Wolf's nature makes it bad choice as pet

DEAR PET DOCTOR: What are some general guidelines for disciplining and training a full-blooded wolf or wolf-dog hybrid?

DEAR READER: Many people are tempted by the thought of "pet" wolves, not realizing that wolves are wild animals with wild behaviors - and those behaviors make them bad pets.

The first relationship between wolves and men was a shaky one, with wolves seeking out the garbage and offal around human dwellings to supplement their diet.

Over the generations, wolves that learned to live with humans gradually began to accept humans as members of their pack and became "proto-dogs," the ancestors of domestic dogs.

Along the way, I am sure there were thousands of misunderstandings between humans and proto-dogs, misunderstandings that left one or the other of the partners severely hurt and questioning the future of their relationship. It took thousands of years and hundreds of generations of breeding to create the domestic dog out of the wild wolf, and there is no shortcut to this process that won't end in tears.

By now you've guessed that I don't think wolves or wolf-hybrids are appropriate pets. Once they reach sexual maturity, the vast majority of "pet" wolves and wolf-hybrids end up living in kennels due to their "unpredictable" temperament that either frightens their owners or has resulted in injury to somebody.

Sadly, this temperament is unpredictable only to humans. It is quite predictable to other wolves, because it is part and parcel of the behavioral repertoire of pack members and firmly rooted in their genes.

Wolf packs have a strict hierarchy. This is an absolute dictatorship ruled by the strongest member of the pack, the alpha male.

The alpha male has a mate, the alpha female, who is second only to him in unquestioned authority over the pack. The alpha male and female maintain status by fighting with pack members that get out of line and fail to respond properly to civilized discourse.

The fights start off as no holds barred and are deadly serious to the participants, as the winner walks away as leader of the pack.

However, the fights rarely result in serious injury, because wolves are cued into one another. An attack can be quickly quelled when one wolf shows submissive behaviors, such as baring its throat or rolling on its back and exposing its belly.

Why am I bothering telling you this? Because a wolf or wolf-hybrid in a household views those humans as its pack members. In time, it is natural for the wolf to challenge authority as it attempts to gain alpha status.

The challenges often result in injury to humans. Once that happens, the "pet" ends up being euthanized or banished to a cage, a fate worse than death for a highly social animal that needs other pack members by its side to stay sane and happy.

Please don't succumb to the urge for a pet wolf.

Source