Owning a wolf hybrid? pros/cons please

[Vega]

Hi guys, I received an email from a friend of mine asking what info I have on wolf hybrids. She has the opportunity to adopt a 4 month old. She was told the dad was full German shepherd and mom was half German and half wolf. Making him 1/4 wolf.

I don't know much about them, other than certain states have different laws she'll need to look in to. She lives in Ohio. I know her main concerns will be with her 2 year old daughter and 3 rescue cats. I've seen that others have hybrids here and know I can get some sound advice to pass on to her.

 

[HungryBird]

I would strongly, strongly, strongly recommend she not get a hybrid. Also, I've had two GSDs and they are not to be trusted with cats. Great with kids though! GSDs are bad enough, I can only imagine how terrible they would be with the addition of more wolf blood.

Wolves are very shy and timid and do not do well as pets. It would be a dangerous situation. If you have pets or kids I would absolutely not let them near a hybrid.

 

[Birdbabe]

My friend had two. (Her hubby got rid of them after she passed away) They were awesome, very protective of her, They howled like crazy, hated neighbors, cats, kids and anyhting else that came near theyre domain. Ate ice creme, loved to be brushed, loved to visit our back yard. The male had a sensetive stomach and couldnt eat certain dog food. He also suffered seizures. The female was weary of the color red and purple. I knew her over 8 years and only in the last 4 or so did they invite us into therye pack, and were absolutly crazy for my hubby. The male would even climb into his lap.

 

[evsrin]

I have a GSD and a Belgian Malinois Shepherd and they are EXCELLENT with our 4 rescued cats. I trust them whole-heartedly around our cats and all of the children in our family. Every single day, I see at least one of the cats snuggling with them. I will never go without a German Shepherd in our life, and I have many friends who also have them with cats & kids, and have absolutely no issues.

I think the hybrids are extraordinary animals, but I think it's a huge liability especially with children.

And none of my dogs were raised around cats and I adopted them all after the age of 1 yr.

 

[Ranyart]

I agree with Erin. My German Shep, Murray, loved all cats, our own or stranger kitties. Slept, ate, played (gently) with all of them. Not a GSD breed trait to be good or bad with cats - it's the individual dog's experiences not the breed in general. I love sheppies - can't wait to get another someday.

 

[Shamrock]

I can't say as I see any pro's here....Wolves are not domesticated and have certain instincts and drives that they can not control. In my 15 years of vet teching, my experience is that GSD's can be very unpredictable/unstable, mostly due to the amount of inbreeding done (most purebred dogs these days have some sort of issues because of extensive inbreeding), and not knowing what the 2 parents of this pup are like mentally and emotionally adding 1/4 wolf to the mix could be volatile at best. I'm not saying ALL GSD's are neurotic, but more often than not they have the tendency to be and it's just not worth the risk to take in a hybrid of this mix.
I would urge your friend to do as much research as possible on this before she jumps in and adopts the cute little ball of fur and ends up with a huge dog that she may or may not be able to control. JMHO.

 

[Quiverful]

I would never own a wolf hybrid. They are not the same as a "regular" domesticated dogs. They respond differently. I have worked on them in the vet clinic and they can be very unpredictable. I especially would not own one if I had kids.

As for GSD, I agree that overbreeding produces bad things..whatever the breed. But, a well bred GSD can be an amazing dog I have one and he is so smart and protective of my kids and me. He also does fine with the other dogs, cat and birds. But, he is also well trained...a must for any dog

 

[ncGreyBirdLady]

I had a Beautiful Hybrid many years ago.He was wonderful with My Young Daughter and with Cats. They need a Very big FENCED in Yard---They Love to run and are NOT as good about coming back as a Regular Dog is! He was ALWAYS getting loose and running off,He finally got himself Killed on the Highway-which was a mile awaySo unless You have a Great place to keep one-I do not advise having one!

 

[Karen]

I can't say as I see any pro's here....Wolves are not domesticated and have certain instincts and drives that they can not control.

I would never own a wolf hybrid. They are not the same as a "regular" domesticated dogs. They respond differently. I have worked on them in the vet clinic and they can be very unpredictable. I especially would not own one if I had kids.

In my experience I see no pros on the list either. It's a mix made for disaster.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

I would discourage anyone from ever having a wolf hybrid. Wolves are not dogs and they do not make safe or appropriate pets. Wolf hybrids are considered even more dangerous. There is just no good reason for people to keep wild animals like wolves as pets. I absolutely love wolves, but it's not just not a good idea to try and keep them in a home situation.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

I work with a lot of GSD (as a professional dog trainer and behavior consultant) and just like any breed there are ones with solid temperaments and ones that aren't so solid. Honestly, I have been seeing a lot of really great ones lately. There are a lot of breeds that are in trouble as far as temperament goes. It really is more about indiscriminate breeding, backyard breeders not breeding for temperament that is the problem, not necessarily "inbreeding" which means breeding very tightly (mother to son, brother to sister, father to daughter, etc which most breeders wouldn't be doing anyway). Of course inbreeding will tighten up any traits that are in the dogs in the pedigree, most people are more so just breeding whoever to whoever without looking at the temperaments of the dogs and the dogs behind those dogs.

 

[Glowbird]

My husband once visited a wolf-dog hybrid rescue organization. A lot of sad stories and creatures that have to be penned up for the safety of all concerned.

 

[GypsyWitch]

I've had numerous interactions with wolf hybrids. In my experiences they can be very loyal and loving companions IF handled correctly and properly socialized and trained. It does, however, take a certain "breed" of person to be able to do this properly.
I've also owned a GSD and even though he didn't have much of a pedigree behind him, he was one of the most wonderful dogs I've ever had. He loved kids and other animals. I trusted him whole heartedly both on leash and off. But again, he was very well trained. I took the time to work with him every chance I got. His training also saved his life (kept him from getting hit by a car when a friend of mine called him when he was on the other side of a street). I yelled, "NO...STOP!"... he did and sat down, just like I trained him.
So again, proper handling, training and socialization will head off most of the negatives listed here...even with a wolf hybrid. All the "problem/bad" dogs I came into contact with had irresponsible/uneducated owners behind them...

 

[HungryBird]

GSDs are wonderful dogs but they have a lot of dog if you know what I mean. They are not beginner dogs. My favorite are the all black ones. I had one and we put her down about a year ago.

I love wolves too but would be absolutely INCENSED if a neighbor had one. I would feel unsafe and would feel pressured to take steps to protect myself.

 

[Vega]

Thank you for the responses! I'm forwarding them all to her so she can make a sound decision.

 

[birdlvr466]

I have no experience with hybrids but we owned two GSD's and they were wonderful dogs. We had them when we had at least two out of our three birds with no issue. Of course we were very careful. Just like any breed, you have to do your homework and buy from a reputable breeder who knows what they are doing. If bred properly GSD's are wonderful companions, I would love to have another someday.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Thank you for the responses! I'm forwarding them all to her so she can make a sound decision.

Wolf Park is considered a highly reputable resource. Here is an article written on the subject of wolf hybrids by an expert and director of Wolf Park Erich Klinghammer. http://wolfpark.org/Images/Education/ArticlesWordDocs/ParkPositionHybrids.pdf

I know a lot of people will talk about having wolves and hybrids and how great they are but I would tell your friend to make sure that they think long and hard on this. When it goes well, people got lucky. It is extremely difficult to meet the needs physically and emotionally of a wolf or hybrid. It is difficult to properly handle and house them. It can be dangerous and unfortunately it is the animals who lose in the end when they either hurt someone or are so destructive or so good at escaping that people end up giving them up because they didn't know what they were getting into.

 

[NikkiLS]

I worked with someone at a doggy daycare who owned one. He brought her to work with him every day. She was a great dog (for him). I didn't trust her too much, you could tell she was pretty aloof with strangers. He let her loose with the other dogs but you could tell he would eye her constantly and you really had to watch her in case any of the dogs had a little disagreement. I would say unless you have tons of time to dedicate to socializing and understanding wolf tendencies and are prepared to deal with that for the next 12 yrs or so of your life then it is probably not the dog for you.

 

[Spinderella]

For school, we used to study at the Wolf Center that had, in addition to many wolves, bears & coyotes, a few hybrid dog-wolves. They were former pets, but once they grew up; their owners couldn't take care of them anymore and gave them to the Wolf Center. (Some of them were forcefully taken from their owners by the police and dropped off at the wolf center)

I don't have experience with hybrid dog-wolves outside of the ones that they had at the Wolf Center that we studied, but I would say it's a bad idea for her to adopt one. Wolves in general don't make good pets. As someone else mentioned, they are very timid and will likely attack her cats, even if they are puppies and grow up near the cats. Wolves are wild, and they'll likely show that prey drive towards kids, cats, and anyone else they can over power.

EDIT: I should also add that the woman who owns the Wolf Center has like 18 dogs that she lets run around in the "courtyard" area to offer enrichment for the wolves. She herself goes into the wolf cages and plays with them like they are dogs, but she won't go in any of the cages alone or let any of her dogs play with them; including the wold-dog hybrids.

 

[Bokkapooh]

We have had several. Our first two females were THE BEST!!! Our latest, Beez, was not. He wasnt raised right.

Wolf hybrids are so intelligent and so needy and so protective and can be a danger to other animals and people, most people just cant accomodate such an animal.