Though both breeds are from the same original stock historically, differing breeding programmes and type were pursued with the Northern Inuit preferring and retaining the features of the Husky and Malamute.  This has lead to them resultantly being two entirely different breeds, though occasionally similar in appearance.

I myself think that the Northern Inuit is a beautiful breed but dislike the predominant Husky and Malamute characteristics, i.e. Widows peak, blue eyes, short flat coat and spitz tail, most of these being considered faults in the Utonagan, but those not displaying these traits are in my eyes stunning.

Both breeds came about because of several breeders, in the 60's and 70's, desire to create a breed of dog that resembled the wolf as closely as possible.

Several dogs, reportedly of wolf content but later proven by DEFRA to be more in keeping with the Inuit Sled Dog type, were imported from the USA and initially crossed with the Siberian Husky and Malamute because of their equally wolf like characteristics and double coat. Later a minimal amount of GSD content was introduced to lengthen the muzzle, increase size and give the breed a more sleek wolf-like appearance as opposed to the compact stocky appearance of the Husky.

The Utonagan is now an established breed which has evolved in its own right. The health and type has improved dramatically, type now becoming uniform across the lines in the last few years. This is largely thanks to our Utonagan Society Breeding Rules (Breeders Code Ethics) that have been in place since 2005, which have tightened up on all breeding practices to ensure ALL registered breeding stock are first hip and eye tested, that they have reached a suitable age, that the intended mating contains no in-breeding nor is from heavily inbred lines and that the dogs are screened for any health conditions predominant in those lines etc etc.

The three founder breeds were only used in the initial stages and have not been used in the Utonagan for many years and the breed standard is now being met through most lines

 (please see Breed Standard for type).

Although they do look imposing with their wolf-like appearance, their characters have always been gentle and exemplary and as long as they continue to be bred selectively, introducing new blood sympathetically this will always remain the case. There have been numerous non TUS registered crossbred litters reported to us and some of the breeds used have caused us great concern in especially in relation to our breeds exemplary character but sadly TUS has no control over matings that occur from non registered breeders, therefore we can not guarantee the temperament of anything bred by breeders not registered with TUS.