Wolf mixes
- Thread starter colliekid
- Start date
I think its the macho thing once again, there are people that "think" to own one of these somehow puts a feather in their caps, by being able to "control" something that is seen as a "wild " animal, same as some people keep large cats etc. its an image thing, and personally I think its extremely foolish. if you have say a malamute 9/10 you know what your are getting, mix wolf into that and you can have a dog that can weigh anything up to 190lb(giant mal) with the unpridictability of a wolf, you may have an extremly dangerious animal on your hands.
Mo
S
dna can only tell if the supposed parents are truly the parents. it cannot differentiate between breeds, or domestic dog and wolf. wolf is canis lupis. that is a general term that covers all the subspecies including the domestic dog. for instance...arctic wolf is canis lupis arctos, domestic dog is canis lupis familiaris. and it is possible for a high wolf content hybrid to show only/mostly dog physical/mental characteristics, and a low wolf content hybrid to show only/mostly wolf physical/mental characteristics....
here are a few pictures. can anyone tell how much wolf is in each one???
#1...
#2...
#3...
here are a few pictures. can anyone tell how much wolf is in each one???
#1...
#2...
#3...
My Fiances old boss had a 50%wolf 50% malamute. Gorgeous dog....wouldn't trust it any farther than I could throw it, and its too big to throw. I despised Patricks boss for owning this animal, he would brag that in order to show yourself as the pack leader to this type of dog you had to beat it. The dog once attacked one of my cats, and there were no apologies from the owners about it. Fortunately Chaos was faster than the dog and got away. I'm not sure if its true or not that you have to show them dominance by beating them, but if it is these dogs really shouldn't be pets to begin with, what a horrible thing to do to an animal!
S
no, thats absolutely untrue. beating any animal only creates fear. when people "train" a dog to fight, they beat it and starve it, only feed it if it wins, and then only a little and they tease it the whole time. they are not establishing dominance they are merely creating a monster fear biter (and despite what humane societies and shelters may say, it is easier to take a fighter or fear biter, or any aggressive dog, and make it gentle and trustworthy than it was for the original owners to make it aggressive). YES you absolutely do have to establish dominance, and start early, the same as with any other dominant breed such as malamutes, rottweilers, etc
Amstaffer said:
It is important to be dominant in your relatiionship with your K9 but Dominance does not mean cruel or abusive. I am very dominant with my dogs but I don't hit them. I just make sure I always get my way, you can be dominant with kisses just as easy as dominant with punishment. 
S
I'd say probably 70% of people in the WORLD either associate dominance with physical punishment, and therefore either beat/abuse their dogs or dont establish dominance at all because they think thats the only way and they (luckily) dont want to hurt their dog. 25% of people dont even know about dominance and dont train or socialize their dog, and 5% do research and read the information that is cleverly hidden in books, and therefore are responsible owners. no denying that wolfdogs are difficult to train, socialize and keep, but in my experience/opinion they are not harder than any other dominant, independent breed such as malamutes, gsd's, rotties, mastiffs, pit bulls, etc. have to start with early socialization and training, and as far as training goes its a lot easier with food and love rewards. they dont respond well to prong collars, shock collars, etc
i can't leave this one alone tho i have tried...i have seen trainers in the field of retrieving at the kansas City and Topeka field trials. I have seen some of the best dog work imaginable. I grew up there, a permenant fixture out in the field as first a bird "boy" and later other responsiblities including judging the minor stakes. The trainers that felt the need to dominate made me ill..believe me i have seen it all. The trainers that "taught" using the dog's natural abilities, and desires were obvious. A dog that finds the bird tail wagging, whirls around races back to his owner, eyes shining and proud as he/she delivers to hand is not a dog that was taught with dominance. That animal is one that works as a team, follows his "leader" because of trust...not because he was forced. The "dominated dog" runs out and gets the bird granted, his tail might even be flagging his happiness at finding what he was sent for, but his return is automatic, he crawls out of the water without joy, and he doesn't shine as he delivers to hand. I watched old boss gently teach..dog after dog..that placed again and again without all the bull of apha rolls, or pliers on ears, or shock collars, or prongs, or any of it. He used short lessons that built desire and a lot of praise. He said always end the lesson on a good note..he taught..he didn't dominate. He made it very clear that when a punishment for something like eating the bird was necessary, that the dog not relate it with the trainer at all, never the hands, never by striking our yelling..if it was a bad day in the field, put the dog away and start fresh tomorrow. I have seen men take their dogs out behind their trucks and beat them....i have seen them yell and hollar and i just shake my head. It teaches not a darn thing. I question anyone that feels they have to lord over another being to make them do what they want them to do. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Not for children, or spouses, and especially dogs. Respect and respect will be given back. Dominate and you will have an animal that minds you, but he won't respect you, and you will never know the partnership that can develop out of complete trust. i have already posted my opinion of wolf breeding repeatedly..based on what i saw and worked with at a canine security kennel. The whole thing is wrong. A wolf is not a dog, and never will be..to expect even a mix to behave as one is a sad and bad mistake, completely unfair to the animal. To encourage the breeding of them is to condemn the wolves to a miserable life.
S
I agree with you about breeding them smkie. the one I had, and if I ever have any again, I got from a wolf dog rescue. he was an adult when I got him, 1/2 wolf and half gsd and was the only wolf dog I have ever encountered who had "dog mind". what I mean is as far as his behaviour, trainability, etc he was totally dog. he looked like a pure wolf. the only time the wolf was present in anything besides looks was he would howl if left alone. I "ABSOLUTELY" am against ANYONE breeding wolf dogs, or wolves as pets. however there are a small few people out there who know enough about large breed, dominant breed, high prey drive breeds of dog, who are also patient enough and have done a ton of research, who can provide a good home to most of the wolf dogs in rescue. also I am not recommending anyone go out and adopt one because very few people are capable of giving the amount of time, patience, training and love (and room) that a wolf dog needs. however I do recommend that anyone considering a wolf dog as a pet go through a rescue, not a breeder. all of the adoptable wolf dogs go to foster homes. to adopt one you have to contact the head of the organization, the entire board (10-50 people) decides wether or not to approve your application after reading it. then the head calls you and you chat over the phone and email for a week or two. then they come to your home to check it out (very very strict requirements). then once they have a good idea of how informed/experienced you are with wolf dogs or similar breeds they try to place you with one that fits your knowledge/experience/environment/and energy level. and the foster mom or dad has the final say as to wether you may adopt that dog or not because they know it better than anyone and therefore know wether you are right for each other or not.
as far as training, dominance is not a training method. however with nearly every breed of dog, they are after all a sub species of wolf, they need a pack leader. yes you need to be respectful and loving, but also you have to be the boss. if your trying to train a puppy obedience and you are too afraid of hurting its feelings and never make it obey, then it will never obey. before you think Im against you let me explain how I train dogs...I use food rewards and lots of praise when they do something right. if I say "sit" and the dog ignores me I dont yell, kick, jerk the collar/dog around. I calmly, gently and firmly repeat the command and gently press down on the puppies rear. I keep training sessions short (no more than 5 minutes for puppies) and have several sessions a day. I always end with the dog being succesfull and recieving a lot of praise. however I always get my way, and my dogs respect me, I respect them, and we are all happy because I am the boss.
I have seen dogs whos owners have not established dominance, out on walks. since the owner is not dominant the dog feels responsible as the leader. the dog gets very stressed out because the owner has not properly trained it and it doesnt know what the owner wants, it feels it has to make decisions such as "is that trash can dangerous?, which way should we go?". and neither owner or dog have a good relationship, and neither are happy. and 99% of dogs in shelters have not had proper obedience training. most likely either because the owner didnt know they needed to, or they started training too late.
as far as training, dominance is not a training method. however with nearly every breed of dog, they are after all a sub species of wolf, they need a pack leader. yes you need to be respectful and loving, but also you have to be the boss. if your trying to train a puppy obedience and you are too afraid of hurting its feelings and never make it obey, then it will never obey. before you think Im against you let me explain how I train dogs...I use food rewards and lots of praise when they do something right. if I say "sit" and the dog ignores me I dont yell, kick, jerk the collar/dog around. I calmly, gently and firmly repeat the command and gently press down on the puppies rear. I keep training sessions short (no more than 5 minutes for puppies) and have several sessions a day. I always end with the dog being succesfull and recieving a lot of praise. however I always get my way, and my dogs respect me, I respect them, and we are all happy because I am the boss.
I have seen dogs whos owners have not established dominance, out on walks. since the owner is not dominant the dog feels responsible as the leader. the dog gets very stressed out because the owner has not properly trained it and it doesnt know what the owner wants, it feels it has to make decisions such as "is that trash can dangerous?, which way should we go?". and neither owner or dog have a good relationship, and neither are happy. and 99% of dogs in shelters have not had proper obedience training. most likely either because the owner didnt know they needed to, or they started training too late.