Is It A Wolf And What Will It Do?
By Elisabeth Duman, BA

Wolf-dog hybrids continue to grow in popularity.  I hope to give you some information that you can use in your veterinary practice to identify the animals, to deal with them as patients and counsel the owners of the animals so that they may be kept safely and securely.

In order to speak about wolf hybrids, I must first speak about wolves.  What do they look like and how do they act?  Most of you are aware that wolves are the ancestors of domestic dogs, the domestication process taking place at least 10 to 14 thousand years ago.  Biologically speaking, wolves and dogs really are one species since they can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.  The domestication process has, however, changed their looks and behavior in many ways. There are some general physical characteristics that are common to wolves, and although they can also appear in dogs, together they make the wolf look like the animal that it is.

The wolf is the largest wild member of the dog family, occasionally reaching 150 pounds.  In reality, most wolves are under 100 pounds.  (Remember this if you ever try to tranquilize an animal without knowing its correct weight.)  They often look much heavier with a full coat of fur, but under the hair, they are very slim animals, built for speed and agility.  The chest of the animal is very narrow, the front legs close together, with the feet toeing out.  The rear is cow-hocked.  The toes are long and splayed.  Most dog breeders do not breed for these characteristics!  Often people think that malamutes and Siberian huskies look just like wolves, but they are built to pull, with broader chests and shorter legs.  Some racing lines of sled dogs are bred to be taller and more narrow, but I have never seen one that I would confuse with a wolf.

The head of a wolf is large, with eyes somewhat slanted and usually gold to yellow in coloration.  The teeth are well formed and proportionately larger than those of a domestic dog.  The coat varies from season to season.  In winter it is long with a very thick insulating undercoat.  In spring this sheds out in big mats, producing an extremely skinny-looking short-haired animal in the summer.  The color of the coat can vary, with most animals starting out with a grizzled gray coat similar in coloration to a gray husky or malamute.  Some wolves are black when young, but most wolves, especially the black  ones lighten as they age.  Arctic wolves are almost white.  Wolves never have a cute facial mask like a husky or malamute.

The tail of a wolf is a "brush", with fur, round in cross-section.  When relaxed, it hangs down limply, but can be raised above the perpendicular in social interactions.  It is never curled or flopped over the back.

In the wild, the wolf is a social animal, living in a close family group.  This pack behavior is what makes our domestic dogs such good companions to our human families.  There is a very significant difference, however. For wolves, being high in the pack, being dominant, is a very important survival tool.  Animals that are higher in the pack have more privilege than the lower, more submissive members.  When times are tough, the higher ranking animals in the pack have a greater chance to survive.

Much of the behavior of a wolf in his pack has to do with the animal's position in that pack's structure.  The more dominant animals "rule by terror", acting gruffly and subduing the lower animals in the pack.  The more submissive animals "kiss up" to the higher ranking wolves.  Wolves are constantly testing each other to gain ground in the pack. Even what most people would call "play" among the wolves is a form of testing.  If a wolf is able to raise his rank in the pack, that wolf will take on the behavior that suits his position in the pack.  This understanding of a wolf's drive to test pack members and to work to advance in the pack structure becomes extremely important when dealing with animals that are part wolf.

Wolves survive by hunting.  Their ability to sense weakened or diseased animals is uncanny.  Unlike most dogs, they make no sound when pursuing prey.  They don't waste energy chasing animals they cannot hope to catch.  Visitors to Wolf Park are often amazed at how nonchalant our wolves are when we put them into our bison enclosure to demonstrate their hunting strategies.  They do not run headlong after the bison, but more often approach in a relaxed manner, staying a safe distance away.  Their posture toward the animals is what many call a "play bow" ‑ although since they are hunting this is certainly not play!

With this simplified information about wolves, we must now address the issue of people owning animals that are some part wolf.  For many years, most of the "wolf/dogs" that were bred and sold were very little, if any part wolf at all.  Unfortunately, while there are still many "phony" animals being produced, the tendency more recently has been toward "high-content" hybrids.  Very simply stated, any animal that is very much wolf is going to exhibit enough wolf behavioral traits to warrant special handling.  As veterinarians, you already are coming in contact with some of these animals, and unless regulation is enacted, no doubt you are going to see many more.  You will need to know how to handle them safely and also inform the owners of their responsibility to house them safely.

The problems that people have with wolf hybrids fall into four major categories:

1. Hyperactivity/ destructiveness
   If an animal is much wolf at all, it will not live in a house like a dog.  Wolves are hyperactive compared to dogs and extremely inquisitive.  A backyard fence is no barrier for an energetic animal.  Many animals may be shy or hard to physically restrain.
2. Dominance behavior
   As the animals reach sexual maturity, they may choose to challenge humans for dominance. Most socialized wolves, unless kept in an extremely controlled environment, eventually attack someone whom they judge to be vulnerable.
3. Territoriality
   Despite the Disney films which depict helpful humans releasing their "pet" wolves back into the wild to rejoin their wild buddies, wolves do not really tolerate contact with other wolves from outside of their own pack. Intruders into a pack's territory will be chased away or even killed.   Owners of wolf/dog hybrids often seem surprised when at sexual maturity their "pets" decide to systematically attack and kill their neighbors' dogs. 
4. Predatory behavior toward children
   Eleven children have already been killed nationally by wolf-type "pets". These animals had shown no previous malice toward adults or children but killed the children quickly and efficiently without warning.

At wolf park in Battle Ground, Indiana we have been doing captive wolf research for twenty years.  Unlike most zoos, we have chosen to work with animals that have been purposely socialized to humans.  Our pups are all removed from their mothers before they are twenty one days old and are raised with human contact as young pups. As they mature they are reacquainted with adult wolves and finally reunited with their pack when about four months old.  This careful rearing produces animals which will remain socialized to humans for their whole lives.

Over the years, we have perfected ways of dealing with our animals so that we may safely handle them and attend to their needs.  Many things can are taken for granted when dealing with domestic dogs will not suffice when dealing with uncivilized wolves.

Safe containment must be a top priority for anyone keeping an animal that is significantly wolf-like.  At Wolf Park, we recommend that the enclosure be at least 1,600 square feet.  The fencing needs to be strong and at least eight feet high with an additional overhang of fencing angling into the pen.  To prevent digging out along the fence, either deep footers can be installed, or, more easily, a skirt of fencing can be placed on the ground inside the pen connected to the vertical fencing.  Another "kid-proof" fence needs to be installed a few feet away from the enclosure to prevent children from reaching through the fence to touch the animals.  This might sound like overkill, but three children have already lost their arms to "friendly" hybrids.

Owners of high content hybrids quickly discover that these animals can be hard to handle in situations which normally would not phase a dog.  At Wolf Park, we systematically work to habituate the wolves to human handling.  Wolves are "single event learners"; one bad experience can undo months of conditioning.  Our veterinarian is a regular visitor to the pack and veterinary procedures are "embedded" into regular handling techniques.  In cases where a wolf is likely to bite during a procedure, a bite stick is used so that the wolf can grab onto something other than a hand and the human involved is not put in a position of showing fear of the wolf.

As I mentioned earlier, the issue of dominance is of vital importance to wolves.  Many popular dog training books explain dog handling techniques in terms of being a "pack leader" to your dog, especially promoting moves such as the "shake down" and "dominant roll over" to subdue a dog and let him know "who is boss".  Over the years of working with wolves at Wolf Park, we have learned that our attempts to dominate our animals physically only leads to more severe confrontations as the animals mature.  We no longer pin animals, knock them down, or pinch their noses.  Instead, we have learned to use a mix of behavioral shaping and diversion to diffuse aggression toward humans.  Since wolves watch for signs of weakness in pack members as they interact, humans who are ill, injured or infirm are not allowed to have contact with the animals.  We have also learned that what most viewers would call "play" is also a form of continuous testing behavior. We do not wrestle or chase with the wolves as they quickly learn that they can take advantage of people.

In recent years, eleven children have been killed by wolves or hybrids in the United States.  Often when these stories reach the press, the animal is labeled vicious or mean.  In researching these incidents, however, most of the animals were friendly to humans and had received previous socialization to children.  Being skilled predators, however, the animals grabbed the children without prior warning as they would quickly grab a prey animal.  Perhaps the child fell, or moved in just the right way to stimulate their prey-killing behavior.  Owners of wolf hybrids need to be informed of this danger.

As the popularity of wolf hybrids continues to grow, you will be put into situations where you will be asked for medical help and advice.  As you know, rabies vaccines have not been tested on wolves and hybrids so you will be have to judge for yourself how to deal with this issue.  Fortunately, most people who think they own high percentage animals have, in fact, been misled and have hybrids which are really much less wolf.  If an animal is much wolf at all, it cannot be kept as a simple family pet.  I hope that you will be able to help people make educated decisions in keeping these animals safely and humanely.

Suggested Reading

Beth Duman, BA
Some Wolf And Wolf/Hybrid Attacks On Children

Albert, Christine, Patricia Goodmann, and Erich Klinghammer (1987)
Health Care of Wolves in Captivity, Frank, Harry (editor), Man and Wolf,
Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Duman, Beth (1994)
Wolf and Wolf Hybrid Attacks on Children
Updated listing available from the author.

Duman, Beth (1990)
"The Wolves of Wolf Park: Peaceful Coexistence With A Socialized Pack", Wolves and Related Canids,
Spring 1990, pp. 40‑42.

Hauben, Myra and Monty Sloan (1988)
Handbook For Wolf Park Volunteers,
North American Wildlife Park Foundation, Battle Ground, Indiana.

Klinghammer, Erich (1985)
Capture and Control of "Vicious" Animals,
Ethology Series #1, North American Wildlife Park Foundation, Battle Ground, Indiana.

Klinghammer, Erich and Patricia Ann Goodmann (1985)
The Management and Socialization of Captive Wolves (Canis lupus) at Wolf Park,
Ethology Series #2, North American Wildlife Park Foundation, Battle Ground, Indiana.

For more information concerning Wolf Behavior Seminars, contact:

Dr. Erich Klinghammer,
Institute of Ethology,
Wolf Park,
Battle Ground, Indiana, 47920
(317) 567-2265.

For more information concerning wolf hybrids in Michigan, contact:

Beth Duman,
2512 Sue Drive,
Howell, Michigan, 48843
(517) 548-1807