Wolfdogs as Pets
So you want a wolfdog?
I have one piece of advice for you. Seek help. It’s okay, I’ll wait
Hmm, you’re back. Let me tell you a story about a post surgery, low content wolfdog who was staying in my house. Poor Tanner needed to stay with me to recuperate. I was nervous about leaving him alone with the cats, even though I had him locked in a bedroom, so I took the week off work. I picked him up from the vet’s office. Actually he was making them nervous, so they called and demanded I come and get him, then I set him up in a crate in the spare room. About 5 minutes after exiting the room a loud bang sounds. I open the door and the crate, completely intact, is empty. Tanner is in the closet. I grabbed some snaps for the edges of the crate, though I didn’t have enough to do the whole crate, put him back up. A few mintues later I hear strange noises coming from the room. I open the door, expecting to see him trying to get out of the crate. Instead, I am faced with an empty crate, and a wolfdog back in the closet.
At this point, I give up. He can stay in the closet. During the week he was generally very good, he enjoyed it when I would sit with him, pouted a bit when I left, but caused very little trouble. Then about 6 days later I recieved a panicked phone call from Marti, she couldn’t find her cat and was afraid he had gotten outside. Because I am paranoid. I put Tanner in the crate, shut bedroom door and put up a baby gate. Then I locked all my dogs and cats in my bedroom before leaving the house. I was gone less than 15 minutes (Marti found the cat and called me.) When I returned home I was greeted at the door, by the wagging tail and happy expresssion of a very pleased wolfdog.
Tanner had broken out of the crate, chewed a massive chunk out of the solid wood door, ripped the door off one of its hinges and tore down the baby gate. Remember Tanner was a pretty low content wolfdog.
Some of my favorite resources for wolfdogs as pets are
Living with Wolfdogs by Nicole Wilde- Nicole has had several wolfdogs, and used to run a sanctuary. This is her first book on wolfdogs, and It’s a perfect book for people interested in wolfdogs.
Wolfdogs A-Z by Nicole Wilde- Once you make the decision to get a wolfdog you should definitely get this book. It has a wide range of information invaluable for people sharing their lives with wolfdogs.
Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson- Not really a wolfdog book, but one I tend to recomment to everyone. In this book the author encourages you to look at dogs for what they are, and not make expectations and judgements of them by human standards.
The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell-Also not a wolfdog book. But an excellent resource that looks at the way we interact with animals and how that affects them.
Consider a Rescue
A lot of people don’t take the time and care to really research animals before they decide to get them as pets. I don’t know if that is more true of wolfdogs, or if it just seems that way because there are so few options for unwanted wolfdogs. But if you are interested in sharing your life with one of these amazing animals, I highly recommend finding one that needs a home. With an adult animal you have a better idea of what you are getting than with a puppy, and based of past behavior you can make informed decisions about what level of containment security is necessary. Possibly saving quite a bit of money.
We don’t adopt out our wolfdogs, and that is true for many wolfdog sanctuaries, but we often get contacted about animals that we can’t take. So if you are interested in adopting don’t hesitate to contact local sanctuaries. They may still be able to send great animals your way.