Corus
Corus was born on September 10, 2021 and was bred by Bridget Baker in New Hampshire, USA. Corus was born into a litter of 10 puppies (3 females, 7 males). He came home when he was 22 weeks old, since his breeder had offered to let him spend some extra time growing up with her and his parents and siblings first. Corus’ breeder, Bridget, has begun a personal breeding project to develop a new breed called the Wolven Gazehound. Corus and his siblings come from Bridget’s very first generation litter, out of her male Shikoku Ken mix, Thumos (bred by Brad Anderson at Backcountry Companions) and her female purebred Borzoi, Lycisca.
Corus has been an exceptionally calm, empathetic, and cuddly boy since the day he flew home. He is very intelligent and easily trainable, with moderate drives for both food and praise. He is eager to please and thrives with positive reinforcement training and a gentle hand. He is very sensitive to our tone and will become visibly dismayed if he thinks he has displeased us.
The “King of Couch Naps” has become Corus’ nickname, as he absolutely loves to be a couch potato throughout the day. He would gladly sleep in on the bed, have a quick breakfast and potty break, and then move to the couch for another nap. Even though he is a lazy bones at home, he is always up for a trip into town. Corus is such an easy dog to take out in public. He has lovely leash manners that have never felt like a chore to reinforce. He is calm, quiet, curious, and thoughtful whether we are at the auto shop or a pet friendly store. Corus tends to be fairly reserved when it comes to meeting new people. He likes to watch and politely sniff people, but doesn’t get super excited about actually being petted by strangers and prefers to lay down by my feet and hang out while I finish any social interactions. When pressed to interact with strangers, such as during vet appointments, he is calmly cooperative and tolerant of whatever needs to be done.
Corus has what I would consider a fairly high prey drive, which is to be expected for his breed mix. Borzoi, Irish Wolfhound, and Shikoku Ken are all very well known for being hunting dogs. Alaskan Malamute have been known to have a moderate prey drive, as well. Corus has been introduced to our two indoor pet kitties, but we do not allow him to have unsupervised access to them. He is also not allowed near our poultry (we have pet ducks and chickens who live in their own outdoor runs).
I don’t have any experience with hunting, personally, but my hope is to find a local mentor who can help me brush up on my skills so that I can take Corus out and see how he does with small game. Shooting a rabbit or squirrel will definitely be different than the combat marksman skills that I was trained for in the Marine Corps, so it will probably be a bit of a learning curve for me!
Corus currently stands at 27 inches tall and weighs 56 lbs at 19 months of age. He should fill out and gain a little more weight and muscle as he reaches maturity around 3-5 years of age.
Corus is co-owned by Gabriel Kieren Ogle, who owns Wilderun Kennels. Gabriel and I mutually decided to wash Corus as a prospective breeding dog after multiple health concerns were produced in close relatives that we feel are not worth the risk of passing down by breeding Corus. Details are listed in the Health Testing section below.
Learn more about Bridget Baker’s Wolven Gazehound Project
Visit Bridget Baker’s website to learn more about her breeding goals, the dogs she is using in her program, and information about current/future litters.
Please note that this concept art image was created by Bridget Baker and she owns all rights associated with it. Contact Bridget Baker directly if you would like to learn more about her breeding project and/or art. This image is subject to copyright laws and may not be used, altered, or shared without permission from its owner and creator, Bridget Baker.
Health Testing
-
Sneak Peek Hips X-Ray 8 Months
During a vet check-up when Corus was 8 months old, our vet took a wonderfully positioned shot of Corus’ hips, which look textbook Excellent!
Once he turns 2 years old, Corus’s hips will be scored with PennHip and OFA, and his Elbows, Patellas, and Dentition will also be scored with OFA. He will also have his Thyroid OFA certified and will receive an OFA Echocardiogram annually to certify his heart health, and OFA CAER eye exams annually to certify his ocular health.
Please check back periodically, as we will update health testing results as they become available.
-
CAER eye exam form October 2023
Corus had his first OFA CAER eye exam on October 9, 2023. He was diagnosed with “pinpoint specks of cataract on posterior lens capsule” for his left and right eyes. The ophthalmologist was adamant that he felt this condition was not hereditary, and that he had been seeing this exact same thing in hundreds of dogs across all breeds over the past 3 years. He said he felt there was zero concern with breeding a dog with this diagnosis. He checked the “suspect not hereditary” box on the eye exam paperwork. OFA scored Corus’ eyes as Passing with a Breeder Option note to explain that cataracts had been seen and some types of cataracts may be hereditary.
-
OFA CAER Certificate
OFA CAER eye exam certificate. Results are Normal with Breeder Option to note that cataracts were seen and that some types of cataracts may be hereditary.
Additional health information from relatives to Corus:
Corus’ sire, Thumos, was diagnosed with Posterior Y-Suture Tip Opacities in both eyes during his second CAER eye exam (his first CAER eye exam was in 2019). OFA’s Blue Book defines Y-Suture Tip Opacities as: “…prominent (or “highlighted” or “more dense”) distal portions of the posterior sutures that may occur in the posterior cortex to occasionally on the posterior lens capsule. This is not a true cataract, so there is no lens fiber disruption (no feathering or bulbous tips). It may be in the shape of a “peace sign,” […] but occasionally a patient may have 4-5 suture lines and therefore more suture tip opacities. They may be present only at one suture tip of one eye or up to all three (or more, as stated above) suture tips in both eyes in a given dog. They are more commonly found in multiples or at least bilaterally symmetrical. They do not appear to progress (unless mis-diagnosed) and are considered essentially a variant of normal or possibly familial, as they are seen more commonly in certain breeds.” Thumos was assigned a passing CAER eye score by the canine ophthalmologist who examined him. The ophthalmologist indicated they felt this diagnosis was not hereditary on Thumos’ exam paperwork. The results of Thumos’ eye exam were not submitted to OFA for official scoring.
Thumos has failing hips, which were scored as Mild by OFA. (Non-passing scores assigned by OFA require an extra authorization from the dog’s owner to publish to OFA’s public health database.) Thumos was also scored through PennHip, with results of 0.60(left hip)/0.66(right hip), which PennHip categorizes as Moderate Risk for developing Osteo-Arthritis.
Corus’ littermate brother, Leucon (“Magic Merlin Timm”) was diagnosed with Y-Suture Tip Opacities in both eyes, as well, although his ophthalmologist checked the box for “suspect inherited” on his exam paperwork. Leucon (“Magic Merlin Timm”) was assigned a passing eye certification by OFA, with a Breeder Option notation for the Suture Tip Opacities.
Corus’ littermate brother, Arcas, was diagnosed with unilateral geographic retinal dysplasia in his left eye, which is a recessively inherited eye disorder. This constitutes a failing eye score per OFA’s eye scheme, but Arcas’ eye exam results have not been submitted to OFA for official scoring at this time.
Corus’ littermate brother, Balius (Thumos x Lycisca), had an oops-litter with younger half-sister, Aethra (Thumos x Daisy), and one of the puppies has an underbite, which is a polygenetic recessive trait that both parent would have to carry for in order to produce an affected puppy. Aethra’s dam, Daisy, is from the Cunningham Hounds line of dogs, which has been linebred upon multiple times with no incidence of malocclusion (abnormal bites) in any of the many litters that have been produced. Therefore, it seems fairly clear that Thumos would be the source of the genes responsible for producing malocclusion in this half-sibling pairing.
The combination of all these concerns, in addition to Corus being diagnosed with microscopic cataracts as described above this section, lead Corus’ co-owner, Gabriel Ogle, and I to decide to wash Corus as a breeding prospect. Corus will be neutered and not take part in any breeding program.
-
Embark
Corus is a Carrier of Degenerative Myelopathy (DM). DM is a recessive disorder, which means a dog is typically not affected unless they have two copies of that gene. Breeding Carrier to Clear avoids producing any homozygous/affected puppies.
Corus is a Carrier for Bald Thigh Syndrome (BTS). BTS is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that a dog must have two copies of the gene to be affected. Breeding Carrier to Clear avoids producing any homozygous/affected puppies.
Corus is Clear for all other testable genetic disorders on Embark’s panel.
Corus’ Embark genetic COI is 0%, and he has High Diversity on both his MHC Class II - DLA DRB1 and MHC Class II - DLA DQA1 and DQB1 autoimmune loci.
Click below to view the public results for Corus’ Embark Vet genetic testing and learn more about his genetic health, coat colors, body type, haplotypes, and more.
Embark Vet is not affiliated with Wolfdogs of the Ebon Blade or Tamaskans of the Ebon Blade.
-
Corus' Pedigree
Link to the Pedigree Online database to view information about Corus, his pedigree, and relatives.
PedigreeOnline.com is not affiliated with Wolfdogs of the Ebon Blade or Tamaskans of the Ebon Blade.
-
OFA Profile
Link to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals database to view Corus’ profile and see his OFA testing scores.
OFA is not affiliated with Wolfdogs of the Ebon Blade or Tamaskans of the Ebon Blade.