Tahltan Bear Dog

The Tahltan is a very agile and very athletic dog. They fall in a category between the pariah and the spitz type of dogs. These dogs were bred mainly for hunting. Chances are Tahltan’s could vary in appearance from each other. They have a short hard and thick coat. They came in black with white markings and many different color combinations. But the black with white markings was the most occurring one. They looked a lot like a Fox. They have a very unique tail; it was one of their main distinctions. It is bushy and short in texture.

Tahltan natives used the Tahltan dogs to hunt bears. The Tahltan dogs looked small, but then were power packed. These dogs were brave, as they showed no signs of backing down when hunting a bear. These dogs lived with the humans, and were gentle and friendly with other small human pets too. Humans didn’t mind sharing their beds and tents with these dogs either. These small dogs hunt in packs. As they were small in size it was even easy to move from place to place with them. These dogs were also used to guard and look after the camp sites. These dogs were even carried around on chest packs and backpacks by the humans. This was done in order to conserve dog’s energy, as it will need all of it when hunting. Even in backpacks and chest packs, these dogs used to be very affectionate.

The Tahltan dogs were traded; these dogs were even mentioned in the literature of the 1800’s. These dogs could endure cold weather, live through days without having food, and also be able to swim well in the cold waters. The last set of purebred Tahltan dogs were said to be in the village of Atlin in British Columbia. A man named Tom Connoly was said to be one of the last people to have used these dogs for hunting around the village of Atlin. He died back in 1970 and his wife started taking care of the dogs. One day she made a decision to send these dogs to California, but it turned out that these dogs got sick very soon and died in no time. This was mainly due to the heat and the fact that it was a totally different diet that didn’t consist of raw meat. These dogs didn’t adapt well to such sudden change in living environments.

The Canadian Post Office decided to honour these dogs in 1988 with a stamp dedicated to it. It was considered to be one of the four breeds of dogs native to the country of Canada. The dog featured on the stamp had a white coat with black patches instead of the most preferred dog with a black coat and white patches. The other three dogs that were featured in the Canadian Stamps in 1988 were The Newfoundland, The Canadian Eskimo dog and The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.