My house belongs to a pack of wolves
I have a house full of wolfdogs. We also work with wolves on occasion. They are not for everyone, which is probably why so many have crossed my path. My husband and I foster and volunteer with wolfdog and wolf rescue. We've actually "owned" 4, I say "owned" because they basically own you, and one of the 4 was an arctic wolf who we were asked to name. The Grey Wolf Rescue got him out of a shelter in Chicago, and we had open space for a foster. They asked us to take him, they even got the airline to fly him here to PA for free. He was the longest foster we ever had. We decided early on that only the most experienced people should have him, and so we restricted placement to sanctuaries only. He's now in a sanctuary with a pretty black phase grey wolf lady, and happy as can be. We know the owner very well, and she decided to keep the name we gave him, Taku. So we still count him as one of ours.
Tok was my favorite boy. By far the wisest and smartest. We lost him quite suddenly only about 5 weeks ago. He ruled the house, which after years of patience and attention he was well enough behaved we never had to worry about him getting into trouble. He was found tied to a tree covered in filth. His collar was inbedded. His owner surrendered him, and swore he'd never be able to be left indoors and would never be attached to anyone. I've never had a more loyal dog. Uncharacteristic of wolfdog, Tok once blocked the path of a stranger late at night as he tried to come at me. He just stood there and growled. The way he acted that night, I knew he was not only attached to me, but willing to fight for me. We were best friends for years. What a shame someone could keep such a special animal tied up in their own filth and never know how remarkable they are. I've never been so impressed with a creature, and possibly never will be again.
Tikaani is the only female, she's supposed to be high content, mixed with white shepherd. We've traced her back to a breeder who is not very reputable, so we don't really trust anything the previous owners told us about her. She's very dog aggressive, mostly towards other females. She's also a daddy's girl, and flops down in my husbands lap fist chance she gets.
We were told she couldn't be walked on a leash, would never be housebroken, and would never trust people enough to approach them.
Now, 2 years later, she's completely housebroken (except the occasional counter surfing), she walks on a leash so well you forget shes still there, and she's the most social animal we've ever had. Her biggest problem now is jumping up to say hi to EVERYONE she meets.
Her previous owners surrendered her to rescue after moving out of state, leaving her behind at a kennel. She'd been locked in a small dog pen for her first 2 years, watching the other dogs play in the yard.
Teekan is now the highest content we have here. He's also the biggest. Taku is now 130 lbs, but he's not here. Teekan is supposedly a Malamute mix, also traced back to his origional breeder. She has a reputation for breeding good high content wolfdogs, but destroying all the returns. Teekan had a good life, all except that his owners didn't know much about wolfdogs, and thought they were doing the right thing by keeping him isolated. He was around other dogs and handled easily by the woman, but that was all. Then he ate her cat, and that was that. Either rescue or death, and lucky for him he was rescued. He was a foster for a few months, but when we lost Tok we decided to let him stay, and keep Tikaani company. He's 2 years old, 105lbs, and has been steadily improving. Slowly he is becomming more socialized. He now waits for his command to eat, he shakes his paw, he sits, lays down, and comes when called as long as the mood hits him right. I see potential in him, much as I did when I first met Tok, so I have high hopes.
All of our wolfdogs sleep in our room, and a chosen few sleep with us in our bed. Tok had all the privileges. He was alpha animal, but knew he was still below us.
Taku was very dominant, so to keep him reminded of who was in charge he had no indoor privileges, floors only.
Teekan and Tikaani were both very people shy and submissive. To let them know they were part of the pack and to help their confidence they had some privleges, and sometimes do sleep on the bed.
In training a wolfdog I think it's important to make them part of your family, part of the pack, and to do that they need to be around you. Most people don't have time during the day to just sit with a wolfdog, so what better time to bond then while sleeping. Of course none of them started off indoors at night, we worked up to it.
Likewise it's also important that they spend time outside, digging, running, chasing, and chewing. They need to understand the differance. The biggest problem we had was marking, submissive peeing, and sneeking food off the counter. Wolves are very clean animals, and tend not to "go" where they sleep and eat, so overall housebreaking was easy. We never used a crate, although many other people prefer it. Whatever works for you.
Anyway, I'll shut up now. Seriously I could talk about my pups all day long, so I'll stop while I'm ahead.
Jen and pack
For Tok, I will always remember the happier days when you howled and played as one of our pack. You will never be forgotten, and you can never be replaced. God has a special place for special creatures, and that is where we will meet again. Forever in our hearts, love always, your family.
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Wolves are great if you can handle them.
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