A dog breeder in Oregon seems to have been inspired by the Game of Thrones. Lois Schwarz is working to resurrect dire wolves that roamed during the last Ice Age.
In a project that actually predates HBO’s GoT and George RR Martin’s books, the breeder has spent the last 30 years in creating a dog that she calls the American Alsatian
Louis wanted the dog to be friendly and a cuddly companion while also being similar in size to the dire wolf, which had gone extinct during the Ice Age.
The now-extinct creatures, which are similar in appearance to huskies, have recently been resurrected in the hit TV series Game of Thrones.
In the show, dire wolves are intelligent wolves that are especially connected to House Stark, which includes Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), who are the only two Stark siblings to have living dire wolves.
Real-life dire wolves, or Canis dirus, existed between 125,000 and 10,000 years ago and lived across North and South America.
Fossils show that the creatures were approximately six feet long from nose to tail and had bigger heads, jaws and teeth than modern-day wolves.
Schwarz started with Alaskan malamutes and introduced several other dogs into the breeding including English Mastiffs, Pyrenees, Akita and Irish wolfhounds for large bones, bulk, short ears and height and length respectively.
The result of her experiment is a shaggy and grey dog she has dubbed the American Alsatian.
