This Czechoslovakian Wolfdog shows a strongly wolf-like appearance

A wolfdog (also called a wolf hybrid or wolf-dog hybrid) is a canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a female wolf (Canis lupus) and a male dog (Canis lupus familiaris). The term "wolfdog" is preferred by most wolfdog proponents and breeders, as these animals are not hybrids at all, They are conspecific. (In 1993, the domestic dog C. l. familiaris was reclassified by the scientific community as a subspecies of wolf, C. lupus.) Wolfdogs are hybrids in the sense that they are a cross of a species with a subspecies. Professional organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture refer to the animals as wolf-dog hybrids, and a 1998 USDA estimate approximated a population of 300,000 in the United States.^[1] A wolfdog may also be an animal with both wolf and dog ancestry within recent generations (i.e. not necessarily a 50:50 mix), or refer to hybrids that breeders hope will receive official recognition as breeds created by introducing wolf lineage into an established dog breed. Grey wolves are most often crossed with wolf-like dogs such as German Shepherd Dogs, Siberian Huskies, and Alaskan Malamutes for an appearance most appealing to owners desiring to own an exotic pet. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (907x823, 174 KB) Czechoslovakian Wolfdog Photo of female Czechoslovakian Wolfdog JOLLY z Molu Es made by Margo Peron Source: http://en. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (907x823, 174 KB) Czechoslovakian Wolfdog Photo of female Czechoslovakian Wolfdog JOLLY z Molu Es made by Margo Peron Source: http://en. ... The Czechoslovakian Wolfdog is a relatively new breed of dog that traces its original lineage to an experiment conducted in 1955 in the former Czechoslovak Republic. ... Canid hybrids are the result of interbreeding between two different species of the canine (dog) family (Canidae). ... Sevenspotted Lady Beetles mating In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic internal fertilization animals for copulation and, in social animals, also to raise their offspring. ... “Gray Wolves” redirects here. ... Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. ... This article is about a biological term. ... Conspecificity is a concept in biology. ... The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), founded in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 73,000 US veterinarians working in academia, private and corporate practice, industry, government, and uniformed services. ... The United States Department of Agriculture (also called the Agriculture Department, or USDA) is a United States Federal Executive Department (or Cabinet Department). ... “Gray Wolves” redirects here. ... The German Shepherd Dog or Alsatian (see Breed names), is a breed of dog. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Alaskan Malamute is a large northern dog breed originally bred for use as an Alaskan sleddog and is often mistaken for a Siberian Husky. ... Capuchin monkeys are among the primates kept as exotic pets An exotic pet is a rare or unusual creature kept as a pet, or a creature kept as a pet which is not commonly thought of as a pet. ...

The physical and behavorial characteristics of an animal created by breeding a wolf to a dog are not predictable. In many cases the resulting adult wolfdog may be larger than either of its parents due to the genetic phenomenon of heterosis (known to laypersons as hybrid vigor).^[2] Hybrids display a wide variety of appearances, ranging from a resemblance to mixed-breed dogs without wolf blood to animals that are often mistaken for full-blooded wolves. Since wolf hybrids are genetic mixtures of wolves and dogs, they can inherit a range of behavioral traits, some of which may be conflicting.^[3] Heterosis is increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a better individual by combining the virtues of its parents. ... A healthy mixed-breed dog shows hybrid vigor. ...

Breed-specific legislation

The wolfdog hybrid has been the center of much controversy for much of its history. Many European countries as well as most U.S. states, counties and municipalities either outlaw the animal entirely or put restrictions on ownership.^[4][5]. An absence of extensive scientific studies leave the public and legislators to rely solely on anecdotal evidence centering on attack statistics. According to the CDC, there were 14 hybrid-related fatalities between 1979 and 1998 in the United States.^[6] Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... Anecdotal evidence is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote, or hearsay. ... A graph of a Normal bell curve showing statistics used in educational assessment and comparing various grading methods. ... CDC is an abbreviation which can mean any of the following: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Communicable Disease Control Community of Democratic Choice, a group of nine Eastern-European states Change data capture, in data warehousing Clock Domain Crossing, or simply clock-crossing in computing Cedar City Regional Airport... Dog attacks on humans have become common news items in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ...

Temperament

The trouble in predicting wolfdog behavior with enough certainty to legislate is compounded by the mixture of potentially conflicting genetic traits which results in less predictive behavior patterns in the wolf hybrid, compared to either the wolf or dog.^[7] This is not to say that the behavior of a specific hybrid is unpredictable or erratic. It would, however, be unlikely that someone unfamiliar with an individual animal (even someone with considerable experience) would be able to predict that animal's behavior with reasonable certainty. The adult behavior of hybrid pups also cannot be predicted with comparable certainty to dog pups, even in third-generation pups produced by wolfdog matings with dogs or from the behavior of the parent animals.^[8] Thus, though the behavior of an individual wolf hybrid may be predictable, the behavior of the breed as a whole is not.^[9]

The Saarlooswolfhond is an established variety of hybrid.

With both wolves' and dog's social habits revolving around a pack structure, wolfdogs may not show the dog's natural acceptance of all humans as the dominant pack members, resulting in the hierarchical challenges which are the most common cause of wolf aggression (towards other wolves).^[10] Some purport that attacks may not even be caused by typical behavior patterns of aggression and dominance present in either parent species, but instead may be related to predation, as the majority of attacks involve small children.^[11] However, physical dominance not intended to seriously injure is commonly used by wolves in establishing social order with pups and hybrids inheriting the wolf's social procilvity to that end may be enacting a similar behavior unawares of the more fragile body of a human child. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 508 pixels Full resolution (1275 × 809 pixel, file size: 272 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) this picture shows Ruadh Kajhin de Louba Tar -> www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 508 pixels Full resolution (1275 × 809 pixel, file size: 272 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) this picture shows Ruadh Kajhin de Louba Tar -> www. ... The Saarlooswolfhond (Dutch for Saarloos Wolfdog) is a breed of large dogs with relatively wolflike appearance and behavior, such as strong pack instincts. ... A pack of canines—most notably wolves, the domestic dog, and some other wild canines—is a group of animals that is organised according to a strict social hierarchy. ... A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk eating a California Vole In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator species kills and eats other organisms, known as prey. ...

Both the Humane Society of the United States and Canadian Humane Societies consider wolfdogs to be wild animals, and support a ban on the private possession, breeding and sales of wolf-dog hybrids as pets.[1][2] The view that aggressive characteristics are inherently a part of wolfdog temperament has been contested in recent years by advocates of wolfdogs as companion animals.^[12][13] However, most wolf and wolfdog rescue organizations maintain wolfdogs retain many of the traits and requirements of their wild relatives and are therefore inappropriate as domestic pets.^[14][15] Even in cases of wolfdogs displaying consistently dog-like behavior, they often retain the wolf's natural curiosity; driving them to dig ferociously, chew up household items such as furniture and display extreme difficulty in housebreaking.^[16] In 2000, DEFRA and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals released a lengthy study that concluded that much of the aggressiveness attributed to wolfdogs is due to the characteristics of the breeds of dogs the wolves are bred with since wolves themselves are not intrinsically aggressive and tend to avoid contact with humans. The same study identified other common problems with domestic keeping of wolfdogs such as difficulty in housetraining, inappropriate scent marking, excessive shedding, destructive behavior due to natural curiosity, and moody behavior when left alone. Much of this is attributed to different selective evolutionary pressures on the development of the two types of animals. The same study found several examples of misrepresentation by breeders and indeterminate levels of actual wolf pedigree in many animals sold as wolfdogs. The report noted that uneducated citizens misidentify dogs with wolf-like appearance as wolfdogs.^[17] HSUS logo The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a Washington, D.C-based animal welfare advocacy group. ... A humane society is a group that aims to stop animal and human suffering due to cruelty or other reasons. ... Housebreaking is the process of training a domesticated animal that lives with its human owners in a house to eliminate (urinate and defecate) outdoors, or in a designated indoor area, rather than inside the house. ... The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities. ... The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. ...

Origins

Research into the genetic makeup of dogs and wolves indicates the two species initially diverged approximately 100,000 years ago and have interbred occasionally since.^[18]

Evidence for prehistoric domesticated wolfdogs in the Americas dates back at least 10,000 years^[19] while fossil evidence in Europe points to their use in hunting mammoths.^[20] Noted historic cases (such as the Cevennes, France wolf-attack incidents of 1764-1767) of large wolves that were abnormally aggressive towards humans, may be attributable to wolf-dog mating.^[21] While accidental pairings may have occurred intermittently, modern wolfdogs are almost exclusively the result of arranged matings between domestic dogs and lines of wolves that have been in captivity for generations.^[22] The C vennes are a mountainous area in southern France, covering parts of the d partements of Gard, Loz re, Ard che and Aveyron. ...

See also

• Breed-specific legislation
• Canid hybrid
• Coydog
• Established wolfdog breeds
• Wolf

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External links

• The Wolf-Dog Hybrid - An Overview of a Controversial Animal - United States Department Of Agriculture

• Wolfdog Rescue Resources

References