A Breed Apart: What was the Coast Salish woolly dog, and can we bring it back?

 By Mina Kerr-Lazenby  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter If you had been wandering the Coast Salish territories of British Columbia some 4,000 years ago, rambling dense woodland and visiting village longhouses, you would likely have spotted a number of small, white, flocculent pooches. Not just three or four, but packs of up to 20, their white fluff set against the flourishing green of the land like soft cumulus clouds against a clear blue sky. The Coast Salish woolly dog was an integral part of community living for the Indigenous groups that lived throughout the province, on Vancouver Island, in the areas around Puget Sound, and along the border of Washington State. Similar to a modern day Spitz, they were of small to medium build, with thick ivory hair, pointed ears and…

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