How many years theoretically could it take to perfect this imagined dog breed?

[wishuponthestars]

Hello all, I am not a dog breeder but a screenwriter who is writing a tv show where there will be many appearances of these wolf like mystical doggos. In an ideal world I'd want to film with actual dogs there vs CGI dogs as it would look much better and be less of a strain on the budget.

However, I have no idea how long it might take to get the specific looking dogs I want and I have to be realistic to know if it's even possible to do.

I want basically black wolf looking doggos but with extremely long legs like the South American Maned Wolf. See my concept drawing here:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

But... I don't want any actual wolf content in there as they'd be more difficult to train and work with.

I have done a little research into breeds that could potentially be used but I just have no clue what traits will be more dominant etc. The body shape is more important than the colour because there are dog safe fur/hair dyes out there.

Dog breeds to consider combining:

. Alaskan Noble Companion Dog
. Black German Shepherd
. Alaskan Malamute
. Belgian Malinois
. Utonagan Dog
. Northern Inuit Dog
. Norwegian Elkhound
. Carpathian Shepherd Dog
. Swedish Vallhund
. King Shepherd
. Native American Indian Dog
. Siberian Husky
. Shiba inu
. Eurasier
. Tamaskan Dog
. Blue Bay Shepherd
. Shiloh Shepherd
. Swedish Lapphund
. Dutch Shepherd Hollandse Herder
. Belgian Shepherd
. Belgian Tervuren Dog
. Border Collie

. Yakutian Lakia Dog
. Beauceron Dog
. Rhodesian Ridgeback
. Saluki
. Azawakh African Sighthound
. Long Haired Whippet
. Silken Windhound
. Black Greyhound
. Borzoi

It might be as simple as a mixture of the long body/long legged dogs + the Alaskan Noble Companion Dog + Maybe a black German Shepherd.

Key traits: Big pointy wolf-like ears, long elegant legs, long tail (not curled up, like a wolf), long to medium length double coat, yellow or brown eyes, (If possible) large paws

Basically I want a black wolf on stilts.

 

[fallingjerichotm]

@wishuponthestars I know that you said "theoretically" but no. Just no!

It would be a ridiculous, expensive, and largely unethical undertaking to try to cross breed dogs like this just for film/tv. It takes 2 years for dogs to be old enough to safely breed or to see their adult structure. This would take decades and lead to many many many unnecessary, unhealthy puppies without homes. The monetary cost for vet bills, genetic testing, food, dog training, etc. would bankrupt Jeff Bezos (probably not but you get the gist).

In order to achieve elongated limbs like this, you would risk introducing so many muscle/bone/tendon/spinal, etc. deformities into whatever dogs you produce and they might live painful, awful lives all for something that could be achieved through CGI. Not to mention the other health issues that aready exist in these breeds that you would be mixing as well as different temperaments.

Furthermore, no ethical breeder would allow you to run experiments on their dogs in this way so your breeding stock would already be from unethical backyard breeders.

Lastly, any work that you try to create would get canceled/boycotted so freaking fast if people learned that you were unethically experimenting on dogs just for a film. PETA, dog lovers, and ethical breeders/breed clubs alike would wreck this in a heartbeat. No producer would touch this with a 25-and-a-half foot pole. Do yourself a favor and avoid this avalanche of bad press.

There are so many dog breeds out there, many of which you mentioned in your post. Choose one of them, use CGI, and make sure that no animals are harmed in the making of this film.

 

[micco]

@wishuponthestars Realistically you would probably spend less time and money just using cgi. The cost of breeding housing feeding training and time associated with getting this look you want would be outrageous. Not to mention the 4 to 6+ years and 100 or more puppies you would have to bring into the world to MAYBE get that don't have the look you want.

Slap some cgi nodes on a great dane and call it a day.

 

[dukedesu]

@wishuponthestars It would be unethical to create a breed just for a movie. It would take hundreds of puppies and decades to get what you want type-wise. You would also have an extremely difficult time getting some of the rarer breeds listed because nobody is going to sell to someone who is doing a project like this.

 

[addie1257]

@wishuponthestars This method would probably be more work than it is worth.
Have you considered looking through shelter listings to find a dog that already looks close to the body shape you have in mind. I am not anti-mixed breed dogs but I think there should be a genetic, social, or work reason for mixing the breeds if done on purpose. You might have to higher a very good trainer to shape the dog into loving acting but it would be a more ethical way to get close to what you are looking for.