A Wolfalike (the noun being taken from the adjective ‘wolf-like‘) describes a type of dog (Canis familiaris) intentionally created to be as close to the wolf (Canis lupus) in appearance and characteristics as possible while retaining mostly dog-like behaviours but no or negligible actual wolf content.

For years people have been trying to create a Wolfalike dog to this specification. More familiar Wolfalike breeds might be the Northern Inuit Dog, The Utonagan and the Tamaskan – all of these were originally bred using the same founding dogs.

The most popular breeds used in the foundation of the different Wolfalike breeds are the Siberian Husky, the Alaskan Malamute and the German Shepherd; traces of other breeds such as the Samoyed and Norwegian Elkhound and Collie have also been found in the genetic makeup of some Wolfalike dogs. You will also find that some Wolfalike dogs do have a minimal amount of wolf content in them, but this is negligible. Some breeders have used The Saarloos wolfdog or the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog (Vlack) in their breeding programs as well.

Because of people’s difference of opinions on how the various Wolfalike breeds should move forward, many breeders have opted to move away from the closed gene pool clubs and become independent breeders to better develop the breed and widen the gene pool by introducing other Wolfalike type dogs.