Quote: mike armstrong

I guess the fact that she got an animal like this says something about her judgment.
Does she have any clue how dangerous this thing could be around her 3-yr-old?

Most clueless people don't seem to take well to being told they made a mistake, so I wouldn't spend much time talking to her, but I'd definitely print out the articles Carol referenced and give them to her and her husband.

Mike

Yeah i didn't quote it but she says she has a lot of "experience" with wolf-dogs, just not as a puppy.

My first question for her is why did she get a wolf- dog hybrid as a pet. I will ask her if she is aware of all dangers that she's bringing a semi wolf in her house? I will tell her to read what Ed said about wolf hybrids on his website. I would advise her to find the dog a new home, learn how to live with a wild animal in the right condition, or euthanisa.

 Quote: michael west

Yeah i didn't quote it but she says she has a lot of "experience" with wolf-dogs, just not as a puppy.

If she had a lot of experience with wolf-dogs, why is she asking you for help? It doesn't make sense to me.

I had a Wolf/Malamute X it was a hard hard SOB that required even more exercise than my current Malinois. It was also very untrustworthy around strange people let alone young people basically a powder-keg waiting to go off. This was the reason I had to euthanize him as he had made one to many moves (twice) for my daughter who was 3 years old at the time as well. Thank God I was there both times and not someone else.

A person needs to a really really experienced handler to even attempt raising one. I don't think this person would have the experience to handle one of these or really knows what she is getting her family into.

Do what you can Michael!

OK maybe i should have done this to start with but here is the whole quote

My name is ***** and I live in *** *****. I have a 15 wk old wolf hybrid, Xena, and it has been a LONG time since I have had a puppy around!!! My husband had a male and female hybrid when we meant, and they have both since passed away from old age, so even though I have been around this breed a lot, never in the puppy stage. (I used to have labs, but again it’s been years and years since I have had a puppy) That’s why I thought I would join this group so I would have some “friends” to go to for advice and so on…
We are doing great with house breaking, however, she hates the lease and she has a major foot fetish…LOL (she loves to bite at bare feet). We have 3 kids, 15, 13 & 3, Xena does really good with all the kids, but during “play time” she gets very excited and we have to watch her close around the 3 yr old. So, I guess the only immediate issues I have would be learning to go for a walk without it being EXHAUSTING for me because she is either pulling or stopping. And getting the “foot nipping” stopped!
I would love any advice from anyone who is familiar with wolf hybrids; they are different from dogs in many ways I know. Thanks and I look forward to chatting with you all!

Just from reading that, she has no business having that dog.

"we have to watch her close around the three year old" she states....and the pup is only 15 weeks......YIKES

And she is going from Labs to Hybrids......fricking scary.....

And they had two before, that is not alot of experience.....

And, And, And, And, And.......

and, since she thinks of you all as friends to go to for advice, take the "friends don't let friends children get eaten by Hybrids" approach......

Did she send you an email or is this from different forum?

 Quote: carol boche

Just from reading that, she has no business having that dog.

"we have to watch her close around the three year old" she states....and the pup is only 15 weeks......YIKES

And she is going from Labs to Hybrids......fricking scary.....

And they had two before, that is not alot of experience.....

And, And, And, And, And.......

and, since she thinks of you all as friends to go to for advice, take the "friends don't let friends children get eaten by Hybrids" approach......

This is one nut woman!

 Quote: Lindsay Janes

Did she send you an email or is this from different forum?

Different forums.

Eeek! I know how much of a sore issue wolf hybrids are around a vast majority of people, especially here. I will start off by saying that I agree that wolf hybrids can be dangerous, and 99.9% of the time ARE dangerous, but this is because of the people.

I have dealt with wolves and wolf hybrids ranging in content from 25% to 98.5%, generations from F1 all the way back to F5, and several pure wolves.

The behavior depends on the content, and the generation, and the handling, and well, everything. I had two hybrids as rescues, but only because I knew what I was getting into. The content of hybrids is often grossly exaggerated, most out there are lucky to be 50% advertised as 75% to pure, and most are really around 25% or less.

She needs to have explained to her that a wolf hybrid is like owning the hardest, driviest, most dominant, sharpest, oversized GSD or Mal there is. She needs to do a massive amount of research on wolves, wolf behavior, and understanding drives. Documentaries, books by L. David Mech, R.D. Lawrence, Shaun Ellis, etc. Look up sanctuaries, rescues.

http://www.wolfdog.ws/html/table_of_contents.html

http://www.wolfpark.org/wolfdogs/index.html

It sounds like she is not qualified or prepared at all to own a hybrid, if she cannot be politely coaxed into finding a home for this pup, and she has no time for her entire family to learn all that they need to know, I fear for the worst.

After owning two, and training/handling/being around over 20 of them, and 4 wolves, I know from experience that these animals are not for someone who has limited knowledge in any way, of dogs and wolves.