So I’ve read a couple of places now that I dislike or disapprove of wolf-dog owners and breeders, which is not the case at all, so lemme set the record straight. I have nothing against RESPONSIBLE owners of wolf-dog hybrids. It is my understanding from talking to people who have and work with hybrids that, when properly raised and trained and treated with the respect that a partly wild animal deserves, they can be excellent companions and windows to the wild. I’ve met several lovely hybrids and look forward to meeting more.

That being said, owning a wolf-dog hybrid is not the same as owning a dog, and people who do not know what they are getting into end up either abandoning the hybrid, or not training it appropriately so that the hybrid can become dangerous. Either way the hybrid most likely ends up chained in a yard all day, or dead. So pretending that hybrids are just big cool-looking dogs, and that responsible ownership is not vital, does the hybrids no favors. And that is what I so strongly disapprove of.

Wolf-dog hybrids can sometimes be very docile (like my buddy Dante in my author photo, who is an Arctic wolf/some-kind-of-dog hybrid, and is quite motivated by treats) or sometimes can be more wild. Sometimes they have the hunting behavior of wolves without the fear of humans that wolves have, and sometimes this can be a dangerous combination if the hybrid is not properly handled. The thing is that you don’t know how the wolf DNA and dog DNA are going to combine (it doesn’t matter how much the hybrid does or doesn’t look like a wolf), so you don’t know what kind of hybrid you are going to get. So a person who breeds or acquires a hybrid must be prepared for intensive, ongoing training and constant monitoring and involvement. Otherwise you run the risk of hybrid that has the potential to be a danger to people. So you can’t just leave the hybrid in the yard and hope for the best. I do get angry when I hear of people who breed hybrids in substandard conditions, without training them properly and without monitoring what kind of homes they go to, or of owners who abandon or abuse their hybrids. On my ten-day book tour I heard three stories of hybrids who were put down because people couldn’t care for them or because the hybrid was not handled properly and bit someone. Owning a dog is a huge responsibility. Owning a hybrid is that times ten.

So that’s my stand. Responsible, intelligent wolf-dog ownership: fine. Irresponsible, boneheaded breeding and ownership of hybrids that result in harm to said animal, or harm to a person: bad.