[Animals] Are wolf dogs good companion animals?

[#Steeven.™]

Since the wolf appeared as a heraldic animal in the famous American series "Game of Thrones", hybrid wolves are in high demand by dog owners.

The male Raik is shy as a wolf. With its gloomy yellow eyes and pointed snout it has, in fact, all the appearance of a wolf. However, Raik is a "false" wolf, a so-called hybrid wolf or wolfdog, among whose ancestors there was, some generations ago, a cross with a dog.

Together with the female Ronja, Raik has lived in the Alternative Bear Park for almost a year, a five hectare compound located in the eastern German town of Worbis. The facilities serve as a rescue and shelter for abused bears.

Bernd Nonnenmacher, park director and wildlife expert, explains that both hybrid wolves come from a private fork in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, and that their mission is to help the animals rediscover their natural instincts.

Since the wolf appeared as a heraldic animal in the famous American series "Game of Thrones", hybrid wolves are in high demand by dog owners. Nobody knows exactly how many hybrids there are in Germany: it is estimated that there could be between 1,000 and 2,000 copies.
Nonnenmacher adds that there is a very committed online community of wolfdog owners worldwide, and that there are few breeders in Germany, as many animals are imported from the United States or the Balkans.

 

The breeding of hybrid wolves is basically allowed, but some experts advise against it.

Daniela Schrudde, head of content for animal welfare at the World Society for the Protection of Animals, explains that wolfdogs need special treatment, and that they can even be a challenge for more experienced owners.

These high wolf content dogs, she argues, are just as shy around people as wolves and therefore tend to react strongly to unfamiliar stimuli.

"They react much more strongly to anything that they have not experienced as harmless in their early socialization phase." According to the expert, the consequences of this behavior depend on each animal.

The breeding of hybrid wolves also becomes a special challenge due to the complex social structure of the ancestor wolves. Bernd Nonnenmacher explains that, unlike what happens in the wild, within a fenced enclosure two hybrid wolves that have not grown in the same pack have no chance of avoiding each other.

In that case, he adds, animals are likely to fight each other to the death if they don't mate: "Nature is not as emotional as we are." However, the expert clarifies that this fight to the death only occurs in animals that are not known, and not if the hybrids grow as young animals in a herd.

Nonnenmacher warns that a hybrid wolf as a companion animal will always perceive other dogs as invaders of its territory and, therefore, will always have aggressive behaviors.

Not in vain, he continues, it took millennia to domesticate the dog: "It is not something that can be reversed in two years." The wildlife expert is convinced that the idea that you can "bring nature to the home" is incompatible with reality.

Christian Berge, owner of a wolfdog, does not share this opinion. He has lived for years with various breeds of wolves in a 50 square meter wooden house with a garden. In his opinion, hybrid wolves are no more difficult to keep than other dogs.

Berge notes that you only need certain prerequisites and have a different attitude towards the dog. "Whoever expects an obedient dog is simply wrong," says the former lawyer, adding that wolfdogs are very sensitive, so even the smallest movements can scare them.

He has no doubt that selectively bred hybrid wolves are family dogs. "They love their owners unconditionally," emphasizes this 58-year-old, referring to several adorable animals that he has given to families with children.

However, he also knows of wild wolf dogs that were taken from the wild and then got along well with a partner of the opposite sex in an enclosure: “You always have to give them the option of being indoors or outdoors, as they choose. It is important that they are balanced and that you do not try to mani[CENSORED]te them ”.

Hybrids are descendants of parents of different species. However, in relation to wolf-dog hybrids, the term is considered inaccurate, since ultimately all dog breeds are descended from the wolf, only they are at different distances from the predator.

Like wolves, wolf hybrids living in the wild are protected species. European regulations governing the keeping of animals do not explicitly apply to domesticated hybrids, so the keeping and breeding of these animals are allowed.

However, it is not clear if and how to keep the animals in fenced areas. There are different legal positions on this. One of the interpretations is based on the requirements of a guideline of the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the keeping of mammals.

It prescribes, among other things, how animals should be fenced. According to Christian Berge, these rules do not apply to wolfdogs. "There is simply no regulation on how to keep hybrid wolves," he notes.

From the fifth generation onwards, hybrid wolves are considered dogs and are therefore not subject to any regulation under the species protection law.

The Saarloos wolfdog and the Czechoslovakian wolfhound are some of the wolves recognized by the International Cynological Federation (FCI), the organization that groups owners of purebred dogs.

Daniela Schrudde notes that the problem, however, is that the wolf component in an animal cannot always be accurately determined.

But what happens when an owner feels overwhelmed by the pet wolf's demands on him? "There is absolutely no solution to that," says Bernd Nonnenmacher.

The expert points out that, despite the high demand, there are only a few sanctuaries for hybrid wolves in Germany, and that animal shelters are not suitable for them either.

In principle, the expert continues, it can also happen that animals are abandoned in the forest, and, in those cases, the result is always the same: "Animals are usually slaughtered."