Wolf Dog Hybrid as a Pet

After some time and debate, scientists have decided that the domestic dog originated from the wild wolf. It is thought that way back when (about 20 to 100 thousand years ago), wolves began to warm up to humans, who started selectively breeding them for traits that they could use for hunting and protection. They look alike and are similar in genetics, but the two animals are completely different. Over the past several thousand years, dogs have been domesticated to live amongst people; wolves are still wild animals.

They are not the same animal. Dogs and wolves are just similar.

When it comes to keeping a hybrid wolf as a pet, there's a lot that should be considered. There are many stories of hybrids being wonderful pets, and this may be true, and in the same studies, they show that most hybrids do not die of old age, rather the owners either let them loose, it runs away, or some other reason as to why the wolf-dog was gotten rid. If it was truly a good dog/wolf, why did they get rid of it?

Wolf hybrids can have quite a varied appearance; some will have more of a wolf appearance, whereas others may look predominately like a domestic dog.

Some wolf hybrids that take more of the wolf genes can be very hard to distinguish from a true wolf, whereas those who take more of the domestic dog genes can be hard to distinguish from a mix breed dog.

Wolf hybrids will have medium length fur with a medium to thick coat. The fur will range from a variety of colors to include black, gray, tan, brown, and white. Their coat color is not set in until after 1 year in age.

Eye color will range from golden to brown.

Ears will generally not flop.

They may have larger teeth than a regular domestic dog.

Their legs may be a little longer than a domestic dog.

The tail may not curl, but remain straight at all times, whether in the air or ducked.

At a full grown size, males can weigh between 85 to 155 pounds and females between 75 to 130 pounds.

Behavior and Temperament

Being that dogs are the descendants to wolves, they have a lot of the same basic traits and characteristics in terms of protection and territory, but domestic dogs have been selectively breed for thousands of years to live among humans so the wild characteristics have been greatly altered.

Wolf hybrids are generally going to have behaviors of the wolf and the dog, but it is completely unrealistic to expect a hybrid to act like a domestic dog. Training will never eliminate the natural behaviors and characteristics of a wolf or a hybrid, so you will never be able to completely suppress the natural instincts.

Wolf Hybrid Studies

Although, I will be the first to tell you that dog studies are not the most accurate when comparing the group in the study to the population as a whole, you can look at the individual studies and summarize those results to form your own opinion.

The most common study is one with 300,000 hybrids (with more dog genetics) and out of the entire group, 10 people were killed (about 1.25 annually); in comparison, out of about 50 million dogs are kept as pets, there are about 20 people killed annually (about 0.11 annual deaths). Deaths by hybrids is about 11 times more than domestic dogs. 

Wolf hybrids are not for everyone, and if you decide to bring one home, you want to do all the research that you can before hand, and you want to make sure that you and the entire household will be prepared to handle the animal. You cannot expect too much out of a hybrid in terms of obedience or the same pet relationship as with a dog.