# Can You House Train a Hyena? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662 "2005-11-25T06:42:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/1 "2005-11-25T06:42:20Z")
Hyenas [creep me out.](http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9481/pithyenas7tw.jpg) What if I were to acquire a pup, establish myself as the alpha male, and have the pup neutered at the appropriate age? Would I have myself a hyena that would run to the door when I get home from work? Could I play frisbee with him? Would he tear out a person’s lungs on my command? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/2 "2005-11-25T06:52:39Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > Hyenas [creep me out.](http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9481/pithyenas7tw.jpg) What if I were to acquire a pup, establish myself as the alpha male, and have the pup neutered at the appropriate age? Would I have myself a hyena that would run to the door when I get home from work? Could I play frisbee with him? Would he tear out a person’s lungs on my command? Seems to me it would be only slightly different than raising a wolf or a wolfdog. Here’s a few links: [link 1](http://www.fiu.edu/~milesk/training.htm) [link 2](http://www.inetdesign.com/wolfdunn/wolfdogfaq/index.shtml) And then [if you’re serious…](http://exoticpetco.com/index.html) - Peter Wiggen ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/3 "2005-11-25T06:54:49Z")
Ok, there’s more. [Here](http://boingboing.net/2004/03/27/hyenas_and_baboons_f.html) is a picture of a dude with a pet hyena. Pretty bitching looking, I’ll say that. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/4 "2005-11-25T07:02:35Z")
I see no problem with this, assuming, of course, that you are a mom or pop hyena and your house is a patch on the African veldt. Otherwise you’re in trouble. (Needless to say, a hyena is not a wolfdog.) ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/5 "2005-11-25T07:13:43Z")
[Apparently it’s possible](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3619791.stm) to some extent but I think [cheetahs](http://www.honoluluzoo.org/cheetah.htm) are more amenable to being tamed. Faster and more badass too. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/6 "2005-11-25T08:24:24Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#): > > Ok, there’s more. [Here](http://boingboing.net/2004/03/27/hyenas_and_baboons_f.html) is a picture of a dude with a pet hyena. Pretty bitching looking, I’ll say that. I’d be more worried about that baboon on a leash then a hyena. Both would bite the hell out of you, but a hyena can’t grab your arm and rip it out of the socket while biting the hell out of you. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/7 "2005-11-25T09:57:22Z")
Can you say anthropomorphism? A hyena is a wild animal. A hyena is still a wild animal even if you raise it up from a pup. Wild animals see you, and every other living creature, as food. You and the hyena may get along fine, but forget to feed it and you are its next meal. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/8 "2005-11-25T13:37:14Z")
It’ll make good company for your pet wolverine. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/9 "2005-11-25T13:42:47Z")
Hyenas are not dogs; they just look a bit like them; they are more closely related to Herpestidae (mongoose family) than dogs; they’re even more closely related to _cats_ than dogs. Not that this necessarily directly relates to their trainability, but I think it should serve as some kind of indication that ordinary dog training methods just aren’t going to be suitable, if they can be trained at all… ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/10 "2005-11-25T15:59:37Z")
Two Jamaicans told me that they own a Hyena/Alsatian cross. I knew it was impossible to have a hyena/dog cross but I didn’t realize that people actually keep hyenas as pets. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/11 "2005-11-25T16:18:18Z")
[hijack]I had an [argument](http://www.creationtalk.com/message-board-forum/about774-0-asc-15.html) with a creationist about that sort of thing once; I wanted to know what ‘kind’ the hyena was in - he said ‘dog, obviously’ and… well… it all went rather amusingly downhill; he tried to bolster his case by posting a picture of a domestic dog that the owner had _happened to name_ ‘Hyena’. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/12 "2005-11-25T16:26:29Z")
You can have one, but… They just laugh at your attempts to train. (Google ad aside… potty training them is just plain silly according to the hyenas) ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/13 "2005-11-25T16:39:20Z")
Nothing worthwhile to add, but man…I just keep imagining whacking a hyena across the nose with a newspaper. And then I imagine the screams and the blood everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/14 "2005-11-25T17:03:00Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > What if I were to acquire a pup, establish myself as the alpha male, and have the pup neutered at the appropriate age? You’d get your ass kicked. Because besides all the other issues of keeping a non-domesticatable carnivore of enormous power around, it just so happens that Spotted Hyenas are matriarchal :). Females are larger, stronger and dominate males. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-house-train-a-hyena/332662/15 "2005-11-25T17:16:59Z")
Actually I am against the keeping of exotic pets so the post was more hypothetical. I happened to be watching a doc about them on the National Geographic channel and they just seemed to be the psychopathic gang members of the animal kingdom.