Thursday, July 7, 2016

Winter Is Coming... Collect Your Dire Wolves.

The name Dire Wolf comes from the Latin Canis (dog) and Dirus (fearful or awful). They stood around 3 feet tall and could weigh 75-148 lbs! That's more than an average "Large breed" dog! 
Imagine large packs of these immense, beauties roaming the land.
Dire Wolves have always captured the hearts and minds of the "nerds", "geeks", and otherwise fantasy inclined. With the popularity of Game of Thrones, the Dire Wolf has come screaming into the popular mind. Normal, everyday people are clamoring for one of their own.

game game of thrones wolves size throne

Meanwhile the nerds, geeks, etc. are all like:
debbie reynolds told you so told ya so will grace told ya so dance

Fear not, clamoring masses, your time is quickly approaching. The Dire Wolf Project is aiming to bring to life a creature very similar to the Dire Wolf. Although it is not possible to bring the Dire Wolf back from extinction (since there is no genetic material left that we know of), The Dire Wolf Project are focused on bringing to us the next best thing: the American Alsatian. These dogs are said to have many characteristics of the Dire wolf.

game of thrones animals hbo wolf direwolf

The journey to Dire Wolf began with a few German Sheppard and Malamute mixes to achieve the look of the wolf. Then Mastiff and Great Pyrenees were bred in to make the dogs larger and more robust. These dogs have literally no wolf in them whatsoever and their breeders aren't exactly going for that.  They aren't trying to create the wolfy babies of our dreams. They are actually breeding these dogs for better health/longer life and a good temperament. So these dogs may, in fact, be the dogs of our dreams. 

love game of thrones wolf stark arya stark

All of the looks, lifespan, and temperament of a Dire Wolf and none of the nasty face-chewing unpredictability of their wild counterparts.
Game of Thrones hbo ghost wolf dire wolf



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