Hi everyone my name is earl newland this is my first and likely last post to Mr Frawleys forum. I was recently made aware that people on this forum were asking questions about the ATS dog. The founder of this breed recently passed away dec 3, after over 35 yrs as a quadriplegic. Obituary can be seen at kansascity.com. He was an amazing inspiration and an old fashioned autocrat in a time when few would take on a project as immense as he did. I am not here to promote the ATSD. Merely to try and set the record straight historically as there are only 2 other people left who were with Mr. Catania and the ATSD as long as I,his sister and brother inlaw, Don and Geri Stroh of the American Tundra Shepherd Foundation. Any other breeders or websites are erroneous and irrelevant. My only claim to any authority on the subject is due to the fact that I was the president of the American Tundea Shepherd Society,an experimental breed club I ran from 1989-2002. This breed club failed due to my inability to coach the members adequately.They called me a dictator. Mr Catania was my mentor,teacher,friend and confidant for the last 30 years. I am not going to disrespect Mr Frawley's forum by taking up valuable space but anyone that has questions about the real history of the ATSD can follow me at the ATS foundations new forum. Learn more about me at evnewland.com and facebook.com. Thank You

You site didn't have any info about the "American Tundra Shepherd".

What exactly are they?

Being that this is a serious working dog forum, a discussion about "american tundra shepherds" would be a waste.........

My condolences to Mr. Catania's family though.

Here's the bit I was able to take in from the internet. I take the whole thing with a grain of salt since the most detailed breed history was on geocities :P.

http://www.atsfoundation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49%3Aamerican-tundra-shepherd-history&catid=34%3Aheader&Itemid=57

Breed History: The American Tundra Shepherd Dog began as an experiment conducted by the United States government. In 1968, Frank Catania from Edwardsville, Kansas undertook a five-year project for the government aimed at producing wolfdogs suitable for use by the military. To try and accomplish this goal, female Deutscher Schäferhunds were crossed with males Alaskan Tundra Wolves (Canis lupus tundrarum).
The puppies born from these unions never showed the level of aggression or trainability that the project sought to credit and thus after its five years, the project was considered a failure.
Despite the end of the government project, wolfdogs from the program continued to be bred. At the beginning, these further breedings centered on breeding first generation wolfdog to first generation wolfdog. These second generation wolfdogs were in turn bred back to some Deutscher Schäferhunds, creating a wolfdog with twenty-five percent blood of the wolf. These in turn were found to be much more willing to accept training than the previous half wolf generations. Through selective breeding of twenty-five percent wolfdog to twenty-five percent wolfdog, the American Tundra Shepherd Dog was created, as was the American Tundra Shepherd Dog Association to register them.

my mother is dating a gentleman with a wolfdog that looks like a large shepherd.

The dog is well mannered and the man doesn't seem like a nut. I hope not anyway