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Wolves, Dogs and Wolf-Dog Hybrids: What’s the difference?Jess Edberg, Information and Program Specialist -- International Wolf Center, 06/14/2006
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Wolf and wolf-dog hybrid ownership by private citizens has long been a contentious issue in the United States.
Recently this issue gained more fuel as media coverage of an abandoned pack of privately owned wolf-dog hybrids that was confiscated in western Wisconsin helped ignite renewed discussion on whether wolf or wolf-dog hybrid ownership is good or bad.
Wolf-dog hybrid (hybrid for short) is a term used to describe an animal that is part wolf and part domestic dog. Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) share an evolutionary past and thus share many physical and behavioral traits.
Dogs evolved from wolves through a centuries-long process of domestication. Domestication is the process by which a wild animal adapts to living with humans by being selectively bred by humans over thousands of years. Through this process, a dog’s behavior, life cycle and physiology have become permanently altered from that of a wolf.
Wolves can interbreed with any type of dog, and their offspring are capable of producing offspring themselves. Although hybrids can occur naturally in the wild, they are rare because the territorial nature of wolves leads them to protect their home ranges from intruding canines such as dogs, coyotes and other wolves.
Governed by their instincts, wolves, both in the wild and in captivity, exhibit behavior that is relatively consistent. Their behavioral characteristics have been studied and observed for many decades by researchers, and much has been published about their social dynamics, hunting behavior and territorial nature. Thanks to the researchers’ hard work, we are able to understand the wolf’s reactions to different situations based on their inherent instincts. However, just as with any wild animal, their behavior will always retain some unpredictability.
People who own hybrids often find that their pet’s behavior makes it a challenge to care for. The diversity of genetic composition even within one litter of hybrid pups leads to a wide range of appearances and behavior patterns among all hybrids, thus making their behavior inconsistent and more difficult to predict.
Wolves and dogs mature at different rates, which makes the physical and mental development of a hybrid animal unpredictable. Sexual maturity of wolves signals a shift in hormone quantity and balance. This hormonal change is often coupled with behavioral changes in the animal.
When a wolf reaches sexual maturity (anywhere from 2 to 4 years of age), their role in the pack often changes from that of a pup to an adult expected to contribute to the pack. Status becomes much more important, and the animal may begin testing its packmates to achieve a higher-ranking position in the pack. Testing or challenging of packmates can be transferred onto a human “leader” when a wolf is kept in captivity, causing the animal to be stubborn, bold or even aggressive.
Domestic dogs tend to mature much earlier (6 to 8 months of age) and have significantly fewer hormonal changes, but the challenging behavior still exists, although it is typically less intense in most breeds compared to wolves. Hybrids can exhibit any combination of wolf or dog maturation rates and behavioral changes.
Additionally, the territorial instinct of wolves to protect their food source by establishing a home range through defecation and urination may be transferred to the owner’s home. A couch or corner of the room may take the place of a tree or rock. Dogs, on the other hand, through domestication, have lost that instinct to urinate or defecate anywhere they feel is their territory and are easily trained to eliminate in a designated area.
Hybrids, being a mix of these two distinct behavior patterns, may have any degree of territorial or testing behavior—from one end of the spectrum to the other.
“It is hard to pull out domestic behaviors of a dog when the wild instincts of a wolf are in the brain,” said Walter Medwid, executive director of thRelated links The Wolf Dunn is an online resource for information on hybrids.
Listen to Executive Director, Walter Medwid on Minnesota Public Radio discussing wolf-dog hybrids.
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