Living With Wolfdogs ~ by Wolflady1

Living With Wolfdogs

by WolfLady1 (9802.20)

I spent 6 years studying about wolves and wolfdogs, and talked to owners and breeders to get an idea of what I was getting into before I got my first one. I have now spent the last 9 years of my life living with wolfdogs and have found them to be the most intelligent creatures I have ever known.

When I was learning about them, they were called wolf-hybrids, but in the last few years, scientists have done genetic studies and proven that wolves and dogs have the same genetic backgrounds. In fact, when looking at the genes of a dog and a wolf, there is no difference. This is because every domesticated dog came from the wolf. This information has made the term "wolf-hybrid" a falsehood, a hybrid is made from two different species, wolves and dogs are the same species.

I also spent 4 years investigating "wolfdog attacks". You should know there has never been an attack by a wolf in the wild on a human that was not caused somehow by the human involved in the attack. I have found this is also true of wolfdogs.

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Food for Thought

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Wolfdog put to death for killing a 3 year old in his own backyard!

This is a true statement, however, no one hears the other side of the story. This particular wolfdog was purchased from a local Humane Society, it had been caged in a small pen, with minimal interaction with humans. There are no records of why the wolfdog had come to the Humane Society in the first place. The woman who brought it home had no knowledge about wolfdogs, nor did she have any problems with it. She had to go to the store, so she put the wolfdog in her backyard that had a 3 ft. fence. The wolfdog, finding itself free at last in strange territory, jumped the fence and went wandering.

Another lady found the wolfdog and had no trouble getting it to come with her to her backyard, where she tied it to a tree, went in the house to call the Humane Society, and left her 3 year old son ALONE with a strange animal.

The child had been seen by neighbors hitting the wolfdog with a stick. The wolfdog could not get away from the child and lashed out in defense. This behavior would have happened with any dog, animal or human who found themselves in a like situation.

Who was to blame the wolfdog or the people who put him in this situation?

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Wolfdog kills infant in mother's arms.

Boy did this one make news!

The public was never told that the wolfdog was a female who had just given birth to a litter of pups. They also didn't mention that the woman the former owner of the wolfdog, and that she had held the baby out to show the wolfdog. Having just had a litter of pups, the wolfdog did what came naturally, she was "offered" this human cub and accepted it as one of her own. How does a wolfdog carry its pups? By the neck of course, but she was not trying to hurt the baby, just carry it back to the rest of the cubs.

Who was at fault, the wolfdog or the mother who held out her child to it?

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There are so many more stories, but I just wanted to make a quick point. Many times you will see a very small child "playing" with their pet dog or cat. You will see them pinch, hit, and pull hair. Children must be taught the proper way to handle animals at a very early age.

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When I got my first wolfdog, not only was I equipped with the knowledge, but my daughter who was 3 years old at the time had already been "trained" to handle animals properly.

Natawne , "Tawne" as we call her, was my first wolfdog (50% wolf), and she came to live with us when she was 4 weeks old and fit right into the family. My daughter and "Tawne" played together each day and so you could say my daughter was raised with wolves. Tawne her training right away. She was taught not to bite hard, to understand the word "NO". Which was also the first command my children learned. We could take food right out of Tawne's mouth with no problems. She learned very fast and learned many things like spelling "go for a ride" and "bones" to name a few. A year later we brought home Wakiza a 3 week old male (98% wolf). Okay, I can hear some of you now, "How do you know the percentage of wolf in a wolfdog."

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The answer is "You don’t.". With the exception of 100% or 1^st generation pure wolf and pure dog which makes a 50% wolf-dog. You need to understand genetics to know why this is true.

If you breed 2 50% wolfdogs, you get 50% pups right?? ~ WRONG.

Each pup inherits its own genetic makeup from both dad and mom, therefore the litter average is 50%, but the pups can be anywhere from pure dog to pure wolf. Its the same in all species, even humans. A child can have dad's hair color, mom's eye color, grandpa's dimples and so on. Yet the next child can look exactly like either mom, dad, or a grandparent and so on.

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From our studies and knowledge on the behavior of wolves, we were not surprised to find our that wolfdogs tended to like to chew things more than a dog, so we were prepared with having alternate choices for the wolfdogs to chew on (which didn't include chair or table legs, etc).

Wolfdogs have a very hard bite if not trained not to, we used the word "ouch" if they got a little to carried away with a 2 finger soft hit to the snout, in no time all we had to do was say ‘ouch’ and they would automatically release which ever appendage they were biting too hard on; shortly after that they knew just how hard they could bite down while playing and rarely did we have to say anything.

Now wolves and wolfdogs have deductive reasoning, it has been bred out of most dogs. That is why when you say NO it must always be NO.

A wolfdog notices if you let them get away with something, and then they think that NO doesn't necessarily mean NO. Its the same with a child.

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Another thing it teaches your wolfdog is that you are weak. The wolfdog must know that you are ALPHA or boss all the time, especially with males. Wolves in the wild are lead and listen to their ALPHA leader. The alpha must be strong if the pack is to survive. Younger wolves will challenge the alpha if they think they are stronger, or if the Alpha shows weakness. It is the same for wolfdogs.

Now don't start getting alarmed, a challenge is not an out and out fight. It is a standoff to see who will break down first. Hardly any wolves are seriously hurt in a challenge. So if you show weakness by giving in on rules of course they will challenge you ~ teenagers do that to.

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Wolves can jump 6 ft straight up in the air, they also love to dig, so you have to have an area they cannot jump out of or tunnel under. This is a major consideration to think about before getting a wolfdog. It can be costly to make an escape proof area for them. The area should also be large enough for them to run around and exercise. Wolves and wolfdogs are escape artists, so if you don't have your area escape proof, they will find a way out. Our wolves and wolfdogs can open a door, open a gate that isn't locked and slip through holes you thought were to small for them, and chew through chain link fences that are not very high gauge.

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A wolfdog will actually die if left alone most of the time. They need either a companion animal they can interact with and/or human companionship; and even if they have another animal, they still need as much time to spend with its ‘human’ pack as possible.

Wolfdogs are pack or family oriented, more so than a lot of humans, and need to be a part of something bigger - a family, to survive!!

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Our wolfdogs have outside areas and they also spend a lot of time in the house. Its a good thing we have a king size bed when we have a 165lb and a 110lb wolfdog that likes to sleep with you.

Most wolfdogs average a little over or under 100 lbs. Ours weigh from 90-185lbs. This is because they are Mckenzie Valley Wolf, which was the largest wolf to ever roam North America, and were mixed with big boned German Shepherds.

Wakiza thinks he is still a "lap" dog (at 165lbs), I am 5'1" and weigh 110 lbs. and all I can say is that he takes up an awful lot of lap. He is a big baby at 7 years old, but he is protective of his pack, both human and animal.

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Many people think that wolfdogs would make great guard dogs, this is wrong and right.

A wolf or wolfdog is not by nature mean, only a very cruel and selfish person would try to turn a wolfdog into a guard dog, however, wolfdogs are very protective of their pack. They will not attack unless a member of their "family" is in danger, that is why it is important to teach commands so it does not think that a long lost friend who wrestles you to the ground is hurting you. You need special commands to call them off if they mistakenly think someone is hurting you.

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This is just a little of my knowledge on wolfdogs. I am still learning more each day.

I am available for questions and comments from people who are for or against wolves and wolfdogs.

If you have information you would like to share with me, I’m more than happy to hear from you.

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