A wolfdog story

The subject of wolfdogs is one of those perennial favourites that crops up among our visitors and friends and it's one of those subjects that really requires an entire article to itself. Originally, this article was just going to be a story about an animal we met this year but in the process of writing it, it has turned itself into an article of sorts about wolfdogs anyway. Read on..

Back in the middle of December I received an e-mail from someone (let's call him "Joe") who claimed that he had a two-year old wolfdog (50/50 alsation / wolf) which a friend had given him six months before because they "couldn't handle it". Joe lives and works on a farm and apparently, the wolfdog (let's call him "Fred") had been living happily with Joe's family since then - good with small pets, fine with children etc. Not so fine was the day Fred was left unattended around a flock of sheep and you can probably guess what happened.

Joe was adamant that he couldn't keep Fred anymore in the light of what had happened and I invited him to bring Fred up to the Sanctuary for us to have a look at. I also invited one of our handlers, Gary, over to advise and assist. (Gary is a professional dog-trainer, dog re-homer and dog warden. He runs his training classes at Southill in Bedfordshire. In case you're interested). Fred and his owner duly arrived and we went up to the car park to have a look at them.

Joe seemed like a kindly and genuine sort of person but Fred was one of the most good-looking canine hunks I have ever seen. We shut Peyto & Cheza in their back pen and let Fred loose in the front pen while we talked. Fred, of course ran straight up to the wire to investigate Peyto and Cheza who ran straight up to the wire to investigate him. Fred's behaviour was stable, kind and even-tempered. Both Gary and I fell in love with him immediately and Gary successfully talked me out of taking him home myself (I already have two dogs and my wife has threatened bloodshed if I come home with any more). Joe had already made his mind up that, one way or the other, Fred was NOT going home again with him and that left us with the job of finding him a new home there and then.

Fortunately, Gary has contacts and homes lined up for dogs all over the county and he was able to assure the owner that a dog of Fred's quality, temperament and age would probably be out to a new home within twenty four hours. Joe finally agreed to sign Fred over to Gary and I believe he was indeed re-homed within a couple of days.

Well, what about Fred's ancestry ? what about wolfdogs in Britain ? Surely, anyone could get a wolf to mate with a dog and surely, out in the back woods of Wales or somewhere there's got to be some wild old boy in a shack breeding wolfdogs..etc.!

Wrong. There are few or no genuine wolfdogs in Britain and there's no wild old boy in a shack in Wales breeding them either. Let's go through the reasons for this.

So, you want a wolfdog. Where do you think it will have come from ? There are only three likely sources - bred in Britain, bred in Europe and imported, bred in the USA and imported.

Breeding wolfdogs in Britain is about as likely and as easy as getting away with robbing a bank; there's nothing to stop you wanting to do it, or believing that someone else has actually done it but in practise, it doesn't happen. The law, human nature and social circumstances all conspire together to remove the opportunity and incentive to do it. It would take pages to describe the way all these factors inter-mesh to discourage the breeding of wolfdogs but here are a few points:

To start with, you have to have a wolf, to have a wolf, you have to have a DWA license, to get the license you need thousands of pounds worth of high-standard enclosures which you will need planning permission for and they have to pass a vet's inspection every year too. The combination of those things rules out 99% of locations in Britain where you might want to keep a wolf. On top of that, actually obtaining a wolf is well nigh impossible in Britain. There are ways and means and we know all of them. Take it from us - you're more likely to win the lottery than you are to obtain and be able to legally keep a genuine wolf as a private owner in Britain.

Ok, assume you've actually overcome all those obstacles and got yourself a wolf. You introduce an Alsatian bitch (in season) to the wolf (at exactly the right time of year) and you get wolfdog puppies sometime later. You start selling these in the pub and about twelve months later the Environmental Health department of your local authority will team up with the RSPCA and get your license (and wolf) taken away. End of breeding program. There is no evidence that anyone, whether in the woolly wilds of Wales or the rolling wolds of Worcestershire is any more immune to these combined disincentives than anyone else is. In short, nobody breeds genuine wolfdogs in Britain and gets away with it no matter how hard they may try to convince you that they have.

Europe: Although there are a few wolfdogs in Europe, there is no actual "industry" as such producing them and even if you wanted one and travelled to Europe, you'd have a hard time finding one and it probably wouldn't be for sale. Even if it was, you'd still have to import and quarantine it (very expensive). It's all too much hassle and by and large, people can't be bothered.

USA: Same story as Europe except that you are much more likely to find a genuine wolfdog in the States - and find them for sale too. There certainly is an "industry" producing wolfdogs there. Of course, there are just as many fake wolfdogs in the States as there are real ones and unless you've got the right contacts you're more likely to get into bed with a bogus supplier. Again, circumstances conspire to discourage the whole thing because to have the "right" contacts there, you have to know a lot about wolves and if you know a lot about wolves, you'll know how much bother is involved in looking after a genuine wolfdog.

Of course, if after all this you actually manage to obtain a genuine wolfdog you will have to jump through all the same legislative hoops to keep it as you would for keeping a pure wolf; you would still need a DWA license and expensive enclosures with planning permission and yearly vet's inspections etc. You wouldn't be allowed to take it out of the pens and treat it as a house-pet like a dog - which is a good thing because you could be taking a big risk with your other pets and children if you did. A wolfdog can behave like a pure wolf or a pure dog or anything in between and you won't necessarily know what it's going to do until it does it. One of the things that gave away Fred's true ancestry (lack of genuine wolf) before I even met him was the owner's assertion that he was good with a kitten, good with children and good around livestock (until the fateful day). A 50/50 wolfdog is unlikely to be good with kittens or livestock at any time.

So, what about Fred ? One glance told me that he was 50% Alsatian alright but the other 50% was husky, not wolf. This combination, and others like it - Alsatian / husky / malamute / Eskimo / Greenland dog - is a favourite of fake wolfdog breeders and every year, mugs part with anything up to £1000 pounds for a puppy.

The results of these crosses vary but they usually produce a very good looking dog with a rather independent / dominant temperament and a slight tendency not to be very good with other pets. (The Greenland cross can sometimes produce a dog which is not good with children either).

As Joe left, I offered him two bits of advice: First, never leave ANY pet dog unattended around livestock and second, next time someone tells you that they have a wolfdog, don't believe them.