About the Dire Wolf Project

The Dire Wolf Project breeds healthy, long-lived giant companion dogs with a wild look delivered right to your front door!

This project altered working line temperaments over 30 years in order to create a calm, gentle, sweet-natured, confident, loving, intelligent, and devoted large dog breed for the busy modern family. This allows families to no longer have to deal with or train out excessive barking, digging, jumping, whining, chasing, or biting that comes naturally for working dogs bred for hundreds of years to excel at those tasks.

The American Dirus dog breed began in 1988 under the breed name "North American Shepalute". The breed founder, Lois Schwarz, initially began her line of dogs in order to create the world's first large breed of companion dog. Lois also wanted to mimic the look of the large extinct dire wolf of our continent's past.

In keeping with Lois's vision, we aim to breed back the exact bone and body structure of the extinct, prehistoric dire wolf in a loving family companion dog using only domesticated dog breeds.

In 2006, the Dire Wolf Project flourished into its own company and formed into a separate corporate business in 2018 when it became an independent, family owned and operated corporation. Today, the Dire Wolf Project not only exists to provide information about the dire wolf and the breeding back project, but also operates three separate companies: DireWolf Dogs, DireWolf Guardians, and DireWolf Publishing. We support a dedicated and thriving community of Dire Wolf Project owners and enthusiasts. Thank you for joining us on this historical journey of dire wolf memories and follow along as we domesticate history one generation at a time.

Dire Wolf Project Mission

The Dire Wolf Project’s mission is to fill the emptiness in life by providing everything families need to support happy lives with their DireWolf Dogs.

About DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito, LLC

DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito is committed to breeding healthy, long-lived giant DireWolf Dogs with a lifetime genetic health guarantee!

DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito began breeding in 2006 continuing the vision of a multigenerational mission started by Lois Schwarz in 1988. Jennifer and her husband, Jay, worked closely with Lois for sixteen years. Jennifer earned certified breeder status directly from Lois in 2010, after four years of studying under her tutelage. As a way to archive the wealth of information she learned from Lois, Jennifer wrote the comprehensive Dire Wolf Project book in 2018.

DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito is now the guardian breeding facility for the Dire Wolf Project working to secure Lois's legacy well into the future.