The Coast Salish Woolly Dog

Please Join us November 17, 2026 at the Hibulb Cultural Center for a film screen of the PBS documentary film of The Threads that Bind: The Story of the Pacific Northwest Woolly Dog.
From 4:30 pm-7:00 pm
This 26-minute documentary examines the story of the woolly dog — a breed
domesticated for thousands of years by the signatory tribes of Tulalip and the Coast Salish. The thick white fur of these dogs, which went extinct in the late 1800s, was used to create
intricate textiles and regalia.
Presenters:
Audrey T. Lin, DPhil, is a paleo-geneticist whose research bridges ancient genomics, history, anthropology, and Indigenous knowledge. She is currently an APART-USA Fellow funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and is based at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna. Her research utilizes recovering ancient biomolecules from archaeological and natural history material to answer diverse questions on human-mediated evolutionary processes, including domestication and extinction. She focuses on dogs because she finds their relationships with humans throughout history endlessly fascinating. She has led the collaborative research that resulted in the whole genome sequencing of "Mutton", the only known woolly dog pelt, currently on display at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. She is deeply honored to work alongside Coast Salish Elders, Weavers, and Knowledge-Keepers in learning more about woolly dogs.
Dr. Susan Pavel: a Coast Salish wool weaver & educator dedicated to preserving and revitalizing Coast Salish weaving traditions. Learning to weave in 1996 under the mentorship of master weaver subiyay Bruce Miller (Skokomish) she shares her knowledge through teaching, community engagement, and exhibitions. She is a board member of the Coast Salish Wool Weaving Center and a faculty member at The Evergreen State College; Dr. Pavel continues to pass ancestral weaving knowledge and practices on to future generations and taught her first year long cohort of students at Tulalip for the first Coast Salish Wool Weaving certificate program through Evergreen College.
Tillie Jones: (Tulalip) a Coast Salish wool and cedar weaver who has dedicated more than 20 years to practicing and revitalizing ancestral weaving traditions. She has shared her cultural knowledge through teaching, community programs, and museum work, including working with the Burke Museum’s Bill Holm Center. As vice president of the Coast Salish Wool Weaving Center, Tillie continues to preserve and pass on traditional weaving practices, honoring her ancestors while inspiring future generations of Coast Salish weavers.
Tessa Campbell (Tulalip/Tlingit) is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Washington's iSchool. She carries professional expertise across libraries, archives, and museums. She is the former curator for the Hibulb Cultural Center where she curated (along with Hibulb’s current curator, Emilie Smith) the exhibit on Coast Salish weaving in 2018. She is a coast Salish weaver who is a graduate from Evergreen College’s Coast Salish Wool Weaving certificate program taught by Dr. Susan Pavel and has also taken classes taught by Tillie Jones.