Canaan Dog
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The breed's info is divided in four sections; namely:
the breed's history ,
the breed's main stats ,
the dog's potential health issues
and finally, how the breed scored in 26 different categories.
All the above information should give you a respectively good overview for the dog of your interest.
Dog Breed's Main Info
The Breed's History:
The Canaan dog began in ancient times as a primitive feral in ancient Canaan, where the Canaanites and Israelites lived, roughly corresponding to the region encompassing modern-day Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.
This dog is one of the oldest, dating back to biblical times. The caves of Einan and HaYonim are sites in which the oldest remains of dogs have been found (more than 10,000 years ago).
In the Old Testament there are a number of references to roaming dogs and dogs that worked for humans.
In the Sinai Desert, a rock carving, from the first to third century AD, depicts a dog that in size and shape appears to be a Canaan type dog.
In Ashkelon, a graveyard was discovered, believed to be Phoenician from the middle of the fifth century BC. It contained 700 dogs, all carefully buried in the same position, on their sides with legs flexed and tail tucked in around the hind legs. According to the archaeologists, there was a strong similarity between these dogs and the "Bedouin shepherd dogs," or the Canaan dog.
A sarcophagus dated from the end of the fourth century BC, was found in Sidon, Lebanon, on which Alexander the Great and the King of Sidon are painted hunting a lion with a hunting dog similar in build to the dogs of Ashkelon, and similar in appearance to the Canaan dog.
They survived this way until the 1930s, when Dr. Rudolphina Menzel came up with the idea to use these intelligent scavenger dogs mainly found in the desert, as guard dogs for the scattered settlements. Menzel was asked by the Haganah to help them build up a service dog organization.
She captured a select group of semi-wild individuals, tamed, trained and bred them.
Menzel found the dogs highly adaptable, trainable, and easy to domesticate. It took her about six months to capture her first dog, Dugma, and within a few weeks she was able to take him into town and on buses.
She began a breeding program in 1934, providing working dogs for the military and she gave pups to be pets and home guard dogs. She initiated a selective breeding program to produce the breed known today as the Canaan dog.
Country of Origin:
Israel
Breed Group:
Herding
Height:
1 foot, 7 inch. to 2 feet (48,26 to 60,96 cm)
Weight:
35 to 55 pounds (15,88 to 24,95 Kg)
Life Span:
12 to 15 years
Potential Health Issues:
Hypothyroidism,
Epilepsy,
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA),
Cryptorchidism,
Hip Dysplasia,
Elbow Dysplasia,
Luxating Patellas,
Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD)
Adaptability
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