Pumpkin the musher Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 There was an ad in our local major newspaper(St Paul Pioneer Press) advertisingwolf crosses- one litter crossed with white GSD and the other with [i]Great Dane[/i] :o :o :o :evil: I'd love to call and ask what the reasoning behind this idea was... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseatthebusstop Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 :evil: :evil: I would like to think it was an accident Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Cassie Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 That really ticks me off :evil: I think alot of times its a marketing tool to sell puppies...for "some" reason people feel the need to aquire a wolf hybrid to make them selves feel special or make them selves feel tough. Around my area we have had a few people advertise for wolf hybrids for sale...I have called them up and asked...."where did you find a wolf??? in our province even biologists cannot find any native wolves left in our area :roll: we have lots of coyotes, but, no wolves. :lol: Here is a little article I found which I found interesting about the subject of wolf hybrids...this is from a person who races sled dogs and is also a biologist. [quote]I raced sled dog teams for over a dozen years, and can attest vigorously that the problems already visited on the driver even by a team of good working sled dogs need no exacerbation due to the addition of a wolf. People who sell huskies often claim "wolf blood", for it excites the novice into purchase. Perhaps it really just helps to sell pups that have no purebred pedigree and cannot be registered as purebreds. But what possible wolf trait would anyone want to add to a sled dog team? wolves are not faster or stronger, nor do they have more stamina than sled dogs. They do not take commands better, if they take them at all. I have never heard of even one wolf that has demonstrated top racing or freight-pulling ability. The very important distinction between dogs and wolves is that wolves may be smarter and able to learn more, but they cannot be taught much using instrumental conditioning. Dogs have been described as just smart enough to do a job and just dumb enough to do it. They are without peer in the animal world in responding positively to instrumental conditioning. [/quote] Most people cannot even handle ordinary dogs, its scary to think people can even "think" they could keep a wolf hybrid. I think they are dangerous and can be more so dangerous as they "think" differently from dogs. They have the ability to figure things out and are quite good escape artists. The only positive thing about this is that many of the so-called wolf hybrids do not have any wolf in them at all. Some times owners of mixed breed dogs will use this as a marketing scheme...for some sick reason the moment some one hears a dog may have wolf blood in it...it excites them and gives them some sort of odd power. We have a few clients which come into the vet clinic I work at which "one of our own vets" told them their dogs had coyote in them :roll: it almost makes the owner so happy they almost pee them selves right there...then they go around bragging, yeah, my vet told me my dog has coyote in it...look at me, I'm a some body now. I don't know what ever possessed this vet to tell these owners this ludicrous story...it boggles my mind. To me the dogs look like Belgian Turvern crosses. People, they really make me wonder some times. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seijun Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 [quote]I think they are dangerous and can be more so dangerous as they "think" differently from dogs. [/quote] Why do you think they are dangerous? I am confused by what you say when you say they think differently. ~Seij Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seijun Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 [quote]The only positive thing about this is that many of the so-called wolf hybrids do not have any wolf in them at all.[/quote] Yeah, I guess that's good, but misrepresentation does more harm than good. Everytime a wolfdog bites or attacks someone the wolf part gets blamed. More than half the time, the dog wasn't part wolf anyway. Sometimes people get a dog who they think is a pure wolf or half wolf or whatever, and it is very easy to care for because it is actually pure dog, the owners just don't know it, so they go out telling everyone to get a wolf or wolfdog because they think they are so easy to take care of. One lady I saw had a rottie mix that she thought was 99% wolf. She bragged about what a wonderful guard dog and therapy dog it was, and she wouldn't believe us when we told her it wasn't 99% wolf. In states where wolfdogs are illegal, there are always husky and mal mixes getting PTS because they are sold as wolfdogs, even though most of the time they're not. ~Seij Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin the musher Posted July 27, 2004 Author Share Posted July 27, 2004 When it's said that wolves think differently, you have to remember that domesticated dogs have been subjected to human intervention for 1000's of years- dogs that "behaved" (we can read that as responding favorably to humans) were favored over those that did not, therefore assuring that the dog we know today acts as it does. Wolves are primarily prey/survival driven- my Pomeranian could no more survive on her own in the wild than most humans, where my sled dogs would probably fair better, but by no means have the survival instincts of a wolf. The one dog that I owned that did have wolf in her, probably between 1/4 and 1/2, did things like regurgitate food for her puppies, cache food in and under her house, try to "hide" her puppies-no mean feat considering there were 11 of them :o and was totally untrainable as a sled dog- she would do fine for a few miles, then decide it was time to jump off the trail into the woods, usually dragging the team along with her. :roll: She was a wonderful"dog" , but required some special handling to cope with her eccentricities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seijun Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 Ok, I get what you're saying Anyway, I HATE seeing these new wolf crosses. Huskies, Mals, and GSD's are the traditional dogs used for wolf crossings. Lately though their have been many supposed pit bull, rottie, and other mixes, and you know whoever is breeding them is doing it to try creating some big, "ultimate fighting dog" sort of thing, which isn't what the wolfcross world needs right now. I wouldn't mind so much if they were experimenting with an easier breed crossing, like golden retriever/wolf crosses or something. Wolves, huskies, and mals all have high prey drive, an instinct to roam, are better escape artists, and are for more advanced dog owners. Mix them together, and you will almost always get a cross that can't be owned by 'average' or first time dog owners, because they wouldn't even be able to handle a pure husky or malamute, let alone a wolf/mal, wolf/husky cross. On the other hand, retrievers and the more mellow breeds, mixed with a wolf, might be easier for average dog owners to handle, because the wolf intensity would get 'tamed' down much faster than if you mixed an already hard to handle breed in with the wolf. Such mixings will usually create very 'unwolfish' looking animals though, so I doubt they would be very popular. When people want a wolf/dog cross they are usually looking for something that looks like a wolf. If your going to try creating new wolf crosses, it should be done to create and easier-to-handle wolfdog, not a fighting one! (although personaly, wolfdog rescue is so overrun right now it would be nice if ALL wolfdog breeding stopped for a while) Grrr.... :evil: ~Seij Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolferayne Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 he has 2 wolf-rottweilers, the mother was 90% wolf, 10% malamute or husky, i dont remember and the father a rottweiler, their breeding was an accident but out of the 2 pups they kept, a male and female, both of the dogs have the sweetest personality and when i first met them they were acting like they had known me forever and i swear they look exactly like a dog that hung around the area that belong to someone near my house but its impossible that he could be the father because the wolf and rottweiler were fenced in and were not able to escape, i always had the feeling that the dog was part wolf, unfortatly he is missing so either he was killed or he got taken to the pound, his owners were not caring for him at all, me and my friend were feeding him and he loved it when we would play with him, he came right up to me the first time i met him, he always loved trying to jump on people and kiss them but other than that he was always sweet so pretty much the 3 wolf-rottweilers ive known are the sweetest things in the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfdogs Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 first off, it does not have to be a pure wolf to make a wolfdog. (hybrid is an incorrect term). only an F1 comes from a pure wolf. the F factor designates 'generations removed from the wild'. most wolfdogs today are F5's or even F7's... I do phenotyping of wolfdogs for shelters all over VA and Md... and sometimes other states by a complete set of pictures. I am one of 3 in my organization recognized by the Defenders of Wildlife to do this... its amazing how many "wolfdogs" turn out to be just dogs... that someone payed a handsome price for to get the wolf in it... bamboozled by a shady breeder. its easy to take a rot, a great dane, lab, and introduce a border collie/husky mix in it..and claim it has wolf in it. these ***** breeders do it all the time... remember, its the "dog in the wolf" that makes it dangerous, not the "wolf in the dog"...... thats why responsible wolfdog breeders use northern breeds to cross with..that have been evaluated very carefully before hand. the gsd is used, but with caution, it sometimes brings out aggression in wolfdogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikitabella Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 I'm new to this site. I agree with Seijun, what makes them dangerous?? I'm a "mom" to a wd, I will agree that she thinks differently than my other dog, but in no way dangerous. She is not as eager to please as my "boy". She learns quickly, but getting her to do the trick again is another story. The only one she does pretty regularly is my good morning and good night kisses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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