I have been doing a lot of reading about wolves and wolfdog crosses on the web... I have quickly realized that the wolfdog is one of the more polarizing types (I don't wanna say "breeds" because they aren't really a breed)...with opinions ranging the whole spectrum, from fierce protection of the wolfdog as a companion, to equally balanced viewpoints giving the negative and positive aspects of a wolfdog, to condemnation of the entire type (regardless of the amount of wolf content) ... although I think none of the pages upset me more than this one:
http://www.leerburg.com/wolfcross.htm
I have not written anything to Mr. Frawley, as I feel it would be pointless. If you read the e-mails and his responses near the bottom, you'll see that he is not interested in any positive viewpoints on wolfdogs, and in fact, any such e-mails are answered with insults... his favorites being that all wolfdog owners are "dumb rednecks", "idiots", "crazy", etc.
While I understand his concern over the safety of children around wolfdogs, I also feel that any person who cannot present their viewpoint and argue their stance to those who take the opposing side without resorting to name-calling doesn't have a very valid point to begin with.
I have found that most wolfdog sites encourage people not to own one, and discourages the breeding of them, in a respectful and intelligent fashion, not in a "beat you over the head with it" way of Frawley's website. Their information is for responsible owners and tries to give an unbiased view of the wolfdog, the reasons why they are problematic in the wrong enviornment, and the dangers that can accompany owning such an animal.
I am not one of those wolfdog owners who will say that "mine would never hurt a fly, everyone is wrong"... in fact, I admit I was clueless when I got Moro. I had no idea of the major differences in wolf and dog behavior, and I have learned as much as I can since. I also will say that I do not promote or encourage breeding of wolfdogs. They are too often given away to homes that are not prepared, and end up in rescues (if they are lucky) or euthanized. This site (chazhound) has taught me a lot about responsible breeding and the fact that if people would think of the good of their animals and refrain from breeding, and spay/neuter we wouldn't have so many homeless dogs in this world...that goes for dogs of ALL types and breeds, not just wolfdogs.
...one of my biggest concerns with Moro is that she is frightened and easily upset around small children. This is not something I'm happy about, but I don't feel it's a reason to put her down either. I think that we can be responsible owners and keep her within our yard (not difficult, we've had no problems with escape and believe me, she's tried!!) and on leash while walking. (We allowed her to run off leash when she was younger, but this has stopped a long while ago and she never goes walking without a leash now). Most importantly, she is supervised...someone is at home with her all day, every day.
I also couldn't resist but to look up Mr. Frawley on chazhound and see if there's been any talk of him here before, and lo and behold, there was a controversy over his dog training videos in one of the threads where he apparently encouraged "choking a dog out until it goes unconscious" in order to train it. Of the posts I read, I saw that certain members said he had changed his views and apologized for the way he had treated some of his GSDs in the past. I am guessing that he hasn't changed his views of wolfdogs... since the site labelling them as "kid killers" is still up. It just boggles my mind that someone who makes a living training dogs can have such a severe viewpoint on the wolfdog... despite the fact that lower content wolfdogs often show more dog than wolf behavior, and the majority of websites I've read agree that there's no real way to tell if a hybrid wolf will display more dog-like or wolf-like characteristics.
I know this will probably just re-start the wolf hybrid debate, which I've seen in a few older posts that I searched on chazhound, and the controversy over whether they can be good companions.... that's not what I was hoping for, but I know it's probably going to be the result. I just would like to know... regardless of your opinion on the wolfdog... does it seem like an overly extreme stance to run a website labelled "KID KILLERS" that states ALL wolfdogs are dangerous and all owners of wolfdogs are stupid?? I just can't help but think that if the offending dog on this page was changed to "PIT BULLS" rather than wolfdogs, pittie and dog lovers alike would have eaten this guy alive by now
BTW, from reading through his e-mails and responses at the bottom of the page, I saw that he has "10 outside dogs and 5 inside dogs"
I know there are exceptions and places which have the capacity for that many, but my goodness... I haven't even been a chaz member for that long and I know already that if some new member posted that they had this many dogs, they would be highly questioned by the other chaz members about the conditions they live in to be keeping so many!!
http://www.leerburg.com/wolfcross.htm
I have not written anything to Mr. Frawley, as I feel it would be pointless. If you read the e-mails and his responses near the bottom, you'll see that he is not interested in any positive viewpoints on wolfdogs, and in fact, any such e-mails are answered with insults... his favorites being that all wolfdog owners are "dumb rednecks", "idiots", "crazy", etc.
While I understand his concern over the safety of children around wolfdogs, I also feel that any person who cannot present their viewpoint and argue their stance to those who take the opposing side without resorting to name-calling doesn't have a very valid point to begin with.
I have found that most wolfdog sites encourage people not to own one, and discourages the breeding of them, in a respectful and intelligent fashion, not in a "beat you over the head with it" way of Frawley's website. Their information is for responsible owners and tries to give an unbiased view of the wolfdog, the reasons why they are problematic in the wrong enviornment, and the dangers that can accompany owning such an animal.
I am not one of those wolfdog owners who will say that "mine would never hurt a fly, everyone is wrong"... in fact, I admit I was clueless when I got Moro. I had no idea of the major differences in wolf and dog behavior, and I have learned as much as I can since. I also will say that I do not promote or encourage breeding of wolfdogs. They are too often given away to homes that are not prepared, and end up in rescues (if they are lucky) or euthanized. This site (chazhound) has taught me a lot about responsible breeding and the fact that if people would think of the good of their animals and refrain from breeding, and spay/neuter we wouldn't have so many homeless dogs in this world...that goes for dogs of ALL types and breeds, not just wolfdogs.
...one of my biggest concerns with Moro is that she is frightened and easily upset around small children. This is not something I'm happy about, but I don't feel it's a reason to put her down either. I think that we can be responsible owners and keep her within our yard (not difficult, we've had no problems with escape and believe me, she's tried!!) and on leash while walking. (We allowed her to run off leash when she was younger, but this has stopped a long while ago and she never goes walking without a leash now). Most importantly, she is supervised...someone is at home with her all day, every day.
I also couldn't resist but to look up Mr. Frawley on chazhound and see if there's been any talk of him here before, and lo and behold, there was a controversy over his dog training videos in one of the threads where he apparently encouraged "choking a dog out until it goes unconscious" in order to train it. Of the posts I read, I saw that certain members said he had changed his views and apologized for the way he had treated some of his GSDs in the past. I am guessing that he hasn't changed his views of wolfdogs... since the site labelling them as "kid killers" is still up. It just boggles my mind that someone who makes a living training dogs can have such a severe viewpoint on the wolfdog... despite the fact that lower content wolfdogs often show more dog than wolf behavior, and the majority of websites I've read agree that there's no real way to tell if a hybrid wolf will display more dog-like or wolf-like characteristics.
I know this will probably just re-start the wolf hybrid debate, which I've seen in a few older posts that I searched on chazhound, and the controversy over whether they can be good companions.... that's not what I was hoping for, but I know it's probably going to be the result. I just would like to know... regardless of your opinion on the wolfdog... does it seem like an overly extreme stance to run a website labelled "KID KILLERS" that states ALL wolfdogs are dangerous and all owners of wolfdogs are stupid?? I just can't help but think that if the offending dog on this page was changed to "PIT BULLS" rather than wolfdogs, pittie and dog lovers alike would have eaten this guy alive by now
BTW, from reading through his e-mails and responses at the bottom of the page, I saw that he has "10 outside dogs and 5 inside dogs"
I know there are exceptions and places which have the capacity for that many, but my goodness... I haven't even been a chaz member for that long and I know already that if some new member posted that they had this many dogs, they would be highly questioned by the other chaz members about the conditions they live in to be keeping so many!!