wolfdog

[Epona142]

No offense, but very few of these dogs, if any, have wolf in them. It's hard to tell from a picture of course, but from my long experience, most dogs who's owners (or their vets) claim to be part wolf most certainly are not. Usually it's a bit of husky or german shepherd dog in there.

I've worked with wolves and wolf mixes (not hybrids, a wolf x dog is not a hybrid by definition.) all of my life. I've both bred and handled them (very carefully) as well as helped run an exotic mammal rescue which specialized in wolf and wolf mixes.

They are not pets. They do not make good pets. One in a hundred makes an okay pet. One in a thousand makes a great pet.

But you can NEVER forget that they are wolf.

This was my best friend.

Princess Winterhawk. She was a MERE 32.6% Arctic wolf. Bred and raised by my mother and I. We won in agility and obedience in sanctioned wolfdog shows.

But she needed eight foot fencing and hot wire. She could clear six foot fencing without touching it. Could break chains like it was nothing. Had an insanely high prey drive. She was NOT a dog.

I am not fully against the breeding of wolfdogs and against the keeping of them by anyone who is not fully capable of handling them, like all exotics.

Here are a few more pictures from our rescue.

 

[isadream]

Your Woofy looks just like my sable german shepherd!!

Edited to ask how much and what kind of wolf is he mixed with?

 

[onecent]

Quote:
I received woofy from my nieces husband, he did some work for someone who breeds wolf dogs, woofys mother was an AKC german shepherd, father was a wolf, unknown to me which type, we are in NC, woofy was the last one of the litter, my nieces husband was going to keep him, but soon realized it might be to much of a challenge, so that's why i got him, about a week after i got him the mans wolves were confiscated, but not his wolf dogs, they were in the western part of NC, thats all i know for right now, I'm still trying to find out more about him, i know he howls, he makes a very strange howl bark sound, my daughter has had AKC german shepherds but nothing like woofy, i have other dogs, and i can walk them with no problems, when i walk woofy, the neighbors dogs go crazy! and one other thing Ive noticed with him is when i feed him he looks at me the whole time he eats, hes not food aggressive but it is erie when he does that, and he digs major holes! i thought he was going to china one time!...lol, and hes very submissive, well, that's all i know right now I will keep posting when i find out more, and ill get pics up in the near future, i like looking at the pics of the wolf dogs, and getting info on them, thanks!

 

[geepy]

My mom had a wolf/dog. He was different than a dog. He was never aggressive, but his prey drive was really bad. That aside he was an awesome dog. Yes an electric fence was needed (and he knew when it was off). Sadly my ex father in law stole him (to this day we really don't know what happened to him)

. Some day I would like to have one. Once you understood them they were a good dog.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
I DO so love you. You are the first person I've come across that realizes what you've said. I am SOOOOOO tired of the "MY DOG IS A WOLF" syndrome.

I am so tired of it, like it's a great status symbol to have one... it's actually rather sad most of the time because it's the wolfdog that suffers for it.

If you have an animals that looks like a wolf, but acts mostly like a dog is all aspects, chances are you were lied to when told they had wolf in them.

 

[Epona142]

 

[wolftracks]

I've owned three. I was younger and not so smart.

First one was Hendricks. He was Timber and Malamut. He was You could really see the Timber but he was also bulky like the dog in him. I trusted him with my kids. No one could go near his kids. He never barked but I loved his howl. Although he was great with my two older girls I would never have left them alone with him. My cousin and grandfather worked with wolves and I did have a little bit of intellegence. I had always said I was going to have my own and I can remember the lectures of how I shouldn't I also showed GSDs back then and did training, so not completely stupid, but just dumb enough to have to get one myself. Hendricks was an exception though. I have only seen a few that were even close to him.

After Hendricks I had Juno. He was just way to timid and should never have been sold to the people I got him from. I didn't have him long. He paced for hours and he was just not a pet type of animal. I placed him with some friends that also did rescue and he lived with them all his life. He had the best home I could find for him. I wouldn't have even taken him myself, but I knew I had options if I couldn't handle him. I just worked too many hours and didn't live where he had enough room and could be around if something did happen.

Shunka was a big baby. He was loveable, but he was very drivey and it just wants a good idea to keep him with all the kids I had. I never had a problem, but when you have kids they have friends. He did become a great sled dog though. He worked really well with his new owner and he ws just a big lug.

All of them were 1/4 to 1/2 wolf. I got all of them from people who didn't want them.

I've met people who tell me they have wolf dogs and there's no way. I met someone once that had one. They paid like $1500 for her. I told them I thought they were lied too. Nope. They said this person was honest and told them all about their wolf and they had seen him, yada yada yada. We ran into the breeder once. Ended up being someone I knew. He had Husky/Akita mixes and 2 GSDs. When they got excited to see him he smiled real big till he saw me looking at him. Blew his whole scam for him. Thing is these people still told everyone they had a wolf-dog, so it didn't even matter to them.

Just like with anything if you have a good, honest breeder that's one thing, but most got into it for the money. Gotta remember I had mine like 30 years ago. Not many people had the real deal and most that did didn't care who bought them or cared what was going to happen to them later on as long as cash was involved. Gee same as today, cept different.

We just got a new GSD this week. She's 8 weeks. Her markings aren't going to be as dark as I used to be partial too. People walking past the house ask if she's a wolf. I could actually say yes. Two years from now I could be selling wolf-dogs and they'd believe me. Not gonna happen, but how would they know?

I'm not saying anyone here doesn't have one. Just saying that breeds can be past off. Wolves are special to my family and always have been, but they shouldn't be owned by most people and chances are most people who have bought them, don't own one.

 

[Wolfwoman]

 

[welsummerchicks]

I once read an article where someone had done an estimate to calculate the number of dog wolf hybrids actually possible in America, then proved that 99% of those claimed, could not possibly be wolf dog hybrids even if every wolf in America and Canada had s** 24 hrs a day 365 days a year and every single litter had 12 pups that lived and were sold.

Just sayin'.

 

[isadream]

I called about an add for an AKC german shepherd. The guy started claiming they were part wolf. Then when I informed him I was in no way interested in owning a part wolf and was saying good bye to him he then changed his story and started saying oh its such a tiny amount so many generations back.

Needless to say I did not buy a pup from he because either their papers were wrong (if there was wolf in them) or he was flat out lying and there was NO wolf in them. Either way he was not honest so I did not get a pup from him.

I do not mean this to say I dont like wolves--its just I personally do not want to own one or a dog mixed with wolf. I wanted an AKC shepherd.