Would it behave like a domestic dog? Wolves are genetically identical to dogs-would such a wolf be trainable like a dog? Would the wolf/dog be dangerous to its owner?or would it be like a pet dog?
It worked in the Clan of the Cave Bear series.
I once met a guy who had a wolf. As he explained it, wolves can be socialized – learn to be around people and obey a master/packleader – but never domesticated. They’ll never act just like dogs. Dogs have been selectively bred for thousands of years to make them safe and tractable companions for humans; wolves are still genetically adapted for survival in the wild.
Wolves are also strong, from what I’ve heard. Much stronger than a dog of equal weight. Which makes it a bit hard to control them.
In short, they don’t make good pets. Their place is in the zoo or in the woods.
Some people do keep wolf/dog hybrids as pets – see this article.
No, I don’t believe that raising a wolf from a pup would net you an animal no different than a Siberian Husky.
Part of their “temperment” and aggressiveness is due to genetics, not upbringing.
Just like raising a Lion would not grant you an animal that behaves like a siamese cat.
Eventually, they will want to be the Alpha Dog in your house.
I recall a PBS documentary on dogs saying that dogs are essentially wolves in a state of arrested development. In other words, they are wolves bred to retain juvenile characteristics.
Based on that, I would suspect that an actual wolf might be less playful, more aggressive, and potentially more dangerous than a dog.
It would be a pet wolf.
Wolves are not genetically identical to dogs, where did you get that idea? Wolves and dogs are members of the same species, yes, but they aren’t genetically identical, any more than a Chihuahua and a Great Dane are genetically identical with each other. In fact, a Chihuahua and a Great Dane are more genetically similar to each other than either are to wolves.
A tame wolf would be a lot like a tame dog. Yes, wolves are trainable. But they aren’t as easy-going as dogs, they aren’t as likely to knuckle under and play the omega role, they are stronger than most dogs, more aggressive than most dogs, need more activity than most dogs, will get bored with sitting around the house more easily than most dogs, and so on.
So yeah, there would be a difference between a tame wolf and a wolf-like dog such as a husky.
Wolves aren’t genetically identical to dogs otherwise some wolves would look just like poodles. Dogs and wolves are often viewed as the same species but the different dog species have usually been (genetically) bred to have a wide range of specific traits.
My father raised 2 timber wolves from early puppy hood when I was in college and has some opinions on the matter. Wolves aren’t just like dogs because they are the wild form largely unformed by humans and not all dog species are alike anyway so there isn’t one thing to compare them against.
Wolves are generally smarter than dogs and they have a stronger pack instinct. Some people get along fine with a pet wolf or two. Lots of people try it and hybrids are also common. However, the pack mentality can be a problem because wolves will sometimes pursue the alpha role much more strongly than most dogs. This can lead to problems with the human, dogs, or other wolf that it is trying to overtake in the hierarchy.
Wolves are powerful animals and can be viscous. It isn’t that they are completely unlike dogs. Lots of people raise wolves but they can be dangerous and unpredictable. Their size, smarts, and instincts make them much trickier to handle than most dogs.
And of course, the question to ask yourself is, “Why do I want this animal as a pet? What role do I hope this animal will play in my life?”
If you can figure out exactly why you want a dog (or wolf, or cat, or goldfish, or llama), and whether what you want is realistic, and whether you are able to create a household for the dog and put in the work to get what you want out of the dog, then you’re way ahead of most people. You can pick out a breed that is actually capable of meeting your expectations, and that you are capable of meeting the expectations of.
Do you want a dog for companionship and occasional walks in the park and ball throwing and face-licking? Do you want an animal that will guard your home and bite intruders on the face? Do you want a dog go help you care for your livestock? Do you want a dog to pull a sled over the arctic tundra? Do you want a living fashion accessory? Do you want a dog to kill rats and vermin around the barn? Do you want a dog that will hunt with you, in the kind of hunting you like to do, and will you actually hunt that way or are you only kidding yourself? And so on. And once you are able to articulate your fantasy maybe it will be easier to see if that fantasy is easily achievable (companionship and face-licking) or not (face-biting).
So yeah, you can get a wolf and hand raise it and have an amazing animal friend.
But are you willing to put in the extra work socializing this animal? The extra vigilance? Do you have room for it? Why exactly do you want a wolf? What will having a wolf give you that a Labrador Retreiver (or Jack Russell Terrier or Border Collie or German Shepard or Pekinese or mutt or whatever) won’t? Are you willing and able to make the sacrifices neccesary to get whatever it is you think having a wolf will give you?
So could you keep an adult wolf as you would a dog, if you kept pumping the right hormones into him?
:eek: I am sure this would violate some kind of PETA rule… heh
Or the right tranquilizers . . .
Anyone ever heard of a pure wolf mauling a child to death? I’ve heard that happens with pit bulls, but never have heard it happen with a pet wolf.
In many states it is illegal to own a pure wolf as a pet. And they certainly aren’t as common as pit bulls.
Child, hell, they’ll maul their adult owners.
And from the earlier article I linked, some statistics:
Strictly an urban legend. 
Pet Wolf Mauls a 3-Year-Old. The boy wasn’t killed, but only because some adults intervened in time to kill the wolf first.
Though not “pure,” described as 85% wolf (though how they come up with that figure, I couldn’t tell you), 5 Year-old bitten to death by pet canine.
There’s a list here, of deaths of children caused by both pure and hybrid wolves (don’t read if you have a weak stomach for graphic descriptions of maulings).
And in S.M. Stirling’s new SF novel The Sky People (you can read free sample chapters here), the hero adopts an orphaned “greatwolf” cub – a kind of Pleistocene protowolf, much larger than a wolf when full grown. And it works out. But bear in mind this story is set on the planet Venus, which is inhabited by dinosaurs, Pleistocene mammals, and humans.
As I said earlier, my father raised two timber wolves from puppies. He lived alone on lots of land so it wasn’t much of a problem. One day, an acquaintance asked him if he wanted a wolf/dog hybrid and my father told him to bring it over. The next day, my father was walking through the woods with the two wolves and the hybrid when he heard something behind him. He turned around just in time to see the hybrid in mid-air attacking. They both hit the ground and my father got several bites on the face and hands. The wolves moved in to protect and my father escaped with painful but not serious injuries.
He told the guy that brought him over to come and get him right then or the hybrid would have to be put down which the man did. My father swears that wolves can be Ok as pets with the right person in the right setting but you don’t want to screw around with wolf/dog hybrids. His theory is that the wolf traits can get combined with a dog’s trait of being overly familiar with humans and that can be a bad recipe.