Woman invents her own ‘wolf’ dog breed after struggling to find perfect pet

An inspired woman has invented her own “wolf” dog breed after spending years struggling to find the perfect pet.

The idea came from Vicki Spencer, from Florida, who is a huge animal lover and first started developing the breed in 2011 when the first American Blue Bay shepherds were born.

She then wanted to merge German shepherds to bring wolf-like traits while retaining the dog’s infectious nature.

Vicki meticulously analysed each potential breeding animal and tried to create a breed that had the best attributes of wolfdogs and German shepherds.

Vicki originally started the process back in 1994 after working with wolfdogs and developed a huge fondness for them.

“I wanted to develop this new breed because I wanted something myself that I couldn’t find in any breed of dog,” Vicki told Newsweek. “I worked with my wolfdogs trying to produce the sweetest, friendliest, and wolfiest-looking dogs that I could.”

Vicki had such a love for wolfs but she was concerned their timid nature would not serve them well with humans. She added: “The beauty of the wolf can’t be surpassed by any other breed but looks only go so far.

“I found that the wolf and wolfdogs were animals that had almost everything you could want, but the timid nature that was necessary for them to survive in the wild does not serve them well in the human world.”

Thanks to the help of a blue-coat wolfdog named Sterling, she was able to produce her first Southern Breeze wolfdogs before eventually adding German shepherds into the mix. The first was born in 2011 and is a large blue or grey animal, with light-coloured eyes.

The animal has the “superior intelligence and beauty” of a wolf and the trainability and desire to please a German shepherd, according to Vicki. Females weigh up to 85 pounds and males can weigh up to 105 pounds.

“Wolfdogs have been around for many years as well, but I think most people just wanted to breed them to get the look of the wolf and just didn’t have a specific vision or a goal for anything else,” she said.

Vicki is the only breeder of the dogs and is based in Palm Bay, Florida, however, there are Blue Bay shepherds currently living all over the world.

“I do honestly believe I have been blessed in this venture,” Vicki said. “The Blue Bays right from the first litters on the ground have met and exceeded all expectations. And I just don’t think that can happen by luck.”