Eurasier Club of Canada

The History of the Eurasier

The Eurasier is a relatively new Spitz-type dog breed originating in Germany.

In the 1950’s, in Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, the Wipfel family, Julius and Elfriede, chose to undertake the creation of an ideal, family-oriented breed of dog.

While Julius Wipfel is the "father of the Eurasier," he had many collaborators and enthusiasts such as Charlotte Baldamus, who all worked to help make this dream become a reality. In 1960, Wipfel clearly defined his goals in creating this new breed of dog. His aim was to create a medium size Spitz-type family dog, one that commanded respect but which also had a calm and even-tempered nature. It was to be attractive, with beautiful and varied color coats. The new breed was to be adaptable and suitable to different family lifestyles, from city life to rural life.

The breeding plan that was followed throughout the 1960’s was one of mating a select group of German Wolfspitzes with Chow Chows (which did not have the appearance of todays Chows). The new breed was named “Wolf-Chow”. During this time the first national club for this new breed, the EKW (Eurasier-Klub e.v., Sitz Weinheim) was also established. Later, after some debate amongst the leading Wolf-Chow enthusiasts, Wipfel chose to include the Samoyed, which was introduced in 1972. Nobel prize winner Konrad Lorenz, who acquired his first Wolf-Chow that year, helped further popularize the breed. It was recognized by the German Kennel Club (VDH) and the FCI in 1973, and was renamed Eurasier. It took Wipfel and his many associates decades, but they accomplished their goal: creation of the family-friendly Eurasier.

There are now about 8 thousand Eurasiers around the globe, mostly in Europe, and primarily in Germany, the country of origin. The Eurasier has been recognized by the international dog club, the FCI (Federation Cynologique International) since 1973. All of the 79 countries that are members of the FCI recognize the Eurasier and many of those, especially those in Europe, have national Eurasier clubs. There are an unprecedented 3 national Eurasier clubs in Germany: the EKW, the ZG (Zuchtgemeinschaft fuer Eurasier) and the KZG (Kynologische Zuchtgemeinschaft).

In the USA and Canada, there are approximately 500 Eurasiers.

In Canada, Paul and Margaret Knight of Ontario were instrumental in lobbying for and securing full CKC recognition of the breed, and bringing it out of the Miscellaneous Class. The Canadian Kennel Club, which officially recognized the Eurasier in June 1995, is the only national dog club in North America that recognizes the Eurasier