Wolf hybrid behavior and aggression

Wolf hybrid aggression & behavior

Severe and fatal atacks on people by wolf hybrids have increased dramatically in the last several decades. This probably has happened as a result of the hybrid's increasing popularity as a pet. As a result, there has been a marked increase in serious attacks on people by wolf hybrids. This, not surprisingly, has led to an increase in civil litigation involving personal injury caused by these these animals.

A wolf hybrid is defined as any animal that is the immediate or remote descendent from the mating between a domestic dog and wolf. A wolf is not domesticated and therefore any domestic dog mixed with wolf would not be fully domesticated. As such, from a behavioral perspective, one would predict that an animal with this lineage would 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 would be expected at disproportionately high rates. There are currently no statistics to support this notion, however. On the other hand, fatal attacks on humans probably happen at a disproportionately high rate, and this is supported by epidemiological findings (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).

Attorneys involved in civil litigation handling animal attack cases, need to become more informed about the nature of these animals in the event that litigation arises involving the wolf hybrid. Very little has been published from a scientific perspective about the behavioral tendencies in these animals. Previously, passing mention was made about the wolf hybrid in a widely read publication about the dog bite problem in the United States authored by a committee from the American Veterinary Medical Association. In this publication committee members note:

"Wolf hybrids are just that: hybrids between wild and domestic canids. Their behavior is unpredictable because of this hybridization, and they are usually treated as wild animals by local or state statutes."

In an effort to bring clarification to this issue, this author published a paper in the journal, Veterinary Medicine, documenting the wolf hybrid's physical and behavioral attributes: Wolf hybrids: Are they suitable as pets? Although published some time ago, the findings stated have not changed.

The impetus for this publication stemmed from a lawsuit in California in which this author was retained by the plaintiff as an animal behavior expert. After having learned the details of this case (as described in the article) and knowing how hybrids are frequently mismanaged by owners, Dr. Polsky felt the need to inform others, particularly those in the veterinary community, of the risks involved in keeping these animals in any situation where they have opportunity to interact with people.

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.

Characteristics of hybrids, which differentiate them from dogs include:

Tendency to howl rather than bark
Dense hair growth in the ear canals
Sheds heavily from legs and feet, particularly in the summer
Tuffs of hair present on face
Elongated bones and narrow chest
Head carried low
Moves with a slinking gait
Adept at escaping from enclosures
Resists authority
Pronounced dominance and predatory aggressive tendencies
Markedly inquisitive and exploratory
Readily prone to the effects of group facilitation

The wolf hybrid should not be considered fully domesticated because genetically, the fact remains that they are still part wolf. Domestication is a gradual, long-term process, that affects the animal's genome, and which takes place over hundreds of generations in which a single animal species is purposely bred for certain traits, both physical and behavioral, that promotes adaption to the human environment. Specifically, domestication selects for such traits as docility and predictability. The process of domestication is a gradual one, and has been ongoing for over 10,000 years. Wolves, in contrast, have never been subjected to selective breeding (in contrast with foxes, which demonstrates docility can be eventually imbued). The progeny of the wolf-dog mating, are likely to display behavior that is more wolflike then doglike. Animal such as these are likely at times to be driven by wolf-like tendencies, and therefore great caution is needed when bringing these animals into a home environment. Note that in 2002 Alaska enacted laws prohibiting the breeding, keeping or selling of wolf hybrids. And in 2010, a British Columbia court ruled that hybrids were not domesticated animals and therefore inherently dangerous.