Canaan Dog

The Canaan Dog is a medium-sized breed with a short coat in solid or pied colors, and a curled, brush tail.

The Canaan Dog has an inner coat that’s soft and short, and an outer coat that is straight, harsh, and medium length. The coat is shorter on the legs and head and longer on the ruff, tail, back of the thigh, and top of the withers.

Canaan Dogs come in two primary color patterns that are either predominantly white with a mask and with or without additional patches of color, or solid colored, with or without white trim.

They can range in color from black to multiple shades to brown, including sandy, red, or liver.

The Canaan Dog may have a symmetrical mask either over the eyes and ears or over the entire head, particularly if the rest of the dog is predominantly white. In general, this breed has a clean outline with a wedge-shaped head, low-set, erect ears, and a high-set brush tail that curls.

Canaan Dogs are the national dog of Israel, named after the land that today encompasses Lebanon, Israel, and parts of bordering countries.

Dogs that look similar to Canaans appear on artifacts from 4,000 years ago, although it’s unclear exactly when the breed came into existence. Canaan history changed in the year 70 when Israelites were driven out by the Romans, and their dogs, with nowhere to go and no one to care for them, traveled into the Negev Desert. They survived there, without the help of humans, until the 20th century.

When the Israeli army needed dogs to act as sentries on patrol, Dr. Rudolphina Menzel proposed using the dogs that were, presumably, adapted to the area. That led to the reintroduction of the Canaan breed and humans.

The Canaan Dog quickly earned their stay and proved worthwhile as working dogs, and so after World War II, Dr. Menzel began a program to train and breed the dogs as guide dogs for the blind. These days, Canaan dogs make excellent competitors for dog sports and make even better companion pets.