Salish Wool Dog

History

Archaeological sites in Coastal Salish territory contain dog remains morphologically matching the Salish wool dog, dating to roughly 5,000 years ago. These small, long-haired wool dogs were deliberately kept separate from coyote-like village dogs. Packs of 12 to 20 animals were fed primarily raw and cooked salmon, and to preserve the breed's white color and type, the dogs were confined on islands. The Salish peoples, renowned weavers and knitters, did not raise sheep; mountain goat fur was used but could only be collected from shedding or hunted skins.

The wool dog provided a reliable domesticated source of high-quality wool. Dogs were sheared in May or June; George Vancouver noted the sheared fur was so thick that a corner could be lifted and the whole fleece held together. Dog hair was frequently mixed with mountain goat wool, feathers, and plant fibers. A 1806 letter from Meriwether Lewis to Simon Fraser indicates early explorers began buying these dogs to eat and grew 'extremely fond' of their meat.

Ethnographer George Gibbs obtained a pelt during the Northwest Boundary Survey in 1859; this specimen was rediscovered in the National Museum of Natural History's collection independently by ecologist Russel Barsh and historian Carol Wellman in 2001 and 2002. Genomic DNA from the specimen showed the breed diverged from other dogs as much as 5,000 years ago.

Cultural significance of textiles to Coast Salish peoples

Woolen blankets made from the fur of the Salish wool dog held deep social, cultural, economic, and spiritual importance for the Salish peoples. Women traditionally made the blankets, with young girls trained by their grandmothers from about age ten, intensifying at puberty. Weaving required serious commitment and long periods, often accompanied by spiritual tasks or rituals such as abstinence.

According to Salish origin stories, women learned weaving from the dogs themselves. Blankets represented individual wealth and were given away during potlatch ceremonies or to other villages to show prosperity, and also served as currency. Certain ceremonial blankets identify the wearer as a civic and religious leader; honored individuals might be adorned with a blanket or sit or stand upon them to signify their status.

Decline

During the 1800s, the use of dog wool declined and the breed became extinct by the late 1800s or early 1900s. Some sources report the primary cause had been economic, since Hudson's Bay Company blankets were cheaply available in exchange for otter pelts.

Other sources, particularly oral histories, point to suppression of Indigenous culture as the ultimate cause. Traditional Coast Salish weaving—and, by extension, the wool dogs—were heavily discouraged by colonial authorities. One Stó꞉lō elder described how her great-grandmother 'had to get rid of the dogs' after authorities forbade Salish cultural practices.

Genomic history

The only known fur of the extinct Salish wool dog belongs to 'Mutton,' a specimen that lived near the end of the traditional breeding of wool dogs and was accompanied by naturalist and ethnographer George Gibbs during the Northwest Boundary Survey (1857-1862). Its fur and skeletal material are housed at the Smithsonian Institution (USNM 4762). Stable isotope analyses revealed low isotopic levels in Mutton's tissues compared with other ancient dogs from the Pacific Northwest coast, suggesting a diet largely devoid of marine foods and primarily based on terrestrial resources, such as grains and animals (pigs, cows, etc).

Comparison of Mutton's mitochondrial genome with that of ancient and modern dogs showed that the closest neighboring A2b haplotype corresponds to an ancient dog (~1,500 BP) from indigenous societies of the Pacific Northwest. Statistical analyses revealed that Mutton shared substantially greater genetic drift with precolonial dogs; f4-ratio tests estimated that 84% of its ancestry was predominantly precolonial, whereas 16% corresponded to introduced European dogs.

Sequencing of its nuclear genome (3.4x coverage) demonstrated low global heterozygosity compared with other modern and ancient breeds. Analyses of runs of homozygosity (ROH) revealed that 15.7% of Mutton's genome contained long ROH (≥2.5 Mbp). A dN/dS analysis identified 125 genes as candidates for positive selection in Salish wool dogs, including those associated with hair follicle development (KANK2, KRT77, PCOLCE2) and skin development (CERS3, GPNMB).

In all cases, Mutton displayed conservation of an ancestral allele, revealing that the unique phenotype originated independently from other breeds.