The AKC Government Relations Department (GR) is dedicated to protecting the rights of all dog owners, promoting responsible dog ownership and ensuring that laws governing dog ownership and breeding are reasonable, enforceable and non-discriminatory. The Government Relations department leads the AKC’s legislative efforts and identifies its goals as “working to protect the rights of all dog owners and promote responsible dog ownership” (AKC Mission Statement.) GR further identifies its mission as educating and informing responsible dog owners and breeders about the issues that impact them as well as monitoring and positively impacting legislation that affect them.
The Czechoslovakian Vlcak Club of America (CSVCA) has been working GR due to the unique physical traits of the CSV and we thoroughly understand the controversy and complexity of the word “Wolfdog” and the stereotype implies hybrid. This is the reason the CSVCA chose not to translate the word Vlcak in the breed’s name.
Several years ago, the CSVCA worked with both Embark and Wisdom Panel to develop the DNA profile of the breed. Our breed shows genetic coancestry, and therefore similarity, to the German Shepherd Dog, and other breeds with strong influence from European Shepherds, such as the Saarloos, Lupo Italiano, Bohemian Shepherd Dog, Shiloh and White Swiss Shepherd Dog. The Wisdom Panel has been testing Czechoslovakian Vlcaks through their breeder testing, for several years before the CSVCA approached them, through Optimal Selection (US/Canada) and MyDogDNA (primarily EU). Here is Wisdom Panel’s standard and quality control (white paper) which each breed must meet before being entered into their database for the breed profile.
Embark’s overall reference panel includes over 25,000 dogs. They do not look at Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, frequently called SNPs, in isolation to test for Czechoslovakian Vlcak. Rather, they look at stretches of the genome (which are at least hundreds of thousands of base pairs long) with 100% identity to known breed samples from the reference panel. When you have completely identical long stretches of DNA in two different individuals, the only way to have that is to inherit them from the same, somewhat recent ancestor. So, for sufficiently long stretches, you'll find that the only individuals with exactly the same DNA are all from the same breed, and the only viable explanation for that is that the stretch of DNA came from an ancestor who is also in that breed. If you add up all the stretches of DNA that match perfectly to one and only one breed, you get a sense of how much DNA must have been inherited from that breed--then you do it for any other breed found in the dog. And then, from all that, you can understand what percentage of the dog's ancestry came from each breed. Both Embark and Wisdom Panel, when testing our breed, came back 100% Czechoslovakian Vlcak.
On July 13, 2018, BMC Genomics published a study titled " Wolf outside, dog inside? The genomic make-up of the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog”, which showed CSVs were relatively divergent from Carpathian wolves (FST = 0.33) but, as expected, the breed least differentiated from German Shepherds (FST = 0.19). FST is the proportion of the total genetic variance contained in a subpopulation (the S subscript) relative to the total genetic variance (the T subscript). Values can range from 0 to 1. If FST is small, it means that the allele frequencies within each population are similar; if it is large, it means that the allele frequencies are different. The study also found considerable genome-wide variability within groups. Overall, heterozygosity is generally higher in dogs (Ho = 0.265 ± 0.032) than in wolves (Ho = 0.231 ± 0.025. CSVs showed heterozygosity levels (Ho = 0.249) lower than most breeds and slightly higher than in German Shepherds (Ho = 0.234, p-values < 0.05 ; t-test) and also than Carpathian wolves (Ho = 0.231, p-values < 0.05 ; t-test).
Scientifically, CSV are not wolf hybrids, but the founders of the breed determined through their studies that selecting offspring which had the physical traits of the wolf improve the animal’s endurance, stamina, eyesight, and over health. Therefore, they wrote into the breed standard these physical traits for breeders to continue to develop.
There is no breed-specific legislation or laws prohibiting ownership, sell, import, etc. of CSV within any State. The CSVCA is working with States to eliminate any question to the legality of our breed to prevent any issues/concern for owners due to their appearance. The concern is the CSV is perceived as a hybrid due to the appearance, not the genetic make-up. Most states refer to hybrids as F1 generations, meaning an animal which is a first-generation product of the breeding of a dominated animal to a wild animal. This is definitely not the case with the Czechoslovakian Vlcaks. Most CSVs recorded in AKC Foundation Stock Service are more than 10 generations from the Carpathian wolves used. Many states have added a clause to their legislation to include, “This does not include any canine or feline breeds registered by the American Kennel Club, the United Kennel Club, the Cat Fancier’s Association or the International Cat Association.” (Illinois). Other states, the CSVCA is working with them to include canines in their legislation like Illinois. Massachusetts and Connecticut have both adopted this clause.
The CSVCA will continue to work with GR and the states which have yet to adopt these clauses in their legislation. In the meantime, please make sure you register your dogs with the AKC. This will be beneficial for both you, your dog, and the CSVCA. The AKC has taken the lead in supporting legislation across the country that protects the rights of responsible dog owners. The AKC Political Action Committee (PAC) gives us an additional tool with which to interface with legislators. Through this nonpartisan PAC, we can demonstrate a unity of purpose that helps us advance a positive legislative agenda. Please consider entering the 2023 AKC PAC Sweepstakes or if you would like to get directly involved with the legislation for owning a Czechoslovakian Vlcak, please email the CSVCA at vlcaksusa@gmail.com.