The short answer is that the NAID is very different! It is nothing like the eager-to-please lab or golden retriever. The NAID has a free spirit, which comes from its roots as dogs of the Native American tribes of Turtle Island (America). These dogs needed independence, judgment, and intelligence to survive the harsh and unforgiving environment and help their human companions with various survival tasks. This translates into a different adaptation for the NAID when put into a modern-day setting.
Development & Training:
Your NAID will require much patience and consistent training in all things. The breed develops more slowly than many other breeds, and you should fully expect your NAID to behave like a puppy until it is two to three years old. If there are multiple members in your household, all the family members must actively participate in socializing and training your NAID consistently! Generally, once the dog has matured past two years, the unruly puppy behavior will decrease, and the dog’s personality will become balanced and well-rounded. If you do not feel you can handle unruliness, you may want to reconsider bringing a NAID into your family.
Fencing:
Many NAID owners have discovered that they can’t properly contain their NAIDs with conventional chain link fencing. In fact, it rarely works for NAIDs. Wood fences will work, but the best kind of fencing for a NAID is powder-coated steel panels. You can find these at home and garden stores like North 40, Home Depot, Lowes, or Tractor Supply. These panels are easy to assemble and come with couplers to attach them. Even an extensive section of fencing can be put together in the span of a day or so using this method. If you do not want to go this route, hog panels are also great but should be at least six feet tall as these dogs are great climbers. Remember: you won’t have to be sorry if you’re safe!
Digging:
The NAID definitely loves to dig! Most NAID owners discover early on that NAIDs will actively seek reasons to dig. If you have a well-manicured yard, you can essentially kiss it goodbye once you introduce your NAID into the mix! There are solutions, however, so do not despair! We recommend fencing off an area acceptable to your dog to dig and play, keeping that area separate from the rest of your yard.
Waste (poop 💩)
The answer to this question is variable. This will depend mainly on the type of food you feed your NAID. While many dogs can do fine on any old food, the NAID is not one of those breeds. NAIDs tend to have problems when fed poor quality or cheap dog food. Even if they don’t have any apparent issues being fed low-quality food, they will produce a significant amount of solid waste on that diet. As a general rule, the more ingredients found in your dog’s kibble that would be considered unnatural for your dog to eat in a wild setting, the more solid waste your dog will produce.
If you choose to feed raw or whole foods to your NAID, the amount of waste you’ll see will be significantly reduced. A whole food diet contains no fillers or biologically-inappropriate ingredients, so much more of the food can utilized by the dog’s system, thus producing far less waste. The waste from a whole food diet is also far less smelly, much easier to clean up, and will often disintegrate in a matter of a couple of days. Since NAIDs are an ancient breed, they will often thrive more on a raw or whole food diet than on kibble.
Barking:
NAIDs rarely bark. They howl almost exclusively as their form of communication. You will begin to learn the various types of howls your NAID will use to communicate with you, other people, or other dogs and what each of these howls means. Most people begin to find the howling endearing. Many NAID owners enjoy this learned ability to recognize what their dog is “saying” to them by learning this particular NAID language.
Are you worried about having a dog howling around the clock? Do not stress over this! Although the NAID can be very vocal about certain things, you will likely find your NAID to be reasonably quiet the majority of the time, saving the howling for things like:
- Alerting you when a stranger has pulled up into your driveway,
- Trying to get your attention for some reason,
- When he hears a fire truck or ambulance siren, or
- For when she is excited about something, like when you arrive home after being gone at the grocery store!
Watchdog vs Protection Dog
Many NAIDs will howl, yip, or sound the alarm if a stranger enters your property or approaches a family member, but that is often the extent of it. There are exceptions to the rule, but generally, they will not attack unless they feel their family members are in imminent danger. They make excellent watchdogs, but generally make poor protection dogs because of their congenial nature.
Children:
NAIDs are excellent with children, and babysitting was a common job for the tribal NAIDs of yesteryear. However, exercising a little caution when allowing your NAID pup to be with younger children is prudent. Take care to keep their interactions under watchful supervision. Most puppies will display frequent “rough” or “unruly” behaviors during their adolescent months that (for NAIDs, this can often mean the first couple years of life) may hurt children, such as rough playing and tumbling around and biting. These behaviors are 100% normal and should not be mistaken for signs of aggression, but they still warrant close monitoring of the interactions between younger children and pups.
Additionally, there are many occasions when young children play with puppies and do not realize that what they view as play is being perceived as terror by the poor puppy! Sudden fast, jerking movements, raised voices, shrieking or screaming, running to-and-fro, climbing, jumping, and “petting” that feels more akin to hitting are normal behaviors for younger children that can brew trouble for a pup. These normal child behaviors can frequently lead to unruly and undesirable behaviors in puppies and young dogs, eventually resulting in overstimulation and excessive play-biting that, although purely playful, can still cause harm to little ones’ tender skin!
Atmosphere at Home:
An important thing to understand about the NAID that correlates closely with all of this is how sensitive the NAID is to any negativity! People who have owned NAIDs and other northern-breed dogs will affirm that you are unlikely to find a breed more sensitive and intuitive to feelings. They are in tune constantly with the unseen and discern all beyond the surface with great intelligence and wisdom. If there is chaos or disruption in the home, the NAID will be affected by its presence profoundly. If you have any unrest or upheaval in your home, you are better off not bringing a NAID into the picture until you have reached a resolution of peacefulness and calm in your household.
Lifespan and Health:
On average, the NAID will live to be about 14 years old, which is considerably older than most large breed dogs! Many NAIDs have lived to be 16 or 17 years old, although this should not be your expectation.
There are few documented health problems with NAIDs. There is potential for thyroid issues to develop as the NAID grows older and there are some older NAID lines that carry a gene for something called urolithiasis. Urolithiasis (Native American Indian Dog Type) is an inherited condition of the urinary system in dogs. Dogs with two copies of the associated gene mutation are predisposed to elevated levels of an insoluble compound called 2,8-dihydroxyadenine (2,8-DHA) in the urine, which can cause kidney stones. Aside from these issues, the only other problem that might develop is dysplasia. Though dysplasia can certainly be inherited, it is also well-documented that a vast amount of dysplasia cases are related to environmental factors like diet and weight. NAIDs that do not contain German Shepherd in their lines, are kept within 10% of their ideal body weight, and are fed a biologically-appropriate diet, are very unlikely to develop dysplasia
