were a reflection of her and not the breed as a whole.

Well isn't this interesting, just ran into one today at herding classes. She was beyond "aloof" though, skittish, nervy, walking squatted down tail tucked and hyper-vigilant. The owner said she had gotten an "instinct certificate" from the breed club from an event but hadn't done anything else with sheep since, she actually did okay on her first pen run. It all went south the second run, she kept running to one side of the fence to bark at a man who was doing some fence repair, then she charged over to back at us "the crowd", it was obvious to see a "fearful" stay back! charging bark. Kind of sad to see actually.

Another we know, we met at a show a couple years ago and they were just starting out, Jezebel, she's more what I would say "aloof" like the breed standard calls for, but once she's introduced to you she's very sweet.

Not really overall a breed I'm interested in now, I still like to watch them, I got to see so many of them one year when they had their national specialty at my favorite show and up until then I had only seen one in person. I would say overall the "show" dogs were a mix of aloof, and fearful/anxious, never seeming to be both at the same time, you really could tell the difference once you saw them side by side. The ones who were "aloof" were very nice dogs, and I'll say almost tempting to anyone to think about getting one, but the nervy dogs are a bit of a put off. I don't know if it's the same with other breeds, that you may get both temperament types in one litter, but I'm sure if you picked out a breeder who selected for temperament just as much as health you'll probably end up better in the long run.

Wow. They kind of sound gambit-esque which is not really a compliment. I love coyboy but he's rather a challenge on a good day. I can't imagine choosing a dog like him on purpose.

As far as freaking out about small changes goes.......a coworker cut his hair last week and it took gambit 3days to reaccept him. He still gives this guy the stinkeye when he sees him

When a description for a breed that is not standard in those venues includes something like the bolder, it is usually based on one or two dogs. This is especially true when a breed is typically not suited for the job (as most pariahs are GENERALLY unsuitable for much outside of hunting fur). The Israelis like everybody else use GSD, Belgian Mal & Dutch sheperds almost exclusively for all military & police working dogs.