Canadian Dog Breeds: From the Labrador to the Toller

Five dog breeds are recognized by the Canadian Kennel Club as uniquely Canadian, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia: the Labrador Retriever, the Newfoundland, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, the Canadian Inuit dog, which the CKC calls the Canadian Eskimo Dog, and the Tahltan bear dog, which is now extinct. A sixth Indigenous dog, the Salish woolly dog, disappeared around 1900 before it could be recognized. Two of the five are official symbols: the Toller is Nova Scotia's provincial dog, and the Canadian Inuit dog is Nunavut's official animal.

Canada's five breeds at a glance

Labrador Retriever

The Labrador descends from dogs taken to Newfoundland by explorers, fishermen and settlers, which retrieved fish and game for the fishermen they sailed with, according to the CKC. English sportsmen took some of these dogs home in the early 1800s, and British breeders developed the modern breed. It has been Canada's most popular breed for 32 years in a row, and it's the only original Canadian breed in the current top 10, as our list of the most popular dog breeds in Canada shows. Our Labrador Retriever guide covers the breed in depth.

Newfoundland

The Newfoundland is a giant, strong swimmer: the CKC gives an average height of 66 to 71 cm and a weight of about 54 to 67.5 kg, and notes hundreds of documented water rescues. It worked as a draft dog and fisherman's helper. Its distant origins are debated, but its more recent ancestor was the now-extinct St. John's water dog, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, and the CKC lists "St. John's dog" among the Labrador's early names too. The black and white variety is called the Landseer, after the artist Sir Edwin Landseer, whose painting of one, A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society, became famous.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

The Toller was developed in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, to lure ducks within range by playing along the shore, the way a fox can, and then retrieve them. The CKC recognized it in 1945, and Nova Scotia made it the provincial dog in 1995. It's the smallest of the retrievers, and in 2025 it made the top five breeds registered in the B.C. Interior and Yukon. Our Toller guide covers its history, coat and genetics.

Canadian Inuit dog

The Canadian Inuit dog, called qimmiq in the Eastern Baffin dialect of Inuktitut, descends from dogs that the Thule, ancestors of the Inuit, used to pull sleds about 1,000 years ago, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. It's a powerful spitz-type dog: the CKC gives males up to 70 cm and 30 to 39 kg, with a thick coat, a dense undercoat and a mane over the neck and shoulders.

The breed nearly disappeared in the mid-20th century. From the 1950s to the 1970s, tens of thousands of Inuit sled dogs across the Eastern Arctic were killed, primarily by the RCMP, and by 1963 the breed was declared extinct, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. The RCMP says the dogs were killed for public health and safety; most Inuit see the killings as part of the government's effort to force them into permanent settlements, and in 2019 the federal government apologized. The CKC attributes the decline to snowmobiles replacing dog teams, though The Canadian Encyclopedia notes snowmobiles were then unreliable and too expensive for most Inuit. A 1970s project led by William Carpenter, funded by the CKC, the Canada Council and private donors, helped bring the breed back. The Labrador husky is one of its subpopulations. The CKC notes the breed doesn't adapt well to temperate climates.

Tahltan bear dog

The Tahltan bear dog was a small hunting dog of the Tahltan Nation and neighbouring First Nations in northwestern British Columbia, used mainly to hunt bear. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes it as 30 to 40.5 cm tall and 4.5 to 8 kg, usually black and white, with prick ears and a short, upright tail like a shaving brush. Explorer Samuel Black described it in 1824, and the CKC recognized it as a breed in 1941. Crossbreeding, modern firearms and disease contributed to its decline, and it went extinct in the 1970s or 1980s.

The Salish woolly dog

Coast Salish peoples on southern Vancouver Island, the Strait of Georgia and in what is now Washington State kept small, usually white, long-haired dogs and wove their wool, mixed with mountain goat hair, into blankets and clothing, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Their numbers fell through the 1800s, and they were gone by around 1900, before the CKC could recognize them.

A 2023 study in Science analyzed the preserved pelt of a woolly dog named Mutton, collected in 1859, and found he had mostly precolonial ancestry. The researchers identified candidate genetic variants that may be linked to the woolly coat, and combined the genetics with interviews with Coast Salish Elders, Knowledge Keepers and weavers about the dogs and how colonial policies led to their loss.

Canadian breeds and Canadian winters

Several of these breeds were shaped by cold: the Newfoundland and the Labrador's ancestors worked in the North Atlantic, the Toller retrieved from icy water, and the Canadian Inuit dog pulled sleds across the Arctic. Our guide to the best dogs for Canadian winters covers which coats and builds cope best with the cold.

Canadian breeds in a DNA test

A breed-ancestry test estimates how much of a dog's DNA traces back to each breed by comparing it with reference dogs. How a rarer breed, such as the Toller or the Canadian Inuit dog, shows up depends on whether the breed is represented in the provider's reference panel, so if that matters to you, ask before you buy. Our guides to dog DNA testing in Canada and whether dog DNA tests are legit cover what to check.