Wolf Hybrids: Should they be kept as pets?
A wolf hybrid is defined as any animal that is the immediate or remote descendent from the mating between a domestic dog and wolf. Wolves are not domesticated animals since they have never been subjected to the process of selective breeding by man. Wolves and the various sub-species of wolf (Canis lupis) have adapted to a different environment than domestic dog, and to this day they continue to live in the wild throughout North America.
Severe and fatal atacks on people by wolf hybrids have increased dramatically in recent years. Understandably, this has no doubt happened as a result of the hybrid's increasing popularity as a pet. As a result, not surprisingly, there has been a marked increase in civil litigation involving personal injury damages inflicted by these animals.
Attorneys involved in civil litigation handling dog bite cases, need to become more informed about the nature of these animals in the event that litigation arises involving the hybrid. To date, little has been written from a scientific perspective about the behavioral tendencies in this animal.
In an effort to rectify this situation, this author published a paper in Veterinary Medicine documenting the wolf hybrid's physical and behavioral attributes : Wolf hybrids: Are they suitable as pets?
The impetus for this publication stemmed from a lawsuit in California in which Dr. Polsky was retained as an expert. After having learned the details of this case (as described in the article) and knowing how hybrids are frequently managed by owners, Dr. Polsky felt the strong need to inform others, particularly those in the veterinary and legal communities, of the risks involved in keeping these animals in any situation where they have opportunity to to contact and possibly attack a person.
Whether these animals should be allowed in urban environment and treated as if there were ordinary dogs is controversial. Although differences undoubedly exist between individual hybrids, generally one must realize that a wolf hybrid is not a dog. Accordingly, one must treat an animal like this with caution.
One must importantly realize that a dog mixed with a wolf is not fully domesticated, and as such one would predict that an animal with this kind of background to be more unpredictable when placed in the human environment, particularly in an urban setting where contact with unfamiliar people commonly occurs. Wolf hybrids retain many wolf-like characteristics which makes their behavior less predictable and more uncertain in the human setting. As a result, attacks upon humans happen frequently, including fatal attacks, and this is supported by epidemiological data as reported in the animal behavior and epidemiological literature (Sacks, J. Breeds of dog involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 - 1998. J. American Veterinary Medical Association, 2000, Vol. 217, 836-840; Gloyd, J. Wolf hybrids - A biological time bomb? J. American Veterinary Medical Association,1992, Vol 20, 381-382).
Domestication is a gradual, long-term process that takes place over many generations in which an animal species is selectively bred for certain traits, both physical and behavioral, that promotes adaption to man in the human environment. Specifically, domestication selects for such traits as docility and predictability in behavioral responding. The domestic dog has become a valuable and trustworthy companion to man in many different capacities and this clearly speaks to the success of domestication and behavioral adaption of the domestic dog to live peaceably with man over the last 10,000 years. Wolves, in contrast, have never been selectively bred to promote behavioral adaption to the human environment. One would therefore expect their behavior to be erratic and unpredictable when placed in the human environment because of the lack of not being domesticated. Wolves crossed with dogs are not fully domesticated animals, and therefore their behavior in large part is driven by wolf-like tendencies. 
Research wolf hybrids
- Position statement from the British Columbia SPCA
- Wolf hybrids ruled dangerous by nature in 2010 jucicial decision in Canada
- Behavior & physical differences between the hyrid & domestic dog
- Alaska imposes strict regulations against wolf-hybrids
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