Welcome to all visitors. My name is Dawn and I have been involved with this breed and The Utonagan Society (TUS)since early 2000. I bought my first Utonagan (Luca stud dog featured above) in 2001. I own five Utonagan and am a registered, accredited breeder with TUS. Occasionally  I produce a litter of registered puppies my last litter being in 2005. All my dogs are hip/eye tested achieving good results, copies of these being held by TUS.

From 2004 to January 2007 I was the Secretary for TUS but at the 2007 AGM after a long stint I resigned as Secretary and was assigned the role of TUS Breed Advisor and Database Manager.

TUS established 1999 was the first Utonagan faction and holds the most extensive records on the breed, including health data, lineage information and details of all bonafide litters produced since that date.

All TUS Breeders adhere to quite strict but necessary breeding ethics, to ensure the continued good health and future of our beautiful breed. One of the most important of our ethics applied in 2005 was to prevent further inbreeding and line breeding, a practice which has been proven to have had a very negative impact on certain lines, no longer registered to TUS. We have seen a great improvement in health since this rule was applied and with continued careful selective breeding, the breed can only benefit. The BBC broadcast a programme revealing the damage/health implications that repeated inbreeding/linebreeding has been proven to have caused in many KC breeds. We at TUS and also the TUA have found that occurrences of ill-health/disease, have mainly occurred in dogs which are linebred/inbred.

 I hope that you find this website both informative and interesting and that it helps you fully assess whether this is the breed for you and indeed whether you are a suitable owner for this breed.

Please read the notice at the bottom of the page, which gives you important advice about what to be cautious of.

Information for prospective Utonagan owners

Utonagan are a large, friendly, and energetic breed with mischievous and clumsy traits. They are exceptionally intelligent and will adapt to any discipline i.e. agility, obedience, showing, IF you put the time and effort in. Their progress relies purely on your ability to nurture their growth and slow maturity, by providing a good diet, exercise, care, regular worming etc and consistent training programme. If you do provide this, they will bring you years of dedication and companionship.  

The Utonagan is not really a breed suitable for first time dog owners as they can be quite challenging to own.

I personally do not feel the Utonagan is suitable for families with small children or toddlers. Because the breed is naturally large, excitable and clumsy, (the latter two points also evident in young children..lol) children could be knocked over accidentally and injuries may occur.

The Ute is equally not suitable for families who work long unsociable hours. The Ute does not do well if left alone for long periods of time and needs either human or canine company. They can be trained to adapt to periods of isolation, but if not trained adequately, they can develop separation anxiety and may become destructive to your property, or escape to try and find you.

However depending on the owner's dedication to training and care, the Ute can adapt to any situation, so don't be disheartened by the above just get in touch and I'll go through what would be required to adapt your home/situation to make it suitable for a Ute. Although I'm a little choosy this is only because, through experience, I need to ensure that when my pups leave me, they are going to the most suitable homes possible.

Not all Utes are destructive or escape artists, some are monsters some are little angels. Whichever you purchase, if you raise them correctly they will be well balanced dogs. Right from the start you need to get your pup used to your daily routine and assert your role as his alpha.

In my opinion, once you have owned a Ute, you will never want to own another breed. I know this is true for myself, my fellow Committee Members and possibly our entire list of TUS Members.

The Ute is extremely easy to train because of their natural desire to please their owner. They are easily distracted and bored, therefore training sessions need to be short and enjoyable for the pup.

Whilst growing, (especially whilst teething) they may continue to chew things they shouldn't, as with most breeds. This is easily combated by correcting him for chewing what he shouldn't and replacing this with one of his toys or chews.

They have remarkable reach (kitchen worktops and sinks are a favourite) so leave all surfaces clear and provide plenty of chews and toys for him.

Because they can be prone to escaping, you need to have a secure garden with high and sturdy fencing/gates (preferably not wooden).

If owned and trained suitably, they can and have excelled in ANY field including agility, flyball, gundogs, obedience, disabled assistance dogs and Pets as Therapy (PAT) Dogs of which we have several registered with our Society.  

The Ute is not a guard dog. Although they may 'look the part', their temperaments do not suit guarding duties, they are just too soft. They will bark to warn of visitors, but this tends to be an excited woo-woo, rather than an imposing bark. The Ute can either live outdoors with comfortable, suitable shelter, or indoors as a house pet/family member which many prefer.

Regardless of who you are purchasing from, please be sure that you;

1. Have sight of the vets letter confirming that all puppies are fit for re-homing, i.e. heart and lungs are ok, they all have correctly aligned jaws (not overshot or undershot) and that all boys have two testicles present. If you are buying to breed or show your dog you need to be sure of the latter two points especially.

2. Have sight of the eye screen certificate for the full litter. All litters should be eye screened, regardless of who the breeder is affiliated to. This will list all puppies identification and should either have the 'unaffected' box ticked, or state in the last field something similar to ' no evidence of ocular abnormalities'. MRD is a serious eye disease, recently found to be affecting two of the lines used independently of TUS, therefore if MRD is mentioned, please contact breedadvisor@theutonagansociety.com for advice. Make sure you see the results fro the entire litter, this way you ensure not only your pup but all his siblings have tested unaffected.

3. Have sight of both parents pedigree certificates. You need to check for any occurrences of inbreeding or line-breeding, on both pedigrees. These are usually identifiable by repetitions of the same names throughout the generations of the pedigree. Please be cautious if you see any occurrences of these and seek advice on the above e-mail address. The Ute is generally a very health dog, but those that have developed health problems have mostly been from line bred/inbred stock. Please note there are several breeders, not registered to TUS, who continue to line breed from inbred stock, despite the damning results evident to all.

4. Have sight of both parents Hip score results and eye test certificates. Ensure the names on each match the names on the parents pedigrees. The total score on the hip certificate should be no more than 21 and preferably equal on both sides. The eye certificate should have all 'unaffected' ticks in the middle section and in the bottom section should state something like' no evidence of ocular disease. If MRD is mentioned please be cautious and contact the Breed Advisor as above.

5. Have sight of the wormer used by the breeder (there is no homeopathic cure for worms) usually either Drontol or Panacur is used. Ensure that the puppies tummies are not swollen large and distended (classic sign of worms) 

6. Check for signs of ill health, runny eyes, nose, rear end, lethargic underdeveloped sickly puppies should be avoided.

7. Are supplied with genuine paperwork for your pup on the day you collect him. This should include, Pedigree certificate, Registration certificate, copy of litter eye certificate, inoculation card,  worming details, diet details, 6 weeks free insurance, advice and puppy contract.

8.   All TUS puppies are sold with a breeding ban that will not be lifted until they have passed a breeding quality assessment at 12 months, reached breeding age and achieved good health tests. Males must have both testicles fully descended into scrotum.  This is to ensure only healthy dogs of good type are used for breeding.

If the breeder does not readily offer you sight of all of the above, please be cautious, the puppies may not be pure Utonagan, may be from stock affected by MRD or Hip Dysplasia, or may be from the breeder now banned from keeping dogs (see warning page)

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To prevent hip dysplasia, puppies up to 18 months of age should not be over exercised and should not be allowed to overly use the stairs. Rather than long lead walks, it is better to play in your garden with him or drive to a local park and let the puppy play off lead within his own energy limits whereby he can take a break whenever he needs to. Excessive exercise can put undue stress on his growing bones and can cause dysplasia.

The Ute moults twice yearly but sheds hair continuously throughout the year, therefore if any of your family are allergic to animals or if you are exceptionally house proud, this is not the breed for you.

If you like your gadgets, please believe me the Ute does too, so put them safely out of reach.

They may chew and ingest anything (including tea towels etc) because of this there is a risk of him developing an interserception (blockage) of the digestive tract whereby the bowel telescopes inside itself causing acute infection and terrible pain. This may require a costly operation if caught in time, if not it could result in a fatality, therefore for both your sakes you must not leave anything within his reach that could be swallowed.

Generally Ute ownership is no different to ownership of any other large breed of dog, they just require a lot of dedication time and commitment. I personally am 100% totally committed to and in awe of this breed, I must be I am owned by 5 of them..lol.

Hopefully any queries you may have will be answered on the various pages of my website. However if you have any queries please e-mail me.

Warning and advice re purchasing from free ad websites and magazines

The Utonagan Society (TUS) Committee have noticed a surge of adverts for HuskyxGSD puppies which are being incorrectly advertised as Utonagan or Utonagan type dogs. These are appearing on various online classified websites like E-Pupz etc. These breeders are located all over the UK, with several in Wales (please see warning page).

The pups are advertised as registered Utonagan with registration documents. However no documents are provided when the owners pick their puppies up, they are told paperwork will follow in the post. The paperwork does not arrive. They then contact us to register their pups and we are obviously having to decline as they are not related to Utonagan. Please note all puppies registered by TUS are advertised on TUS website. If you see an advert for Utonagan elsewhere, please check our website to see if they are featured on there. If not please contact us.

If you are planning to view a litter advertised, please take the time to contact myself as Breed Advisor at  breedadvisor@theutonagansociety.com in case the Breeder is the one listed on my warning page or another known to TUS.

Sadly these people will continue to breed whilst unsuspecting buyers show demand. If you are not shown all the documents listed above, this could impact severely on your pups future health. Those that are genuine Utonagan are invariably from lines with a history of repeated inbreeding where ill health is evident. If you are told that inbreeding has occurred to ascertain what defects the breeder has in their lines, this is a poor and irresponsible reason. There are other safer ways to establish what defects your lines might be carrying, i.e. health tests and studying ill health reported!