wolf dogs

[little sioux]

I currently have a chow chow / wolf and he is super. He can do all kinds of tricks and is very loving to our boxer pup plus he loves kids. We are getting ready to get a female that is 75% timber arctic,tundra and mackenzie valley wolf 25% husky,malamute to breed with him. To me these dogs are great if they are brought up in a loving home. They make great pets and even better friends.
Little Sioux

[king2005]

I knew a guy who kept 2 wolves in his house. He had a baby & a wife 7 all was well. The wolves were 6+years old when they were accidently mistaken as wild wolves & shot. the farmer didn't notice their collars & when he went to remove from the field, he saw the collars & realized who they were, it was Teddy & Sarah. He was atleast nice enough to admit it was him & returned the bodies to the owner

[howl4metok]

Not to step on anybodies toes here, but in my humble opinion, breeding wolfdogs is just plain wrong.
I know everyone thinks they'll be better and more responsible than everyone else out there, but when push comes to shove thats never the case. Teekon came from a very reputable breeder, but when his owner had to move on his first birthday, the breeder agreed to take him back under only one condition: either the owner dropped him at the vet to be euthanized, or she would shoot him the day he was delivered to her door.
He got lucky, he was rescued.
Tikaani's owners loved the idea of having a wolfdog. They kept their labs in the house while Tikaani lived in a small kennel outside. No walks, no bed. When they got bored with her they abandoned her at a boarding kennel because the overpriced breeding facility refused to take her back since she'd already been spayed. A spayed dog is worthless to them.

Taku was released in the suburbs of Chicago, left to fend for himself and live in pain with a severe condition called Perianal fistula. He got real lucky, normally standard procedure in any shelter is to destroy a wolfdog or any suspected wolfdog. Luckily the Grey Wolf Rescue got him out of the hands of AC and flew him here. Our best guess, the owner couldn't afford his treatment, and being in an illegal state decided the safest thing he could do for himself was just dispose of the animal. The breeder most likely refused him back because of the PF.

Tok had been tied to a tree. His owner thought he was neat enough, but the "wolf" stigma left her too afraid of him to interact with him or let him in the house. He was tied up in alaska year round at the end of a chain. Living in his own filth and nothing but an old wooden box for shelter.
His breeder never returned phone calls.

I can go on and on with other fosters we've had, and countless others in rescue that I've worked with.

In 2000, there were an estimated 300,000 wolfdogs (not including captive pure wolves) in rescue. Beleive me, that number has gone up since.
Sanctuaries continure to pop up all over the country, and ALL are currently filled to capacity.

Keep in mind that many vet's need a special lisence to even treat them, and many states have banned them. Other states require a permit which costs a pretty penny. Only a handful have no legistation reguarding wolfdogs.
Federally, the rabies vaccine is NOT APPROVED FOR WOLVES AND WOLFDOGS.
Not because it doesn't work, they just refuse to approve it. What does that mean? If you can find someone to vaccinate your wolfdog for rabies, good, do it. Protect your animal as best you can. However, if ever your wolfdog should bite a person or another animal, there will be no quarrentine, no watch and wait, no "let me see your proof of vaccination". Instead there will be a court order to take that animal, have it euthanized, and have it's brain tissue tested for rabies. There are efforts to get the vaccine approved, but thus far the federal gov't predicts that such approval will make it that much easier for people to own wolfdogs. They don't want that.

Sure people can be screened, but whats to really stop them from breeding, or doing what too many other owners do. Most wolfdogs are kept as designer pets, locked up and ignored, fed food that does not meet their needs, and bragged about.
Everyday I get emails about wolfdogs and wolves who need homes. 2 out of three are listed as urgent, and so many don't make it. Before we can get to them they are destroyed, because someone didn't take the time to care for it properly.
They are a very social pack animal, and they are in fact NOT a domestic dog. They need time, they need space, they need interaction, special diets, special vets and permits. They need involved training and they need something more than a chain around the neck and an occasional bone to chew to keep them happy.
Please don't breed them. If someone wants one that bad, there are so many with excellent temperments who need homes. Contact a rescue and save a life, don't just make more.