Understanding Wolf Content: High Content Wolfdogs
A high content wolf dog is a wolf dog that has DNA of 85% or more grey wolf.
High content puppies are generally pulled from their mother when they are approximately 10 days old and bottle feeding begins. This is so when they first open their eyes they see a human. It’s the first step of the ancient wolf->human bond and where imprinting begins.
A well bread high content wolf dog should look indistinguishable from a pure wolf. Different from low and mid contents, high contents can be more skittish, more aloof, and more intense but they also can be better behaved because they generally don’t have multiple dog breeds in them.
When preparing to bring home your high content puppy a secure habitat/containment is needed. This will include six to eight foot fencing, the minimum of 9-gauge chain link or 4-gauge cattle panel, the interior perimeter must have dig guards at least 36 inch wide and lean-ins on the top of the fencing to prevent jumping.
These animals can be escape artists. They can also be very destructive if left alone or bored. They require daily enrichment and walks to try to prevent boredom (a bored wolfdog is a destructive wolfdog).
Once you bring your puppy home, I highly recommend that you begin hand-feeding. This will create an unbreakable trust and bond between you and your companion, and it should prevent resource guarding as they will see you as their resource. It is very important to start socializing your puppy immediately. The puppy most likely is not fully vaccinated yet so absolutely no paws on the ground in any public place. You can bring your puppy to places such as Tractor supply, Pet Smart, ect. It is very important to either hold your puppy or bring a blanket or towel to put in the cart so that you may bring your puppy around. Once your puppy is fully vaccinated, it is great to go to parks (we strongly discourage dog parks as regular canines sometimes get aggressive being they don’t understand the scent of the high content wolf dog), different types of stores with different types of door entries, different types of lighting and flooring, farms, ect to get your puppy used to loud noises, people, lighting, electronic doors, ect.
Leashing and handling: These are very strong animals. It is best to start with a harness and a well-built leash. You can choose to keep your animal in the harness throughout its life when you take it places although some high contents may not allow you, as it starts to mature, to put this harness on. I personally prefer two separate martin-gale collars with 2 separate leashes attached individually. I believe this is the safest method as a handler as no matter what we aim for safety first. We strongly do not recommend gentle-leader pet collars/leashes as to the untrained canine person this may look like a muzzle, and the general public will view a muzzle on an animal as a dangerous animal when really there is no such thing as a big bad wolf.
Looks and Appearance: A high content wolf dog should have smaller pointy ears that are closer together, almond shaped eyes that are quite frequently amber color, but can also be green or grey, the shoulders should be higher up than the rear, the spacing between the two front legs when standing should only be a couple of fingers. It will generally have a black scent mark on their tail. They also walk and stand in a single track. (An efficient gait where an animal’s feet converge towards it’s center of gravity causing the rear paws to land in or near the tracks left by the front paws. This results in a single straight line of tracks which is especially useful for energy conservation when travelling long distances and through snow). No matter what color the coat is, the undercoat will always be grey due to the quantity of grey wolf in them.
Diet: High content wolf dogs require a balanced diet of protein, bone, and organ meat. They also enjoy things such as vegetables, berries, yogurt, and other yummy household foods.
Myths: Many seem to think that the wolf dogs will turn on you when they reach two to four years of maturity. This is absolutely false. In some cases, higher content wolf dogs that are intact may show reproductive aggression in the winter months. In males this can be called Winter Wolf Syndrome. This can also happen with regular dogs. The difference is that with high content wolf dogs, both males and females are only fertile to reproduce in winter months with puppies born mid to late spring. High content wolf dogs do not want to kill you. Neither do wolves. There are approximately only a dozen documented wolf kills on a human in the United States ever and each incident the wolf was sick, usually with rabies. Most likely any seasonal aggression can be resolved with spayed and neuter. I do not recommend spayed or neutering until 17 to 18 months as their bone growth needs to fully develop. In the wild and with high content wolf dogs, they are more likely to be more afraid of you than you are of them.
Liter-mate Syndrome: Occurs when two puppies, raised together become overly dependent on each other, leading to behavior issues such as separation anxiety, poor social skills with humans and other animals, fearfulness, aggression, and difficulties with training and new experiences. We do not recommend ever getting liter mates or two puppies at the same time.
F-Gen: F-Gen for pure wolves is not applicable as F-Gen describes the number of generations removed from a pure wolf. A pure wolf is a 0 F-Gen. If a pure wolf and a wolf-dog or dog breed together their offspring is an F-1. 1 Generation removed from a pure wolf. If those puppies were to breed, they would be F-2. 2 Generations removed from a pure wolf, and so on. Today, many high content wolf-dog lines are multi-generational bred however there are breeding programs of pure wolves so lower F gens can be acquired. The larger the F-Gen the more removed from a pure wolf they are. The smaller the F-Gen the more intensity can come with that.
Lifestyle: Living with high-content wolf dogs is an absolute life-style change, that you need to change. You will not be traveling, there is no boarding facility that is safe for them, it’s like having a toddler for the lifespan of this animal. This is a huge lifestyle change and commitment and not for everyone. We highly recommend that you do not start this journey with a high-content wolf dog.
History: Most multi-generational wolfdogs trace back to lineage from “Davidson Fur Farms” and “Hudson Fur Farms”. These farms pelted pure wolves during the Korean war for jackets for the soldiers because the topcoat of guard hairs are water repellent. At some point they bred in German Sheppard dogs to some of their pure wolves due to coat pattern which allowed them to have more animals to pelt and more jackets to make. Approximately 37 years ago, there was direct action against fur farms in America. These animals went to conservation groups, zoos and to private breeders which truly began the North American wolf dogs.
Acquiring a High Content: When acquiring a high-content wolfdog, please feel free to ask questions. It is so important to find a quality, ethical breeder as to many of these animals are being bred by non-ethical breeders. An ethical breeder will require contracts, no breeding rights, live time footage of containment/habitat, veterinarian information, owning a home. They also will take back their animals if your lifestyle changes while a back yard breeder will not which causes a higher level of euthanasia. It is extremely important to remember that a high content breeder demands for a secure containment/habitat as if this wolfdog happens to escape more than likely it will be killed. These types of escapes also cause bans on local and state levels. Please always check your laws with your county and your state prior to embarking on wolfdog ownership. Stay on top of the laws as legislation county by county and restrictions can happen overnight.