Although on our site we always recommend against keeping wild animals as pets. When dealing with the wolf (the ancestor of any dog), we must make a forced parenthesis, and without leaving aside the current and current refusal to wish to have a wolf as a pet, we must answer the question: Is it possible to have a wolf as a pet? ?, with a resounding yes. Well, it is a real event that happened hundreds of thousands of times during the course of human history.
That is, to synthesize the answer we will say: the human being has historically owned wolves as pets, and that is where the current dogs come from. But history should not blind us, and prevent us from realizing that it is currently nonsense to pretend to have a wolf as a pet, although it is true that under certain circumstances it would be possible for it to be So.
The story of the relationship between the wolf and man
Thousands of years ago, when humanity was a hunter-gatherer, was when the relationship between humans and wolves began. At that time wolves were hunted for their meat and fur. Since there were no fabrics, apart from vegetable fibers, that could properly shelter women and men during the rigors of winter.
In fact, all the hunted animals were used entirely: meat, skin, bones and a long etcetera. The meat was usually consumed dried or smoked. The skin was used to dress or make containers to preserve materials. The bones were used to make tools: combs, hooks or sewing needles, among many other uses. The tendons served as sewing thread.
In parallel, the orphaned pups from these hunts, were frequently adoptedby the hunters themselves, as they were too small to eat. At first the idea was to wait for them to grow enough to serve as food, but with the time of coexistence between each other (men and wolves), it gave rise to the hunters realizing that those grown wolf pups were more useful as companions. of game or guardians, than as simple food.
The coexistence between the wolf and the man
Coexistence between both (humans and wolves), showed that intelligence, strength, speed and herd sense that was forged in the mind of the wolf with respect to the human being, was very useful. Countless times, wolves saved their human companions from certain death, courageously facing bears, cougars and other animals that threatened the hunter.
Those primitive men who were crude, but were not fools, soon realized the great help that the wolf companion could offer. In this way, the adopted wolf diverted its destiny of future food/clothing, to become an inseparable companion of the hunter. His best friend
Phenomenon that did not happen with other animals captured with the same initial purpose of becoming the future sustenance of the tribe. Goats, reindeer, chickens, and various other domesticated species became a future food, thus beginning the livestock period of humanity, and also the agricultural later.
However, with the wolf the story was different. The domesticated wolf became the rude, strong, ferocious, and implacable companion who lived with the family groups as one more member. He was not constrained to the pens and fences in which other animal species lived among those tribal societies. The domesticated wolf was a free being, but no longer wild He belonged to the human pack as a member.
Conclusions
There is nothing new under the Sun. The human being enjoyed the wolf as a pet in a period of his existence, although the word pet was meaningless at that time and it was more accurate to call it:hunting partner Guardian, protector, and a long etcetera, ending with friend
For this ancient reason, if necessary the wolf could retrace this long transit without a doubt. But the current question that we must ask ourselves and answer is the following: Is it necessary? Would it have any use? Would there be any advantage to the wolf or the man? I sincerely think not.
We are no longer a hunter-gatherer society. We are very different, and we don't need a wolf to accompany us to a supermarket to buy bread, yogurt, or a cake.
The breeding of the wolf-dogs
In some parts of the world there are breeders of dogs/wolves, or wolves/dogs. Depending on the genetic load that the animal called wolfdog has. There are 3 genetic gradations among these specimens.
- LC, hybrids with low genetic content. These are animals whose wolf genetics are between 1% and 49% of wolf genetic material.
- MC, hybrids with medium genetic content. They are hybrids whose genetic load moves between 50% and 75% of wolf genes.
- HC, hybrids with a high genetic content. These hybrids must exceed 75% of the wolf's own genetic load. They can only have between 1 and 3 dog characteristics.
These animals do not react like dogs, but neither like pure wolves, because they are neither one thing nor the other. I will not enter to assess the suitability of this industry that is dedicated to selling these hybrids for a fortune. They are not wild animals, but they are neither tame nor easily managed. They are needed?
On the other hand, they are very he althy breeds. Its genetics eliminates the possibility of very common diseases among many dogs, such as hip dysplasia, among others. Are they therefore convenient? Could its genetics improve current canid breeds?
These possible answers, for or against, would be interesting if they were debated among the readers of our site.
The wolfdog
I think that if someone is infatuated with a wolfdog, it should be someone who lives in a very radical place. Immense forests, endless winters, and in remote places far removed from civilization.
Having a wolfdog as a lapdog is a mistake that can be very expensive, beyond the economically exorbitant price they ask for it. In the next section we will argue why.
What to keep in mind about wolfdogs:
If, for whatever reason, a person decides to adopt a wolfdog, he or she must have a exhaustive prior knowledge about all the circumstances and peculiarities that orbit around the animal.
First you must make sure that the legislation of your country allows you to have it. There are places where its genetic load is prohibited, or limited.
In the event that it is possible to have it legally, it is very convenient for it to live with dogs. Since in this way the wolfdog is better socialized. Ideally, the dogs should be of the opposite sex and similar in size. It is essential that the caretaker has extensive previous experience with dogs.
The wolfdog has a higher pack sense than dogs, and needs a pack for its mental balance. The wolfdog needs to eat meat (1 or 2 kg per day). I couldn't live on feed.
It is necessary to make sure of the authentic genetics of the wolfdog, because as happens with all human activity, the picaresque also exists. There are breeders that offer dogs similar to wolves, but whose genetics have nothing to do with a wolf. It's a fraud.
The behavior of the wolfdog
The way wolfdogs express their appreciation is very similar to that shown by pure wolves, and quite far from that used by dogs.
The wolfdogs after sniffing you will try to bring their jaws closer to your mouth and lick your teeth It is their normal way of recognizing you as a member of their pack. The problem is that if you don't complete the ritual and turn your face away, the animal will give you the feeling that you don't recognize it, and it will try to hold its face with its teeth to finish its greeting well and for you to lick its teeth too., as befits a member of the herd. They greet each other with a kind of tongue kiss, as you can see.
Wolfdogs get on well with children, whom they also consider to be puppies from their pack. The problem is that if the animal considers that the child may get hurt, or gets too caught up, it will do exactly what it would do with a puppy of the same species: it will try to catch it with its teeth by the neck, or an arm, to take it to another place. Obviously, the kid will be scared to death and will probably get hurt.
Finally there is the issue of hierarchy, an essential element in packs. With complete certainty in its puppy stage the wolfdog will accept its caregiver as an alpha male or female; but this acceptance does not necessarily have to be eternal. At a certain moment, when the animal is an adult it can reconsider its hierarchy It is a fact that may or may not happen. But in the event that the wolfdog decides to be the alpha member of the pack, you will have a big problem.
Coexistence with pure wolves
There are examples of people who have lived with wolves. Historically there have been quite a few cases of children adopted by wolves who have lived with the pack for years. This has happened in many countries.
There are also relatively recent examples of harmonious coexistence between humans and wolves. The extraordinary naturalist and ethologist Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, managed to live with a pack of wolves, in which he was the alpha male. When some male tried to usurp his power, Felix lifted the wolf up in his arms, separating him from the ground. Something so unusual and extraordinary for the wolf, that he immediately recognized the command of the alpha human and accepted his unquestionable power.
Sadly deceased in an accident, Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente managed to stop Spain from considering the wolf as a vermin that should be exterminated. From his memorable lessons on nature and the animals that made it up, the wolf and birds of prey became protected species.
Image from rtve.es:
