The Wolf In Your Living Room…And The Coyote On Your Lap

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222 – October, 2026

By Caroline Coile

We all acknowledge that our dogs descend from wolves, and we assume some breeds are more closely related to them than others. But until recently, no one had quantified which breeds are really undercover wolves versus those that had shed as much of their wolf heritage as possible.

First, the part that’s no real surprise: The majority of dogs have low but detectable levels of wolf DNA. Almost two-thirds of purebred dogs have wolf ancestry from crossbreeding that occurred around 1,000 generations ago.

And some breeds with the most wolf DNA are also no surprise: All free-roaming village dogs carry detectable wolf ancestry. These are followed by two breeds developed from purposeful wolf crosses, the Czechoslovakian and the Saarloos wolfdogs, with wolf ancestry accounting for between 23–40% of their genomes. The Tamaskan, a wolf-look breed developed from crossing various huskies, malamutes, and other breeds with the goal of producing a wolf-like dog, has about 3.7% wolf ancestry; and the Shiloh Shepherd (a breed with some documented wolf crosses) also has a comparatively high wolf composition, with 2.7% wolf ancestry. Note, however, that the Tamaskan’s DNA is not consistent with a recent wolf introduction, but rather more likely resulted from selection of wolf-like appearance inherited from its sled-dog ancestors.

Click here to read the complete article
222 – October, 2026

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Posted by AnthonyA on Oct 20 2026. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.