Thank you for taking an interest in the Sansorrella website.  After what seems a lifetime spent rearing five lovely children and just about every domestic animal on the planet, plus several years involved with falconry, I finally got back into the dog world by breeding and showing shelties.   In 1999 I found the Northern Inuit dog and my life has never been the same since!   I have bred several very nice litters of Northern Inuit dogs and enjoyed many successes in the show ring (see Trophy Room for details).   I have also had some wins with Northern Inuit dogs in obedience competitions, but have neglected this recently due to other commitments.

I was Chairperson of the Northern Inuit Society for a while but became very disillusioned by that Society so, together with a group of fellow enthusiasts, formed The Inuit Dog Association.   I was Chairperson of TIDA for the first two years until I felt able to leave it running quite happily in the hands of my fellow committee members, allowing me to spend more time researching my book on the breed and collating information on the health of the Northern Inuit dog population. 

Sadly I feel let down by the committee of TIDA and was very disappointed that they have abandoned the constitution, rules and original aims of the club.   It would appear from a statement released by their Chairperson that they are "dedicated to the members", that was not what was intended when the club was set up.   It was first and foremost a breed club and should therefore be dedicated to the dogs and the breed!  Under the influence and leadership of so many pet owners, with only a minority of the committee being breeders, the club can no longer be classified as a breed club but is clearly a pet owners club.   There is nothing wrong with having a pet owners club, but for a developing breed there is a definite need for a co-operative breed club.   As a breeder I cannot support TIDA and have no confidence whatsoever in the current committee, many of whom have proved to be totally untrustworthy, with a Chairperson who has little knowledge of the breed and no knowledge whatsoever of breeding, breed lines, genetics, health, behaviour or training.  TIDA appears to have totally lost direction and has no one on the committee with any understanding or experience of what is expected of a breed club.

Following my disillusionment with the NIS and TIDA I did not wish to be connected with any dog club whatsoever, fully intending to be an entirely independent breeder.  However, at special request from my old ally Andre Tanner, I have agreed to join with Shoshone and Cry-wolf in breeding wolfdogs and wolfdog hybrids and am now looking forward to working with them and other British Wolfdog Club breeders in ensuring the future of the 'wolf lookalike' dog.

Sansorrella  is only a small kennel and all my dogs live in the house, several being neutered family pets.  All benefit from being involved in the family’s activities - as well as their own individual specialties such as obedience, agility and ring craft.

Here at Sansorrella we take pride in breeding for temperament as well as good looks! We only breed one or two litters a year and the emphasis is on producing healthy, well reared, well socialised and outgoing puppies. Although we only breed a small number of puppies they are bred from top quality parents and a lot of time, care and love goes into each litter.

2009 sees the launch of Sansorrella's new breeding programme, aimed at producing a strong, healthy and viable line of hybrid wolfdogs (see latest news and litters pages for details).

If anyone owns, or has owned in the past, a Northern Inuit dog with any health issues I will be pleased to hear from you as it would assist with my research into the health of the breed.   There is an easy to complete online survey form available on my forum.

I have become increasingly concerned about the rapid decline in the health of the Northern Inuit dog in recent years.   Recurring problems include hip displasia, elbow deformities, epilepsy, Addison's disease, von Willebrands disease, drawfism, monorchidsm, sterile bitches, OCD, overshot jaws and cataracts.    Although I have thankfully only experienced three of these problems in my dogs during the time I have been breeding Northern Inuit dogs,  namely monorchid male puppies, epilepsy from one mating that I did four years ago and one pup with cataracts (possibly due to the mother having had a virus while pregnant and also the pup needing to be hand reared, which can lead to eye problems, however I am not taking any chances and will not be breeding from that bitch again).   It is apparent to me, after discussing the genetic health problems with the top experts in the country, that these ailments are due to the chronic inbreeding within the breed and insufficient care being taken in the selection of the founder dogs.   The lack of genetic diversity means the future does not look promising and new blood is desperately needed. 

In this respect I have decided that in order to bring in new blood and distinguish my lines from those ordinary Northern Inuit dogs, I will in future be breeding a different strain which will be given another name.    I had considered the name "Inali" - which I was told meant white wolf - but I have been talking to some native American translators and this is what it really means "Inoli (also spelled Inali, Enoli, etc.) was the name of a famous Cherokee man, whose English name was given as Black Fox. But, that is not what his name literally means, it's just what the Americans called him. What Inoli literally means is a different kind of animal entirely, a sort of weasel or martin called a "fisher" in English".   I will therefore be considering alternative names for my line of dogs and I would like to thank Laura Redish of Native Languages of the Americas for that information.