Arctic Wolves
Like all subspecies, Arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) are not born white. Shown here is a 98% F1 Arctic wolfdog.
Arctic wolves are not the same as white phase wolves of other subspecies. Like all wolves, Arctic wolf puppies are born a dark solid color, and after several weeks, develop a distinct facial marking that will persist until they turn completely white—a kind of “dirty face” marking running from the inner corners of their eyes to the sides of their muzzle.
Two Arctic wolfdog cross puppies and an Arctic wolfdog cross yearling showing off the “dirty face” marking
Many unscrupulous breeders will try to pass off either other subspecies of wolves or, more commonly, white dogs as Arctic wolves/crosses. This deception relies on purchasers of the puppies not knowing that not only are Arctic wolves born with dark coats, but that they are also much more uncommon than wolfdogs stemming from British Columbian stock. Additionally, most Arctics originate from just a couple pairs of original breeding animals, and most are highly inbred due to this fact. Please remember that just because an animal is white, that does not mean it is an Arctic wolf or wolf cross.
NOTE: The very FEW cases of high content Arctic crosses being born white or piebald was the result of severe, multi-generational inbreeding or line breeding where BOTH parents carried the white gene from the dog in their lineage. Please note that this is extremely uncommon. We're not kidding here.
Variety of white dogs and non-Arctic low content wolfdog crosses