Salish Wool Dog was Spitz like in shape and size.

The Salish Wool Dog is an extinct breed of white, long-haired, Spitz-type dog that was developed and bred by the native peoples of what is now Washington State and British Columbia.

Map of the central NWC of NA (insert), with dashed line showing the limited region (southern Vancouver Island/lower Fraser River/Georgia Straight/Puget Sound/Olympic Peninsula) where archaeological remains of putative wool dogs have been found or were reported by early explorers (courtesy I. McKechnie).

The Salish Wool Dog is the only known prehistoric North American dog developed by true animal husbandry. The small long-haired wool dog and the coyote-like village dog were deliberately maintained as separate populations. The dogs were kept in packs of about 12 to 20 animals, and fed primarily raw and cooked salmon. To keep the breed true to type and the preferred white color, Salish Wool Dogs were confined on islands and in gated caves.
Wool Dogs were likely similar in appearance to Eskimo Spitz.

The Wool dog apparently existed in rather substantial numbers in the late 1700's and early 1800's when Europeans descended on this region. The Wool dog was observed by these early explorers to serve an important purpose in the native economy: their wool was spun (often combined with other ingredients) and woven on impressive standing looms into ceremonial blankets (66). These handsome woven blankets provided the incentive for breeding Wool dogs because without dog's wool, the blankets could not be produced in any quantity. Native NA'ans of the NWC had no other source of wool except the wild mountain goat, which lived high in the northern coastal and interior mountains. Mountain goat wool was a rare commodity that was used extensively only by tribes who had easy access to the mountains; other groups paid a high price in trade for mountain goat wool.

The problem with keeping Wool dogs as a "sheep surrogate" was that another variety of dog also existed. The common "Village dog" was similar in size and form to other pariah-type dogs world-wide (e.g., Allen's "Plains Indian dog," ), somewhat smaller than a modern dingo. Village dogs were common in many communities and although a few may have been trained to assist in hunting, most were not owned or cared for in any way. The Village dog was not only taller than the Wool dog, it also had short hair. We now know that long hair is recessive to short hair and that first-generation hybrids between these two extremes generally possess hair of intermediate length. This suggests that even without a knowledge of genetics and inheritance, the effect of interbreeding the two types would have been readily apparent, since hybrid offspring would resemble the shorthaired village dog more than the longhaired wool dog in coat type. Such hybrids between the two types would be immediately and continuously identifiable throughout the dog's life, even without written records. Without the desired long woolly coat it is doubtful that hybrid offspring between the two types would have been used for future deliberate breeding.

The fur of the Salish Wool Dog was prized for making the famous and rare "Salish" blankets, as the Salish tribe did not have sheep and wild mountain goat wool was difficult to gather. The dogs were sheared like sheep in May or June. The sheared fur was so thick that Captain Vancouver could pick up a corner and the whole fleece would hold together. Ceremonial blankets were prized items in the pre-contact potlatch distribution economic system, almost as valuable as slaves. The dog hair was frequently mixed with mountain goat wool, feathers, and plant fibers to change the yarn quality and to extend the supply of fiber.

Brightly striped Hudson's Bay blankets were common trade goods during the early period of European contact and the attractive goods encouraged most aboriginal weavers to abandon the making of Wool dog blankets. As the economic value of dog's wool declined, Wool dogs were allowed to interbreed freely with both native Village dogs and with any European dogs brought into communities by early settlers. By 1858, Wool dogs were considered extinct as a distinct breed. Although commercial sheep's wool soon became available and weaving on the traditional native looms resumed, by that time the distinctive Wool dog was lost forever.

The extinction of the Salish Wool Dog began with European contact. A combination of 1) the availability of Hudson Bay blankets and later sheep, and 2) decimation of the indigenous population by European diseases causing the breakup of the native culture, caused the Salish Wool Dog to interbreed with other dogs and lose its unique identity. By 1858, the Salish Wool Dog was considered extinct as a distinct breed. The last identifiable wool dog died in 1940.

Woolly dog, grown for at least 700 years, possibly 2500 years, by the First Nations or Native American peoples in the areas now western British Columbia and western Washington. Wool dogs, (woolly dogs, or wooly dogs,) were bred in at least four places in the Americas prior to contact.

The four area dogs may have been distinctly different breeds with heavy loads of long hair in common or there could have been some contact and exchange. Their heavy, easily matted, easily spun long hair provided fiber to weave many items in the Pre Columbian Mexican areas, for belts and tumpline weavings.

In South America somewhere east of the Peruvian Andes, small two bar looms produced belts and tumplines. In the Four Corners area of the southwest U.S.A., dog wool was manufactured into many of the products later surplanted by sheep's wool.

But the unique breed of woolly dogs was used most extensively for its fur fiber, to weave the famous and now rare "Salish" blankets, in the Northwest Pacific Coast area of North America, along the inland coastal and rivers of what is now Washington State and British Columbia.
Found in a Millikan, B.C., archaeological site, a stone spindle whorl, more than 700 years old, bears the likenesses of two dogs. Sites up to 4500 years ago may be evidence of the weaving, but I haven't yet seen the actual reports from those digs in British Columbia.

The Salish, Nootkan, and nearby peoples who used the dogs have many ancient stories about the dogs and blankets, and the stories are intricately woven into the fabric of their cultures. Many of their artifacts bear the likenesses of dogs.

Blankets were prized items in the rich, pre contact, potlatch distribution economic system, along with slaves. At one point, eight blankets could buy a slave. When the longhouse 'chief' had visitors, hundreds of blankets were piled along the roofs to show off the prestige of a man who could command such skill among his extended family. The shortage of fiber from dogs and the popularity of blankets led to the use of mountain goat fur, nettle and Indian hemp fibers, milkweed pod, and cottonwood fluff, feathers, cedar twine, and other materials to extend the supply of yarn.

The dogs were kept in little flocks of about 12 to 20 animals, fed raw salmon and parts of salmon, dried, smoked,and leftover cooked salmon. Sometimes elk tallow and liver were added to the diet to make the coat shine. To keep the breed true to type and the preferred white color, the wool dogs were separated from other dogs, confined on islands, in fenced pits, or gated caves, to be especially bred during their once a year estrus. The dogs were shorn of their long, thick fur in May or June. The shorn wool was so thick that Captain Vancouver could pick up a corner and the whole pelt would hold together.