Wolf Hybrid as a pet

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Choochi

This can't be said enough

Wolves and wolf hybrids ARE NOT slightly different dogs!!!!

geezz first time in my life I have used this massive font on a forum


Cindy, I don't think you have the slightest idea of just how lucky you are that things are working out for you so far. If you had the slightest clue about what you're talking about and the sheer responsibility involved, you would not be telling people this is ok. Any true wolf lover who has these magnificent animals' best interest at heart and has the slightest clue about what's involved in keeping them responsibly would never dream to be so irresponsible as to even suggest that this is ok and might work out for some one.

In VAST MAJORITY of cases where people think they can keep a wolf or a hybrid as a pet, the results are tragic. These animals are not pets, they are not cooler looking versions of dogs, their behaviour is completely different, they have no need for human companionship and in fact dislike it, they are extremely difficult to keep, require specialized and expensive diets, and very often do become aggressive, and the fad episode ends with the animal being put down or shipped away to a specialized reserve. You might as well think that you're going to keep an alligator in an aquarium in your family room.

If you like the look of them, buy yourself a poster. If you want a companion animal that looks similar, consider any of the northern breeds, but picking a breed based on looks alone is a terrible idea and all of the northern breeds (huskies, malamutes) don't make good pets in all circumstances and can be very difficult to live with if you are not prepared to care for them properly.

I know people personally who have owned or had access to wolf hybrids. In all cases the animals were put down and their owners could not tell you enough how horrible of an experience it was to be imprisoned by the amount of care and responsibility that comes with owning an animal that plain and simple is not pet material. In all cases they had to have very expensive and elaborate holding cages built in their yards, these were obviously only large enough to contain the animal, not large enough to provide adequate exercise space. Even then in many cases the animals found ways to escape and when they did all they were interested in was killing things. In one case one of these animals was especially interested in killing any neighbourhood children, you can imagine how terrifying that was when the owner knew he couldn't reliably keep the animal locked up. The animal eventually tried to kill his son, who he grew up with and knew very well, this is when he was put down and the family was left with the emotional scars of the ordeal and the stress of keeping this animal for the past few years. It took this man over 10 years before he was able to ever own a dog again and he is a major animal lover.

There is a lot of scientific material out there showing the massive behavioural differences between dogs, which have been domesticated for thousands of years, and wolves which are wild animals and even in captivity never become dog like in their behaviour.

One European experiment comes to mind. Scientists raised wolf cubs, bottle fed them and handled them in their homes since they were a couple days old. They did every thing to raise them like a dog. By 8 weeks of age the wolf cubs already began to show strong anti social tendencies towards humans, by age of 4 months they became highly aggressive and very destructive. They didn't as much as made eye contact with their human companions and either avoided contact with them or aggressed towards them over resources. By 8 months they were too dangerous to keep and the experiment was stopped. Despite of every thing they did, the wolves became wolves. It's in their genetics and you can't changed that with love and understanding. Any one who thinks so is delusional.

Here is an excellent documentary about the relationship between dogs and people, at some point it goes over the wolf study with some detail and shows footage from the experiment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM1JsGr76Ro


Get yourself a dog, they make fantastic companions. Even better, adopt one and save a life.

I knew someone that had a coyote/dog and when the woman moved to a new house the coyote/dog kept going back to their old house . It did not like being moved around like a pet dog. The owner was not good with training her coyote/dog and did not understand anything about coyotes . I felt really bad for the poor animal . It wanted to be wild and not some trained house pet. The owner was treating the poor animal awful as it was not being a 'good' pet! I agree with everything you said 110% !
I loves wolves and I can't stand it when people mess with them and try to made 'pets' out of them because they think it cool. It is not cool at all for the wolves .

[Choochi]

Originally Posted by TanjaBelieve

Im sorry Ive been away and couldnt answer. WOW thank you all so much for your answers. I have many experiences with dogs of all breeds and sizes (Dutch Smoushound, 2x German Shepherds, golden retriever labrador), so it wouldnt be my first dog. And I do kinda.. am good with dogs. I do not get scared of them, I am calm and I love spending time with them. I am very patient. Of course I dont want this dog just because the sound of owning something wild is exciting, but as someone said before, I wanna make one hybrids life easier. Im very interested in Dog W. and I use a lot of his techniques on our family dog, so I do have a patience to teach him and go out for long walks and everything. I will actually live alone once I move out and it will be just two of us.So, no cats around them? What if they grow up together? Does not count this for a hybrid? You know like normal dogs and cats that are like brothers. I love running and hiking and I will have everything to provide a wolf dog almost everything he will need (if I decide to adopt one). A big place to run around andeverything. I just want to give a dog that was unfortunate and is mixed with a wolf, to give him a home, away from shelter, where he doesnt get all the love he needs. I understand the difference between wolfs and dogs, but every dog or animal is a challenge.

Tanja, I'm sorry but in my books that barely makes you experienced enough to own a some what difficult dog breed, no where close a wolf or wolf hybrid. It sounds like your expectations are completely wrong for this animal. They do not want human attention, they do not need it, they do not want it. You would not be doing a wolf or wolf dog any favour by treating it like a pet dog (taking it for walks, giving it love and attention, taking it out in the public) 100% all things you should never do with a wolf or wolf dog and things that would likely freak them out. This would be torture for this creature, they are much happier with their own kind in a reserve on their own with lots of free space to roam freely but safely. Your intentions seem very selfish and while you think you would be bing kind to a wolf dog and that in turn would make it happy and love you in return, you are not taking into consideration at all what they actually want and need. You are making up a fairy tale image. What you're doing is not only very dangerous, you would be harming another living creature for your own satisfaction so that you can show it off to other people and try to make it fall in love with you. I know you're not seeing it that way and your heart is in a good place, but that counts for nothing when what you're actually planning is harmful and alien to that creature.

What you're saying is like a kid saying I want a Goldfish so it can sleep in my bed with me at night and I will love it and hug it and kiss it and take it out to the sand box with me and it will then love me in return and be my best friend.

That's what dogs are for. Rescue a dog from a shelter and he will be forever grateful that you saved him.

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Digston

I think that we shouldn't automatically jump to the answer NO. After all, all of our canine campanions descended from wild canines.

I do, however, think that wolf hybrids should be treated in the same regard as bully breeds in the sense that they should NOT be owned by weak, inexperienced people. These dogs will need a strong leader to keep them well balanced. I would never recommend this type of dog to anyone except an experienced dog owner.

As the owner of a Wolf Hybrid you take on a huge responsibilty. All primal instincts will be much more predominant, main one in my mind that would be concerning is prey drive. Small animals, small children....

Please do not look at this breed if it will be your first.

I think it is very irresponsible to get a wolf/dog , as this only encourage more people to breed them. There are going to be people getting this kind of dog and having no idea on how to train it or feed it. A wolf is nothing like a dog , wild animals do not like feel trapped or cornered . If you ever made the wolf /dog feel threaten it could attack you or a child. The wolf's instinct could click on at any time, this was why my boyfriend was bitten by the wolf/dog. It felt threaten and attack out of fear. My boyfriend was very lucky he was tall as the dog could had gone for his throat very easliy . There is no reason to breed a wolf with a dog when there are thousands of dogs needing a good home.

[Choochi]

Originally Posted by Barkingdog

There is no reason to breed a wolf with a dog when there are thousands of dogs needing a good home.

Amen! And any one who thinks you can infuse the size and aggression from the wolf into a dog and create a perfect guard or protection dog, the Russian military has tried that and they're wolf hybrid experiments failed miserably. The fearful and unstable temperament always persisted. Even after multiple generations of breeding and with training.

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Choochi

Amen! And any one who thinks you can infuse the size and aggression from the wolf into a dog and create a perfect guard or protection dog, the Russian military has tried that and they're wolf hybrid experiments failed miserably. The fearful and unstable temperament always persisted. Even after multiple generations of breeding and with training.

That wolf hybrid that bite my boyfriend was a reject police dog! The police gave the wolf hybrid to the old lady because she was getting robbed a lot and the cops told her she was to only use a 4 foot leash when walking the dog not a 6 foot leash . I could not believe this when I investigated the dog's background. I told my boyfriend that the dog looked difference than other dogs . I was shocked the cops gave a reject police dog to an little old lady because they felt sorry for getting robbed all the time. If a wolf hybrid hurt or kills a person the first thing people will do is to blame the wolf part of the dog and this is not fair to wolves as wolves fear people and do not go near them. They do not need to have any more people fearing them , if anyone is to be blame it need to be the person that got a animal they could not handle. Having a wolf hybrid would be like leaving a loaded gun lying around , you'll never go when it could go off.

[Choochi]

Originally Posted by Barkingdog

That wolf hybrid that bite my boyfriend was a reject police dog! The police gave the wolf hybrid to the old lady because she was getting robbed a lot and the cops told her she was to only use a 4 foot leash when walking the dog not a 6 foot leash . I could not believe this when I investigated the dog's background. I told my boyfriend that the dog looked difference than other dogs . I was shocked the cops gave a reject police dog to an little old lady because they felt sorry for getting robbed all the time. If a wolf hybrid hurt or kills a person the first thing people will do is to blame the wolf part of the dog and this is not fair to wolves as wolves fear people and do not go near them. They do not need to have any more people fearing them , if anyone is to be blame it need to be the person that got a animal they could not handle. Having a wolf hybrid would be like leaving a loaded gun lying around , you'll never go when it could go off.

I don't know where you are but no police department in North America uses wolf hybrids. I think it's far more likely that some one told you (or the old lady) a story just to get rid of that animal.

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Choochi

I don't know where you are but no police department in North America uses wolf hybrids. I think it's far more likely that some one told you (or the old lady) a story just to get rid of that animal.

I live in Massachusetts and I called the Boston police department to find out about the dog and policeman told me the dog that bite my boyfriend was a wolf hybrid. This was about 43 years ago and people may not been as educated about using wolf hybrid as working dogs. I never spoke to the old lady , the polices where the ones that told me about the woman getting robbed all the time. The only thing I was concerned about it the dog had all it shots and getting my boyfriend to the ER. You have no idea what are talking about as you where not there and you may not had been born yet.

[flamingo]

chooci said it best I have been around real tame wolves before and they were NOTHING like my german shepherd. The sounds they made the way they moved they seemed much more cat like its hard to explain. They don't watch over you when you sleep, you dont just

LIke that coyote you see silently in your yard in the middle of the night. It is an animal you dont want to have in your house. Looking at in nature hunting moose and buffalo yes but not in your house and yard. I think it is cruel. Dogs have had 10 thousand years of domestication. A wolf should not be walking on a chain and leash. They should be out in the woods hunting with a pack of other wolves.


You can get sled dogs or nothern type dogs that look like wolves they are a handful to own but still they are dogs


And right NO police department is going to take a dog with wolf in it. Police import their dogs from the zcech and slovakia to get the proper traits for street or patrol work. These dogs cost thousands and thousands of dollers. THey come from the worlds best breeders. NO police man is going to accept a wolf dog as his k9 partner that is the most silly thing ever. WOlf dogs do not protect you, they do not do street patrol work nor will they do tracking they are not guard animals either, they are just wild predators. My dogs father is a street patrol dog in texas.


ALSO wolves are not dangerous in the wild because they are scared of us. When they lose that fear and turn domestic the danger level changes and a full grown mature wolf that has NO fear of humans and is fed by us can be a VERY dangerous animal.

IF you owned hundreds of acers of land and then fenced it in under ground and upper with a 10 foot gate curved inwards, provided daily road kill like a zoo type setting then you could be an ideal home I think, but if they ever get out and start to eat livestock you will be in huge trouble. A wolf can scale a 8 foot brick wall like it is nothing so can a small coyote. They have cat like agility and strange flexable limbs. A wolf when in a sprint can jump up to 5 meters across.

[flamingo]

Originally Posted by kitona

LOL I wish I had a nickel for everytime someone's told me that their husky cross or poorly bred malamute was a wolf. My first reaction is ''I hope for your sake you were lied to by the ''breeder.'' Heck, so many people that have them can't even deal with huskies/malamutes/Northern dogs because of their extreme work ethic. When their dogs run away, they take it personally and think their dogs are running away from them not realizing their dogs just NEED to RUN. When asked for advise in dealing with this I tell them to harness the dog, train it to run constructively and go with them.
Sorry for the rant, but this is a subject near and dear to my heart. One of my favorite rescues is the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary. The person who runs this place really knows her stuff and does it right.

I agree i have been told 10x by various people that their dog was a wolf. YOu know by their calm nature and looks it is just some mixed sled type dog. But i dont try to ruin their pride i just say oh really. lol

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by flamingo

chooci said it best I have been around real tame wolves before and they were NOTHING like my german shepherd. The sounds they made the way they moved they seemed much more cat like its hard to explain. They don't watch over you when you sleep, you dont just

LIke that coyote you see silently in your yard in the middle of the night. It is an animal you dont want to have in your house. Looking at in nature hunting moose and buffalo yes but not in your house and yard. I think it is cruel. Dogs have had 10 thousand years of domestication. A wolf should not be walking on a chain and leash. They should be out in the woods hunting with a pack of other wolves.


You can get sled dogs or nothern type dogs that look like wolves they are a handful to own but still they are dogs


And right NO police department is going to take a dog with wolf in it. Police import their dogs from the zcech and slovakia to get the proper traits for street or patrol work. These dogs cost thousands and thousands of dollers. THey come from the worlds best breeders. NO police man is going to accept a wolf dog as his k9 partner that is the most silly thing ever. WOlf dogs do not protect you, they do not do street patrol work nor will they do tracking they are not guard animals either, they are just wild predators. My dogs father is a street patrol dog in texas.


ALSO wolves are not dangerous in the wild because they are scared of us. When they lose that fear and turn domestic the danger level changes and a full grown mature wolf that has NO fear of humans and is fed by us can be a VERY dangerous animal.

IF you owned hundreds of acers of land and then fenced it in under ground and upper with a 10 foot gate curved inwards, provided daily road kill like a zoo type setting then you could be an ideal home I think, but if they ever get out and start to eat livestock you will be in huge trouble. A wolf can scale a 8 foot brick wall like it is nothing so can a small coyote. They have cat like agility and strange flexable limbs. A wolf when in a sprint can jump up to 5 meters across.

We had a field that was 11 acres behind my condo and there are a lot wild rabbits in our yard . Some coyotes lived in the field and they would cut through our driveway all hours of the day . I was talking to some neighbors once around noon time and a coyote ran right pass us to get to field . The field been dug up and being build on , so all the wildlife has lost their habitat
and food supply. The coyote came right up to my dog and me when we in the yard at 12 AM . The coyote was sniffing my dog butt when I looked down . I hate to think what would happen if I looked down one second later! That dog I wrote about was part wolf and GS . There was no reason for the policemen to lie to me about the dog being part wolf when I asked what kind of dog bite my boyfriend. The old lady did not tell me this , I only got her name address as I needed to get my b/f to the ER .

[Longblades]

LOL, I met a lady on the trail with her three dogs last week. We walked back together and chatted and she told me about a coyote encounter she'd had on the same trail. She said it came right up behind her and acted like it wanted to play with her dogs, two of whom are little things. Yikes I said. And then I thought, was it maybe Lucy? Lucy my neighbours' GSD/Lab/Husky who sometimes gets down onto the trail before her people do?

In a way I hope it was Lucy. In a way I hope it wasn't. Lucy goes too far and someone could shoot her, she could be taken for a coyote. Or she could get hit. On the other hand Lucy probably wouldn't be fixing to eat those two small dogs.

[flamingo]

ive run into coyotes a lot of times

Sometimes I also see mixed dogs running around in the bush from far they look like coyotes then they run up to us and clearly they just left their owner and are running around lol


Coyote population went up in the city I think all the extra food sources, i use to see them in my old yard when my dog wasnt outside, they bolt and hide fast though they dont seem to like confrontation.

[Longblades]

Well my neighbour lady is a bit of nitwit, nice as she was. We are in a small rural village and there are coyotes all around us. Behind her house is a big unfarmed field. No crop has been taken off that field in the 32 years we've lived here. The coyotes congregate out there and we hear them singing at night, especially in fall and early summer as the pups mature.

She didn't know that. Here she was worried about her possible coyote encounter and she didn't know how close they are to her own house. I hope she doesn't let those little dogs outside on their own. She must not hear very well either, our house is not as close to that field and we hear them.

Do you agree with me? Coyotes sing. Dogs just bark. To hear the coyotes sing is a treat. I just wish the darn dogs would shut up.

[Robbie lee]

Sorry to chime in kinda late but I've owned hybrids for over 30 years, they do not make good pets and should never be owned by someone not experienced with wolf traits. They are legal some some states and provinces but not others, even some cities have bylaws against them. Some low content WDs can make good dogs and pets but the trend is toward high content, very silly as even my latest mid content is not safe around strangers, especially small children. The first time he saw a toddler I knew I could never trust him again. They do not like anything new or strange, which means you have to watch them always in the city. They may never trust even their owner 100%, which is really sad if you need to nurse them someway. As far as training them as working dogs, maybe a low content or a very selectively bred mid, but not in general and never in the low F generation. F generation IMO means as much or more than claimed % as to how wild your dog maybe, my last one was only 25% but f2, very wild and did bite me more than once. Trouble is u can never really trust a breeder, and yes way too many bad dogs r labeled as being wolfdogs or even maybe worse, some wolf looking good dog as such. Most dog shelters do not accept known or suspected wolfdogs, many put down any they get custody of. My first WD was f5 and only ~33%, she was amazing, but not so with every other one I've had since. If u want a good guard dog get one selectively bred dog to be so and train it properly, chances are you will be happy. Wolfdogs are unpredictable, and when they get into trouble the result is far more scary than any dog. Yes I own them, but I live 24/7 keeping them out of trouble, not many people could do so. It's a constant battle to get them to do what u want or need them to, more than just head strong they r extremely powerful. The military and police have tried for centuries to produce working wolves and higher content wolfdogs, without luck. Your GSD is the closest thing to a wolf that can be useful in a working situation. These do have some resent wolf blood but very low in content. Same with many northern dogs, sure they may have some wolf blood, but not much, likely less than 1/3 if they r going to be workable. Note some states and provinces rightly restrict wolfdogs by their F generation, California and Alberta r 2 examples. So if you want a dog that u can't trust, will bite you if u push it the wrong way, and may not start a dog fight but will end one faster than u can imagine, ignore my experience. Yes my pitbull is more likely to find a dog fight, but I can break it up b4 any harm done, if a wolfdog gets attacked by some guard dog who smells a wolf, it's way more likely to result in serious injury.

[Luvpearls]

Most people here made a lot of good point as to why keeping a wolfdog as a pet is not a pretty much good idea to consider at all.

[gemma23426]

To me, it's much dangerous. So avoid it.