After roughly 160 years in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, the only surviving pelt of the once-abundant woolly dog has returned close to home.
“The dog to whom this pelt belonged originated in the Chilliwack area in the territories of the Stó:lō people,” Jordan Wilson, curator of Pacific Northwest and Contemporary Indigenous Art at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, and a member of the Musqueam nation, said.
He said the breed was intentionally bred by the Coast Salish, Interior Salish and Makah people for their fur, which was used in weaving.
The fur was sheared and spun, made into blankets and clothing by women as a way to make money for the family.
“This dog was bred out of existence in large part because of all the transformations wrought by settler colonialism,” Wilson said.
“And so, it’s a real privilege for us here at the museum to be able to host this pelt and share its story with a broader audience.”
Before the pelt goes on public display, members of local Coast Salish communities and weavers had an opportunity to spend time with it.
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“It brought forward a lot of emotions,” Wilson said, “looking at its little paws and its little nose.”
The dog, known as Mutton, was the companion of naturalist George Gibbs, but how he acquired the animal is unclear.
Research suggests the dog lived about a year and a half and was shorn at least once before his death.
The pelt will be on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC from September 2026 to August 2027.
Two First Nations girls possibly holding a Salish Woolly Dog. Photo taken in Chilliwack by James Booen, 1895-97. Photograph courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives [1963.015.025].
Chilliwack Museum and Archives
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