Dog breed · Canaan, Palestine
The Canaan Dog (Hebrew: כֶּלֶב כְּנַעֲנִי, romanized: Kelev kna'ani, lit. 'Canaanite dog', Arabic: كلب كنعاني, romanized: kalb kanʿāni) is a dog breed developed in the early 20th century from semiwild pariah dogs that were the descendants of animals present in the region since biblical times. It is the national dog of Israel and can be found in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and the Sinai Peninsula. As of 2012, there were 2,000 to 3,000 Canaan Dogs across the world.
Temperament: Canaan dogs are alert, react quickly and distrust strangers. They are strongly defensive but not aggressive.
Appearance: The Canaan Dog is a "wild type" dog in appearance. It is a medium-sized square built dog, with a wedge-shaped head, erect and low set ears with a broad base and rounded tips. Its outer coat is dense, harsh and straight of short to medium-length. The undercoat should be close and profuse according to season. Color ranges from black to cream and all shades of brown and red between, usually with small white markings, or all white with colour patches. Spotting of all kinds is permitted, as well as white or black masks.
In writing the first official standard for the Canaan Dog, Menzel wrote: "Special importance must be placed on the points that differentiate the Canaan Dog from the German Shepherd Dog, whose highly bred form he sometimes resembles: the Canaan-dog is square, the loin region short, the forequarters highly erect, the hindquarters less angular, the neck as noble as possible, the tail curled over the back when excited, the trot is short (see also differences in head and color)".
History: Canaan dogs, or dogs nearly identical, were also found in Syria over 9,000 years ago. At the time of the diaspora, the Israelites were forcefully removed from their land and, according to oral tradition, had to leave behind their dogs which reverted to the wild. Excavations in Israel unearthed the Ashkelon dog cemetery, the largest known animal cemetery in the ancient world, containing 700 dog skeletons, all of which were anatomically similar to the Canaan dog of modern times. The cemetery dates back to the time of occupation by the Persian Empire and archaeologists hypothesize that the dogs were revered as sacred animals. Populations of free-ranging dogs continued to be found in the Negev for many years, with Bedouins using them to herd their livestock and guard their camps.
Animal behaviorist Rudolphina Menzel discovered these dogs in the 1930s. She captured a select group of semi-wild dogs, tamed, trained, and began breeding them. Menzel found these dogs to be highly adaptable and simple to domesticate. She launched a breeding program, providing working dogs for the military, named the dogs of this program "Canaan dogs."
Menzel began training Canaan dogs as guide dogs for the blind, establishing the Institute for Orientation and Mobility of the Blind in 1949. The Red Cross also started employing her dogs as search and rescue dogs. In 1953, the breed gained recognition by the Israel Kennel Club using Menzel's standard.
