#wolfdog education

[wilderun]

I often hear that wolfdogs are a modern fad, but in reality, wolfdogs in the USA have a long and deep-running history. Here is a little about wolfdogs of the last 100 years.... McCleery Wolf Ranch -- A breeder who acquired wolves in 1921 during government culls, and created a line of wolves and wolfdogs, passed along for several generations, of which the last remaining descendants now reside at Wolf Haven’s McCleery Ranch facility. 

IOWOLFER -- A wolfdog organization and pedigree tracking/verification registry created in 1979 that supported responsible wolfdog ownership and breeding practices. This organization was ran by Suzanne Smith, a wolfdog and wolf breeder who worked to try and outcross the arctic lines to get away from the jaw malocclusion that was in the line. IOWOLFER held rendezvous and shows ever year where wolves and wolfdogs and their owners could mingle and evaluate animals and work together on projects. IOWOLFER spearheaded issues like correcting percentages on lines that had been misrepresented such as the Gordon K Smith line, lobbying for rabies vaccine approval for wolfdogs, fighting against anti-ownership laws, and public education. 

Fur Farms -- The Davidson Fur Farm operated in the 70-90′s that bred and sold puppies into private ownership. Later, he bred a line of 50% F1 and 75% F2 Norwegian Elkhound/wolf crosses. Many wolfdog lines descend from animals from fur farm facilities like this one. Davidson often traded animals with facilities that operated in the 60′s-90′s, such as Don Garrett, Rod Twitto and Harold Matz, other fur farms at the time that also sold to private ownership. 

Bear Country USA -- This was a drive through zoo opened in 1972 and is still in operation today, although no longer has quite the same caliber of wolf as they used to. Many lines of wolfdog today trace back to their wolves or animals from other zoos such as the Folsom Zoo. This is an ‘end line’ facility, because, as far as I am aware, no one is quite sure where they sourced their original wolves from. 

Rick Halvorson -- Rick Halvorson acquired a pair of pure arctic wolves from Aqualand via an auction, and another animal from Stanley Park Zoo, back in the 70's. These animals came from several generations of inbreeding at the zoos, tracing back to (to my understanding) a full sibling pairing of wild caught arctic wolves. People who acquired Halvorson arctics proceeded to inbreed them as well, to maintain the arctic genetics. Pure arctics started to have severe jaw and skull deformities due to the extensive inbreeding. Crossing to other wolf subspecies such as C. l. Hudsonicus was done, along with crosses to dog (including, most famously, great pyreneese crosses). The last few pure arctics from the Halvorson line ended up in sanctuary after a breeder who was trying to preserve them passed away, and are now deceased due to old age with the exception of a single 17.5yo female. 

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Below are a collection of old advertisements from the Wolf Hybrid Times and other newsletters, where established kennels could list advertisements in. While none of these breeders are active any longer and contact information was removed for privacy purposes, descendants of kennels like these are what makes up the vast majority of multi-generational wolfdogs in North America (and even overseas in Europe!) today.  Unfortunately, due to the secrecy that has arisen around lineage on wolfdogs in the last 2 decades or so and certain breeders who won’t give out pedigrees or give false information, a lot of modern wolfdog owners don’t have their animals’ pedigrees tracing back as far as it actually could go, into the 60′s in many cases. 

For further information about wolfdogs:

  https://texaswolfdogproject.org/resources/owning-a-wolfdog 

 https://runningwithwolfdogs.com/

https://www.wolfdogbehaviorist.com/

http://www.floridalupine.org/

[nynehells]

This is Charlie.

His owner claims hes a wolfdog and ai really.. dont see it.

He keeps getting loose from his yard and im p sure his owner doesnt give a fuck, which means she isnt taking ANY precautions to house an animal she perceives to be a wolfdog, and furthermore keeps him in a city environment.

Ive returned him home 3 times already and really feel bad for him.

[liberbestia]

Made this for facebook but figured it couldn’t hurt to upload here as well if people would like to use it! Phenotyping wolfdogs from photos is trickier than you might think! The photography itself can mess with your phenotype. Here’s some tips on how to pheno from photos. Tagging blogs I think may be interested in this: @wolfdogeducation @wolveswolves @packwestwolfdogrescue @why-animals-do-the-thing

[siriuswolfdogs]

Even low content wolfdogs have certain challenges, and it's not always rainbows and butterflies, but it's important to remember all breeds have their own challenges and a well bred, well socialized LOW content wolfdog is not so hard for people to own as companions. As a younger dog Eilidh was very destructive and independent, but the older she gets the more she calms down and she has become very much a Velcro dog. It's taken lots of patience and consistent training, but she's not near as big of a challenge as she was, and most of my woes could have been avoided had I properly kennel trained from a younger age. A lot of it boils down to what you can handle and what bothers you! I do urge everyone to do plenty of research if considering a wolfdog, join groups, ask questions, learn the difference in content and be honest with yourself of what you can handle and what you cannot. Go to a GOOD breeder, not some random craigslist seller, ask for lineage and information. Make sure what the breeding is telling you matches up with your research. And please for the love of god, research laws on your state/county/city to make sure they are legal! All of us with legitimate wolfdogs are trying our best to better this breed, and raise awareness and educate and if you're owning them in an illegal area you're backtracking all the work we're doing to keep wolfdogs and dog alike safe!

[wilderun]

Born 1961, Old Count, an F2 25% low content wolfdog. His dam Queen was an imported F1 siberian wolf x white GSD mix, and his sire Fritz a husky/GSD/farm collie mix. He is 9 generations back in Zeph's pedigree. He was the foundation animal of the Gordon K Smith bloodline of wolfdogs. Gordon represented him as 75% wolf, and bred him to pure wolves and higher content animals, which threw off the percentage claimed on the line for decades, until wolfdog organization Iowolfers switched to a new president. Registrar Suzanne Smith tackled the years-long project of going through to correct the misrepresentation in the upline and in each of the many downlines that it affected, both in animals registered with Iowolfers and USAWA (wolfdog registries) and those who weren't.

[wilderun]

Since there is so much misinformation about wolfdogs and wolfdog breeding floating around lately......  Yes, most wolfdog breeders suck. It’s a market with a high profit margin that attracts the sort of people who are just are throwing together what they have available to make a quick buck from animals with little to no health testing done and no selection for temperament. They think a dog being Embark DNA tested to confirm breed mix is all that’s necessary to market their dogs for thousands of dollars, and unfortunantly, are right, because of the number of uneducated buyers out there who’ll throw down cash for anything that looks pretty. This leads to a lot of animals with sketchy genetic bases going to homes who have no idea what they’re doing or who throw them outside in an enclosure with no training or socialization or proper handling, which leads to bite incidents, animals being surrendered to rescue, extremely fearful animals, etc....  But..... that doesn’t mean wolfdogs shouldn’t be bred at all, any more than any other dog breed in which poor breeders and poor owners have given the general public a poor perception of their temperament and behavior. We don’t base our judgement of an entire type of dog on the BYB animals at rescues, we base it off of how they act when well-bred to ‘standard’ and how they act when in homes that are providing for the needs of the dog and training and handling them correctly. So why does this happen to wolfdogs? Probably because there’s so few good breeders, and as animals from these breeders aren’t ending up in rescue to meet and handle, they are owned by private owners who generally keep to themselves. Most people who have worked at a sanctuary/rescue have probably never met a well bred wolfdog, or at most very rarely worked with them. 

Here is an example of what goes into responsible wolfdog breeding, and some photos of what it is like to live with a well bred wolfdog--you will note that it’s largely the same as what goes into responsible breeding in any other breed of dog: My plans for my kennel for 2022 & 2024 involve bringing in two outside stud dogs with different attributes for Zephyr, my high content female wolfdog from a breeder who has been doing OFA testing and DNA testing on her line for 25 years. I spent years researching lines to find the right balance of temperament, health history, longevity, sound structure, and workability, purchased her, watched her temperament mature, health tested her, and decided to breed her when she proved to be an exceptionally easy to live with, biddable animal with a very sound and stable nature. Both of the studs I have lined up to utilize in my program are extremely accomplished in their fields of work, on the older side (both will be 9yrs old at the time of breeding), fully health tested, physically sound dogs who have held up to the rigorous demands of their jobs over the years, along with having wonderfully stable, outgoing, environmentally solid temperaments. 

Zephyr is OFA Fair Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal BO/DNA Clear/PennHip .27/.32, with Embark breed results of 94.4% Grey Wolf & 6.5% GSD/Malamute. Her parents are both OFA Good/Normal and DNA Clear, and she is linebred on an OFA Excellent male who lived to be almost 18 years old. She has several siblings with hip/elbow scoring done, all passing scores. She lives in the house, is safe with small dogs and cats, is trained off-leash with an e-collar, bikejors recreationally with me and one of my in house boys, and is a very stable dog who is aloof of strangers, and even in a high-stress situation that she wasn’t socialized to, she thinks through her reaction and settles herself. Booker is OFA Excellent Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal/DNA Clear, and is an Alaskan Husky from distance lines with an extensive race record. He is a team dog who has finished every race he has ran except for one, in which he was dropped due to an injury. He is great in the house. He is incredibly friendly dog who adjusts to being handed off to a new person immediately, very biddable and eager to please, sticky off leash with minimal training needed, completely safe with all livestock, zero same sex selectivity or reactivity, and adapts very well to busy new environments, to the point that he is used as the go-to dog to take along to schools for educational visits on sled dogs.  Flint is OFA Excellent Hips/OFA Normal Elbows/CAER Normal/DNA Clear, and is a West Siberian Laika from hunting lines who has proven to be a very versatile dog, successfully hunting everything from squirrel to bear. Flint is very social and friendly with strangers, as are his siblings. He will get along fine with polite male dogs, but isn’t highly tolerant of nonsense from them. He is great off leash, broke off of livestock, good in public, fine in the house, prey drive is very directable, and overall a stable and well rounded dog. He is titled in conformation, weight pull, lure coursing, and also bikejors and sleds with his owner, showing versatility and willingness to work with his handler at whatever they pursue.  The rest of the images are Zephyr, showing her greeting new people, making canine friends, living as a house dog, being safe with small dogs, in busy public environments, handling creative grooming routines, traveling on road trips with us and the other dogs in a van, and overall living much the same as any other primitive-breed dog with a tendency towards more primitive-breed behavior does, with some adjustments in regards to ensuring we have a secure outdoor space for her for when we are not home (a 6ft fenced yard for supervised time with us while training and playing, and a floored/roofed area for unsupervised), and ensuring we follow any breed-specific ordinances that apply to wolfdogs on a state, county, and city level.  Support ethical wolfdog breeders. They are the ones producing the animals you don’t see in rescue or causing issues :P 

[wilderun]

Throwback to walks with my boys, almost 2 years ago now <3 

[wilderun]

Breeding season is here! I've documented some behavior changes I've noticed so far here, with 3 90%+ wolfdogs, and 1 70% wolfdog:

We have recently separated a high content pair to prevent puppies (one or both is suspected of being infertile, but we are not taking chances).

After moving the male out, he's become quite agitated and we are unable to go in with him anymore. It was a pretty sudden change after him being moved out, he went from grumbly/talkative but affectionate, to actively trying to grab you through the fence. I think he blames us for the separation, and the hormones of breeding season doesn't help. He's not a candidate for neuter due to health concerns of anesthesia with his condition.

The female is so far showing no behavior changes for winter, she's still sweet and affectionate to us, and warms up to strangers too, after a little bit. She is a tenacious escape artist so we do daily checks on the fenceline, and have found sections where she's popped hog rings off the dig guards. To secure this, we went and re-wired the whole bottom to ensure there wasn't any leverage to yank on it more.

My other HC male is not showing strong behavior changes, just a little more short tempered about handling that he normally is fine with (ie picking up paws for nail trims gets me a warning grumble or an air snap if I push, so we are just using a scratch board atm to prevent conflict but maintain nail condition). He's still enjoying his almost daily outings with me, although he is more grabby about food lately too, so we are avoiding the treat and food isles when in stores, lol. He is also still good with strangers and other people petting him and interacting, and is very very sweet and cuddly with me, wanting to be in my lap, standing between my legs or leaning on me.

My housemate's upper mid male is extra mushy and sweet lately. He's been a bit of a bully to one of the dogs over food, so they are being fed separately at the moment.

Everyone is howling far more than usual. We get a dozen chorus performances per day.