What Do Wolfdogs Want?

[douglas9]

The animals are a human creation. They belong neither in homes nor in the wild.

Shadow did not want to be caged. Sylphlike and snow colored, the animal paced her closet-size concrete-and-wire enclosure, ears pinned back, body tense, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Nor did the small town of Tooele, Utah, want to keep her caged. It did not want her there at all.

Shadow is a wolfdog—a wolf-dog hybrid. That makes her an exotic animal in the eyes of Tooele’s law enforcement, ineligible for residence in a family home. Many states ban wolfdogs, as do many municipalities, since they require more resources and pose more danger than your average pup. “It is like having a toddler for a decade,” said Steve Wastell of Apex Protection Project, a wolfdog-rescue group based in Southern California. A toddler with jaws strong enough to shatter a moose femur. Still, like sugar gliders and pythons, wolfdogs have an enduring, cultish following among pet owners. An estimated 250,000 of them live as pets in the United States.

Many wolfdogs make wonderful family companions, and it seemed like Shadow might be one of them. Just a few minutes after meeting me, she let me scratch the top of her head and smooth down her coat. But when a wolfdog does not make a wonderful family pet, when it is too skittish or prey driven or high energy for a domestic environment, the consequences are often dangerous, if not fatal, for the wolfdogs, and sometimes for their owners, too. Only certain homes make sense for these animals—homes with experienced owners and strong fences.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/what-do-wolfdogs-want/605896/

[Zoonart]

1. Wonderful article.

I owned a wolf dog hybrid. Her name was Chili and she was black as night. She was the most wonderful companion and the most amazing animal, but definitely not your normal canine. She was smart and cunning and I had to break her like a bronco when she was about three months old.

We were having a training session in the yard and she was really out of control, biting and acting out. I was on one knee and trying to calm her when she latched onto my earlobe and would not let go. I became angry and used it. I rolled her onto her back and pressed down hard on the rib-cage. I snarled into her face, my mouth dripping saliva. Pretty dramatic? It was. She turned her head away from me and relaxed her body. That was it, I was alpha dog from that moment on.

She was the most loyal and amazing animal I have ever encountered and I will never forget her. We would walk at night in the woods and in an instant she would silently leave my side and circle me checking out the surrounding terrain, slipping in and out of the shadows, then when she had decided that all was well, she would reappear at my knee. Just a magical bond.

[CousinIT]

2. Humans stupid meddling with nature produces a poor animal they can't deal with.

This is all on the homo-sapiens. The wolfdogs are the victims of human stupidity. What a sad state of affairs.

[2naSalit]

3. +1