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My question is whether this is really a wolf-dog. Does your friend know for sure, because if not, he may just be a husky mix. A lot of northern breed mixes get passed off (sold) as "wolf-dogs" and they really aren't at all. As well, there are very few high-content wolf-dogs as in 3/4 wolf or higher.
Wolf-dogs, esp. if a high-content, need a home with an owner who understands that they aren't dogs. There are very very few such homes. For that reason I would really hesitate to try an open adoption unless it was a last resort. Although some low-content wolf-dogs are indistinguishable from dogs, and can settle into a "dog" home, some still have a few wolfy characteristics. This is so very sad for this animal.
I would reach out to wolf-dog rescues, and if they can't take him in, then maybe they can recommend a private individual who would be willing to foster him. There are a few wolf-experienced people who are sometimes willing to add another one.
Many wolf/wolf-dog rescues will accept animals from out of their area. Here are a few that have appear to be reputable, but your friend would need to do her homework:
Any way to find out what the organization is? If so, it might be better to contact them in advance. I don't know how he does in crowds but IMO an adoption event is a lot of chaos and he may not react well. It might be better for her to go and explain the situation and have them meet him in a quiet environment.
Also since he's probably not allowed in her rental, I'd want to minimize her being seen with him in public. Probably a long shot that someone would see her and report back but you never know. If they're not legal in her municipality or if you need special enclosures, that would also argue against her bringing him to a public event.
Please keep us posted.
The Wolf dog is VERY social and loves being around people. I have run into him out in crowds and he is relaxed and busy greeting people. His owner had him out and about a lot. They use to hang out at a local coffee shop in the evenings and it was a busy place as it has game night and a BBQ night and the wolf was a regular part of that crowd. He greeted everyone and everyone knew him. He also would cruise the patio and try to steal burgers from people on BBQ night. He is a very social boy. But maybe I will go to the event in the morning and talk to the wolf people and if they are interested in meeting him call her.
As for the rental the woman that has him now lives in I think a friend of hers owns the property. She herself is well known around town from a past job she had. I laugh as everyone I know seems to know her. There is no hiding him either as because he gets restless she cannot leave him alone when she works so has various friends and her sister that come take him during the day while she works so he comes and goes a lot and I am sure any one living near her has seen him, probably heard him too as he does howl at sirens.
I use to know a woman in town that owned two wolves and she too had them out in public a lot. My late Jazz loved one of them and would get so excited when we would see them. I have not seen her in years and could not even remember her name but an agility friend knew her too and gave me her name and the last phone # she had for her but it turns out she now lives on the east coast and has labs. I do recall her saying you had to have a special enclosure which they did.
If I get some photos of him I will share them and if I learn anything I will share it too.
My question is whether this is really a wolf-dog. Does your friend know for sure, because if not, he may just be a husky mix. A lot of northern breed mixes get passed off (sold) as "wolf-dogs" and they really aren't at all. As well, there are very few high-content wolf-dogs as in 3/4 wolf or higher.
Wolf-dogs, esp. if a high-content, need a home with an owner who understands that they aren't dogs. There are very very few such homes. For that reason I would really hesitate to try an open adoption unless it was a last resort. Although some low-content wolf-dogs are indistinguishable from dogs, and can settle into a "dog" home, some still have a few wolfy characteristics. This is so very sad for this animal.
I would reach out to wolf-dog rescues, and if they can't take him in, then maybe they can recommend a private individual who would be willing to foster him. There are a few wolf-experienced people who are sometimes willing to add another one.
Many wolf/wolf-dog rescues will accept animals from out of their area. Here are a few that have appear to be reputable, but your friend would need to do her homework:
......owns two Goldens is currently stuck with a Wolf Mix and a Maltese mix. She is a renter.......
Veering slightly off topic, tenants really should not, not ever, take in any dogs to babysit without getting written permission from the landlord. I'm a landlord and if I had a tenant with two Goldens, with permission, and I went by and discovered that the tenant had snuck in 2 more dogs, the tenant would receive their notice to vacate on the spot and tenant, the two Goldens, and two fosters would all be homeless .. and very unlikely to find another landlord who would allow 2 Goldens, let alone 4 dogs when one of them is a wolf.
I don't know of any wolf rescues that would take another animal; they are all full and some of them are closing down.
The best I can offer is to advertise the wolf in an area where people have larger properties, which might involve driving to find a home. Your friend is going to have to do intensive screening to find a safe home.
I occasionally see the wolf hybrids in my area that look well taken care of and well trained. So, there are a few suitable homes. I don't think it would be difficult to find some macho idiot who thought it would be cool to have a wolf. The trick is going to be to find a home where the new owner knows how to handle a wolf and who will take good care and keep it properly confined.
I would also go around to all the places where the wolf was well known and let people know that the wolf needs a new home. Maybe someone who knows the wolf would take him.
This is one of those cases where no good deed goes unpunished. Your friend should never have agreed to the favor when she is not well situated to take in extra dogs.
Little concerned about the wolf dog as I saw him today and he makes my Dazzle look fat and if you do not know my Dazzle is a sighthound so is thin. Dazzle weighs between 47-50lbs and height wise is about the height of a Golden retriever.
I am 6 ft tall and the wolf dog can stand up and comfortably place his paws on my shoulders while putting his face in mine so he is quite a bit bigger then Dazzle but right now he only weighs about 60 lbs
I was petting him and he is all bones if he did not have all that fur I would say he would look severly emaciated as his hips jut out when he lays down and you can count his ribs and even feel between each one.
I recall a few years ago a poster on here had a daughter that had found a pup that she saw tossed from a truck they believed was part wolf and while it seemed happy it was starving itself so she made the tough decision to give it to a wolf sanctuary so yeah I am worried about this boy as he should not be this thin. I mentioned it and every one said oh his owner kept him thin but I do not recall him being this thin and the person that has him says well he is a fussy eater. If I am correct wolves need more protein then dogs do so do not do well on dog food diets so I am worried about him.
It also seems like she and some of the others that were friends with the owner have decided that they would not want him going to a wolf sanctuary if one was even willing to take him nor do they want him going to a home where the person wants a wolf. They want him to just be considered a pet dog as they feel that is what his life has been up to now as he has always gone to the dog park and hung out at a local coffee shop with his owner so he is use to life as a normal dog.
I know for a fact that the man who owned him use to take the dogs up walking in foothills right by my house in the dark for a coupe hours most nights. He never worried about coyotes, bears or mountain lions because of the fact the dog is part wolf. While the dog did live a similar life to a normal pet dog he did do extra stuff like this so would he be happy with someone that overlooked the fact he is part wolf? I really doubt that.
Being the man did not work the dog also has never been left alone which is another thing wolf dog types do not do well.
I really like the woman that has him and still feel bad that she is stuck with this problem but I think the fact she has had him 3 wks now and she loves him is making her make some decisions that she feels are best for a dog but may not be best for a wolf dog. She seems convinced that a home with someone that just wants a dog is best and that someone that wants a wolf would not be the right home.
I might just have to distance myself as it seems all the dog park people that were the owners good friends seem to agree he would be happiest in a pet home forget that he is part wolf and his real needs are not the same as a dog. I just hopes he starts putting some weight on as that concerns me the most right now as a being only 10-13 lbs heavier then my Daz is not healthy for him. He needs to be with someone be it a sanctuary or a home that understands wolf dogs and the differences in them and dogs.
I do not think he has been to a vet recently.I think his low weight is from being on a dog food diet with some cooked human food added to it so not enough protein and probably not enough food .I think the metabolic requirements of wolves does differ from dogs making them require a larger amount then most dogs that size..One of the reasons I think he needs a home that has wolf dog experience.
I agree that an experienced wolf-dog home would be best, but he may very well be fine in a dog home if the people adopting him understand that they need to adjust how they handle and manage wolfie. Wolf-dogs learn differently, respond differently, and have some different behaviors and tolerances than pet dogs. Since wolf-experienced homes are rare, the best case scenario might be a home with an experienced dog owner who is willing to educate themselves and be flexible vis a vis training.
About his weight- he may still be adapting to his new home, but yes, he sounds way too thin. My friend who has high content wolf dogs feeds a mix of Taste of the Wild and raw.
Whether or not this animal can fit into a pet home depends a lot upon whether or not his genes take after the dog side or the wolf side. This is not a pure wolf. My only experience with a wolf was a pure wolf rescue that a neighbor had. He was a lovely animal and very smart and social.
The biggest difference between the wolf and the dog is that a dog easily learns to understand human language and human body language and learns to communicate rather easily. A wolf does not interpret human language except through his wolf point of view. It is easy enough for those of us with serious dog knowledge to use wolf body language to communicate with the wolf. Our dogs use a lot of similar body language, so people who pay attention can learn the language.
Where the danger lays is that some human body language is just fun to humans but looks like a threat to a wolf. If a young child is lurching around stiff legged and pretending to be a robot and making growly sounds, a dog just moves out of the way or joins into the game, because, what the heck, there is no explaining humans, but the kid means no harm. . To a wolf, that stiff legged approach is going to be seen as threatening because wolves are not bilingual.
We were careful about our body language around the wolf (which was sort of automatically done around the dogs, anyway, for communication reasons). The wolf learned all of the AKC obedience routines and loved it, but could not be shown because he got too stressed out by strange dogs and strange people. He did not do strange situations very well.
A lot of people have no idea what body language means through canine eyes. That is what makes a wolf potentially dangerous.
The other thing that was difficult about teh wolf was that he was eager to submit, which involved rolling over on his back and pissing all over his own belly with foul smelling predator pee. The poor wolf was bathed almost daily because of the submissive urination. It was nasty smelling.
"Dogs are bilingual"! What a lovely way to put it, OWS!
We've had friends with wolf hybrid dogs (wolf/Malamute), and they were very mellow--but I'm sure it depends on which genes are dominant. There's a new study out that shows how very social dogs have a certain set of genes that wolves don't have. Definitely a matter of nature rather than nurture. But that would also mean that a wolf dog just might have inherited the social genes.
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