A Wolf Of A Story…

I was recently asked by a client for my craziest dog training story.  There are dozens of those and most of them concern the humans and not the dogs.  But one of the craziest stories I can share doesn’t even involve a dog, it involves a wolf!  The crazy part is that this wasn’t my first “domesticated” wolf encounter and I had trained a few other wolves before I met this current wolf.  Each time I came away thinking the same thing…humans SHOULD NOT have wolves as a pet!

Allow me to paint the picture.  Human purchased the wolf as a puppy, from a local breeder.  The breeder apparently had a female german shepherd/wolf hybrid as the surrogate and a massive stud wolf that weighed in at nearly 250lbs.  From the beginning the human kept the wolf puppy outside in a junk yard/body shop setting and as it got bigger used a thick tie out cable so it couldn’t escape. Human fed the wolf by throwing it raw chicken or beef several times a week. 

By now you’re probably thinking this is shaping up to be one heck of a Halloween thriller movie but as the saying goes, truth is always stranger than fiction. 

Human started to become concerned as the wolf got around 7 months old and became very protective when the human would feed it.  Growling, snarling, charging and very aggressive body language.  This happened for months before I met the wolf.  When I met the wolf, it was 15 months old and over 150lbs. 

My first encounter with the wolf was me walking into its territory and doing my best to show that I was not going to be intimidated or forced out of its area.  Keep in mind the wolf had not left this enclosed area EVER and had zero socialization except for the owner and occasional friends who did nothing but increase the wolfs dominance by having very submissive reactions to just seeing the wolf.

The wolf was used to winning.  The owner would throw huge chunks of meat to feed it several times a week, anyone who met the wolf would run scared by just seeing it and it had never had ANYONE challenge it at a pack level.

Even with that background I felt that I could help the owner at the very least with good advice.  But this advice would only come from me meeting the wolf and seeing exactly what was happening, step by step. 

I walked in and immediately saw the wolf was waiting for me.  It was standing on all 4 legs and sizing up the situation.  It had enough tie out to go another 15 feet and I was about 30 feet away.  It wanted me to come closer so it could get close to me.  I knew better than to just rush its space, so I got about 20 feet away, sat down on the ground and turned my back on the wolf. 

I immediately heard the wolf making its way toward me.  Once it got to the end of its chain, it laid down, legs under belly and waited for me to make my next move.  It was now just 5 feet away.

I stayed in that position for a few more minutes and then I got up and started walking a line, to keep 5-foot distance but also move at the same time.  The wolf couldn’t reach me but watched me move.  I didn’t establish eye contact and looked past the wolf to the junk car it was tied up to.  I did this for another few minutes and then finally I saw my opening.  The wolf’s body language changed from alert and dominant to calm/neutral. 

At that point I walked just 1 foot into its space, kept my arms down and allowed the wolf to approach me and come into my space.  It sniffed me for around 1 minute and then walked away.  I then sat down in that spot and waited again.  

After doing this routine for 20-30 more minutes I decided to make my next move.  I would attempt to remove the tie out from the wolfs collar and attach a leash, so I could take this wolf on a walk.  As soon as I reached for its neck to unclip the tie out, the wolf growled.  I backed off for a minute and thought about my best course of action.  I then decided to run the leash through itself creating a slip leash and that would be how I would start my walk…the tie out would still be connected but I would at least have neck control through the makeshift slip leash.

This worked.  I walked a few feet and saw that the wolf was STRONG.  It didn’t like that I was trying to lead but didn’t know how to react to my walking technique either.  After a few minutes I once again attempted to reach for the neck and this time the wolf didn’t react.  I had established just enough leadership to touch the wolf.

I unclipped the chain and continued my walk.  After a few more minutes the wolf was walking incredibly well and very calm and relaxed.  I then talked to the owner for a long time and explained what it would take to keep the wolf compliant. 

The good news is that 99.9 percent of our clients have dogs and not wolves.  The great news is that the Always Faithful Dog Training techniques are strong enough for a wolf but made for a dog!

Contact your local Always Faithful Dog Trainer today and learn skills that could tame a wolf!

P.S. Yes, that’s the actual wolf in the picture. Check out the social media comments box to see a pic of the wolf on leash with me.