For our people, dogs were never possessions. They were protectors, teachers, helpers, and kin. They guarded our camps, carried our burdens, watched our children, and walked beside us through every season of life.

The Native American Indian Dog is not a modern creation. It is a remembrance.

For generations, forces outside our communities attempted to erase Indigenous lifeways: our languages, our governance, our relationships with animals, and our ways of stewarding the natural world. The loss of our traditional dogs was one small piece of a much larger taking.

This project exists to restore what was interrupted.

The work of preservation is not about the past alone. It is about responsibility in the present and protection for the generations yet to come. Each dog preserved with integrity, health, and purpose is a living act of reclamation, returning balance where it was broken.

We invite those who come here not merely to admire these dogs, but to understand their role. To honor them. To protect them. And to walk with us in restoring something that was never meant to be lost.

This is not ownership. This is stewardship.

— Chief Uri & Assistant Chief Tim

Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project 

The Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project functions as a living tribal collective rather than a conventional breeding network. Within this structure, our dogs are stewarded by Clan Mothers, women entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining specific family lines, traditions, and standards within the greater whole. Each Clan Mother operates her own program as an autonomous clan, while remaining accountable to shared preservation principles, ethical guidelines, and cultural responsibility upheld by the NAIDPP.

Together, these clans form a unified tribal body dedicated to preserving the true Native American Indian Dog. Clan Mothers are selected not only for their experience and technical knowledge, but for their integrity, lived relationship with the breed, and willingness to steward lineage with care across generations. Through this collective model, NAIDPP maintains genetic continuity, health testing standards, and cultural accountability, ensuring the breed is preserved with intention rather than produced in isolation.

Corn Moon Medicine Dogs, led by Clan Mother Rebecca, serves as the foundational program of the Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project. Rooted in traditional Native knowledge and cultural responsibility, Corn Moon specializes in the intentional raising of authentic Medicine Dogs; work that extends far beyond breeding alone.

This program is grounded in lived experience and formal training in traditional medicine keeping, ceremonial responsibility, and the ancestral practices required to properly raise dogs carrying medicine. While not all Native American Indian Dogs are Medicine Dogs, Corn Moon’s dogs are raised within a framework that integrates ancestral teachings, holistic nutrition, spiritual discernment, and carefully guided early development to ensure each dog is prepared for its specific purpose.

This work is both cultural stewardship and sacred responsibility, carried forward with reverence, integrity, and respect for the traditions from which it comes.

Turtle Island Native American Indian Dogs, led by Nancy, is a charter member of the Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project and one of the earliest collaborative programs to join the effort shortly after the project’s founding.

As the first breeder formally brought on to work alongside us, Turtle Island has played a foundational role in shaping the preservation-focused direction of the NAIDPP. Their breeding lines trace directly back to true Native American Indian Dog foundation stock, reflecting a deep commitment to genetic integrity, historical continuity, and breed authenticity.

Turtle Island’s program places strong emphasis on producing stable, well-rounded family companions with high working aptitude, sound nerves, and a notably low prey drive, traits that make their dogs exceptionally versatile in modern homes while honoring the breed’s traditional purpose. Their puppies are known for their excellent temperaments, adaptability, and reliability, making Turtle Island an integral and trusted pillar of the preservation project.

Paw Wow Native American Indian Dogs, led by Coral, is a charter member of the Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project and the second breeding program to formally join the collaborative shortly after its founding. Their lines trace directly back to true NAID foundation stock and include rare, recent lineage connected to Heritage Native American Indian Dogs, an especially significant contribution as many heritage lines have already disappeared or are at risk of being lost.

Paw Wow’s program is distinguished by its exceptional focus on producing dogs with high aptitude for service work, including medical alert, psychiatric service, and other specialized support roles. Beyond placement, Paw Wow offers extensive early and ongoing training, with the ability to retain puppies for advanced preparation or welcome them back later for continued service development.

In addition to their service-focused work, Paw Wow is currently under Corn Moon mentorship, expanding their program to include the traditional foundations required for raising authentic Medicine Dogs, ensuring their future work continues to honor both preservation and purpose.

Indian Valley Kennels, led by Carla, is a program that spans nearly two decades of dedicated work with the breed. Carla brings a rare combination of long-term lived experience, traditional knowledge, and practical discernment that is essential to the preservation effort.

Her lines are particularly renowned for exceptional soundness and longevity, with many dogs living well into their mid to late teens—often 16 or 17 years—while maintaining excellent health and quality of life. Indian Valley was the first NAID program to implement PennHIP testing, and her tested dogs have consistently ranked within the top 5% of all dogs ever evaluated, reflecting an extraordinary commitment to structural integrity and long-term wellness.

Her breeding lines trace directly back to foundation NAIDs and also include valuable Heritage lineage, making Indian Valley a critical contributor in strengthening and restoring genetic resilience within modern lines.

Shirley, honored within the Native American Indian Dog Preservation Project as Beloved Woman, holds a place of deep respect and gratitude within the tribal structure.

While she is not an active participating breeder in the project, she is the originator of the vision from which NAIDPP was born. It was Shirley who first conceived of a unified preservation effort and extended the trust and responsibility to invite Rebecca forward as her partner, passing the torch with confidence that the work could be carried onward with integrity.

As one of the earliest foundational breeders, Shirley’s Oklahoma Cherokee ancestry provided rare and meaningful connections, allowing for the direct inclusion of Cherokee dogs from tribal breeders in Oklahoma, along with influential ties to Carolina Dingo lines and the native dogs of the Southeastern United States. These contributions played a critical role in shaping the foundation of the breed as it exists today.

As Beloved Woman, Shirley serves in the tribe’s highest honorary advisory role, one rooted in wisdom, lived experience, and ancestral continuity, guiding the project through counsel, remembrance, and the preservation of the original spirit of the work.

The NAID Preservation Project exists outside the typical breeding and registry models. Our work is guided by Indigenous stewardship principles, long-term genetic responsibility, and ethical limits that prioritize the dog, the lineage, and the future of the breed.

• Tribal-led governance, not a commercial registry
• Transparent genetic documentation and COI management
• Balanced preservation model (neither closed nor uncontrolled outcrossing)
• Ethical breeding limits, early retirement, and lifelong stewardship
• Preservation as a collective responsibility, not individual ownership

This model allows for preservation without exploitation, and continuity without stagnation.

The NAID Preservation Project operates under a carefully balanced preservation model designed to protect genetic integrity, cultural meaning, and the long-term future of the Native American Indian Dog. Our approach avoids the extremes of closed, high-inbreeding programs and uncontrolled outcrossing, instead prioritizing transparency, accountability, and ethical stewardship across generations.