During the early 1980s, various mixed breed dogs were imported from the United States and Canada to England. Although their exact origins are unknown, these dogs were primarily mixes of Arctic breeds such as the Alaskan Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Canadian Eskimo Dog, German Shepherd, Labrador Husky, and Siberian Husky. These dogs were then bred with various local wolf-looking mixed breed dogs in the United Kingdom, which included crosses of Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky and German Shepherd. Thanks to modern DNA analysis technologies, we now know that some of these Nordic mixes contained Greenland Dog and Samoyed.
Edwina “Eddie” Harrison, along with a small group of dedicated breeders, continued to develop this wolf-looking breed. Initially the progeny was called “Harrison Wolfdogs” or simply “wolf-look-alikes.” Genetic testing has since shown that wolfdog mixes were included in this early breeding program. These dogs formed the foundation of what would eventually become the Northern Inuit breed, founded in 1998. That year, Lynn Sharkey/Hardey, one of the four original founders of the Tamaskan breed, joined the committee of the Northern Inuit Society and purchased her first two breeding dogs.
Over time, differences amongst the committee regarding the development of the Northern Inuit breed led to a split. In 2002, The Utonagan Society decided to change the name of the breed to “Utonagan” to distinguish themselves from the Northern Inuit.
In 2004, Lynn Sharkey visited Finland, where she discovered Polar Speed Kennels in Lapland. The owner of Polar Speed kennels, Reijo Jääskeläinen, was also working on the development of his own wolf-look-alike breed for animal acting and film work by crossing Czechoslovakian Vlcaks and American Wolfdogs with his FCI Finnish/Siberian racing huskies. Bred for speed and endurance to pull in extreme conditions, the Polar Speed huskies were known for being some of the top sled-racing dogs in the world. As such, Lynn reserved six Polar Speed dogs with the intention to use them as new outcrosses to the Utonagan for the purposes of enhancing the breed’s working ability as well as wolf-like appearance.
Unfortunately, the Utonagan Society decided that they did not wish to include the Finnish bloodlines in their breeding program. Thus, the Tamaskan Dog was founded when Lynn and her daughter, Jennie, departed from the Utonagan group to pursue their own breeding program. The etiology for their new breed’s name is meaningful: “Tamaska” means “mighty wolf” in the Munsee dialect of Delawarian, an Algonquin language. “Teme” (sometimes spelled tama) is the root word for “wolf,” and “maska” is a word usually translated as big, strong, or mighty.
In total, there were four original Breed Founders: Lynn Sharkey/Hardey of Blustag1, her daughter Jennie Peacock/Saxby of Blufawn, Liz Wilson of Alba (Scotland), and Zee Turner of Moonstone (England) kennels. Together, the founders provided several Northern Inuit/Utonagan dogs that were owned and bred by Blustag along with the Polar Speed dogs as the Tamaskan Dog’s foundation stock. This is why the Tamaskan Dog is generally considered to be a Finnish breed — it was primarily developed while Lynn and Jennie were living in Finland, and possesses a large genetic contribution from Polar Speed. However, the breed is not officially recognized in Finland.
By combining the original English (Northern Inuit/Utonagan) bloodlines with the new Finnish outcross bloodlines, the first generation of registered Tamaskan Dogs was born in May 2006 at Alba in Scotland. At the same time, the Tamaskan Dog Registry (TDR) was founded for the purpose of overseeing the development of the breed.
In October 2013, the Tamaskan Dog was officially recognized by the American Rare Breed Association (ARBA) and the Kennel Club of the United States of America (KCUSA). This means that all TDR registered Tamaskan Dogs are eligible for ARBA/KCUSA registration and may participate in ARBA/KCUSA shows in the USA. In 2017, the Tamaskan breed was also recognized by International Canine Events (ICE), International All Breed Canine Association (IABCA) and the International Canine Kennel Club (ICKC). To date, there are many Tamaskan owners who regularly participate in official shows all over North America and several Tamaskan Dogs have since been awarded top prizes and showing titles at these events.
The Tamaskan Dog is considered a “work in progress” breed. Because of its small gene pool, the TDR has an official open-studbook policy for approved outcrosses. Nevertheless, the Tamaskan has come a long way since its initial roots. Careful, selective breeding brings the breed closer to its final goals, as defined within the breed standard. The popularity of the Tamaskan Dog has grown exponentially and there are now many TDR registered breeders worldwide. Additionally, official Tamaskan clubs exist within multiple countries.
1 Due to repeated questionable breeding and husbandry practices sub-par to the ethics and health requirements laid forth by the registry, Lynn and Jennie were unfortunately removed from the TDR in 2012. At this time, Blustag and Blufawn dogs are therefore not recognized as Tasmakan Dogs, and are not eligible for registration as such under the international registry.