Here at Jake’s Tails, Tales, and Tips, we focus on anything wildlife and outdoors related, and that includes wolves. Man’s best friend was derived from wolves between 18,000 and 32,000 years ago, although these numbers vary based on whom you ask. Regardless, the overall sub-speciation of wolves into dogs occurred rather quickly through time, and left us with a large variety of dogs that we see today.
Last year I was looking for a dog to add to my pack of 3 (4 if you consider a Chihuahua a dog) – I already had a German retriever, a hound, and a golden retriever. I was particularly looking for some sort of German shepherd-type dog, whether it be a German shepherd, Belgian malinois, or something similar.
It was at this point that I came across a breeder with American Tundra Shepherd puppies. What the heck are those? Yeah, I didn’t know either. The breeder claimed that they were just bigger German shepherds, so I decided to do some research.
An American Tundra Shepherd is a breed of dog that was created in the 60’s by a gentleman in the military. He was attempting to create the ultimate working military dog; a dog that could be a bite dog and a scent dog, all while being extremely well behaved. To make this breed, he bred a German Shepherd to an Alaskan Tundra wolf, thinking that this would give favorable traits. He was wrong, however, as the wolf dog was skittish, became aggressive in only certain circumstances, and was not what he was looking for. At this point, the military was growing tired of his antics, and gave him one last shot.
He then took the offspring and bred it with another German Shepherd, essentially creating a 75% German shepherd, 25% Tundra wolf dog (though that’s not exactly how dog genetics work). However, the offspring possessed the same undesirable traits, and the project was canceled.
The gentleman fell in love with the dogs, though. He kept the dogs he created, and continued to breed and produce more dogs. He then began to sell the puppies out of his home in Kansas City, where people gobbled up these large dogs.
People then began to perform their own breeding, which is where I compliment those out there with these dogs, because they have kept the breed true to its origins.
When I read all of this information, I wasn’t sure what to think. The few people online with these dogs claimed that they were just big German Shepherds, and so I decided to give it a gander. I contacted the breeder, of who moved from the Kansas area to Arizona, and was the only known breeder in Arizona.
We made our way to his house, a large property south of the town of Maricopa. We were greeted by a nice gentleman, and we entered his house as he mentioned that he is going to go into the backyard to settle them down before we come out, as they sometimes don’t like strangers.
We followed to his back door to look out and find 3 of the biggest, most intimidating dogs I have ever seen. These were not large German shepherds, these were wolves with German shepherd ears.
Hearts beating and adrenaline running through our veins, we entered the backyard area. We were immediately greeted by Bob.
Albert - PhotoCred - Chance Powers
Let me tell you about Bob. Bob is, without a doubt, probably the most terrifying dog I’ve ever seen or met. This dog weighs in at around 130lbs, has the head the size of a basketball, the feet the size of softballs, and these bright golden eyes that I couldn’t look into. I just couldn’t. It was as if his eyes looked into your soul, and I could tell that there was wild behind those eyes. With all of this said, Bob also has one of the best dog personalities I’ve ever seen. He came up to me and greeted me as I slowly petted him, only to be followed by him almost knocking me over as he leaned on my leg. What an incredible dog.
Next to greet was Albert. Albert was sort of a conundrum because he was a long haired shepherd, which is rare. I should also mention that he was 125lbs at only 10 months old – a beast of a dog. His sweet and playful nature was soothing to see as he played with the many puppies that ran about.
Finally, there was Jasmine, the mother of the puppies. Not only did Jasmine not like strangers, but she hated men. Jasmine had a smaller figure than the rest of them, and also had a longer rostrum. I wanted to see Jasmine up close, but she just wouldn’t come near. I knew I had to empty myself of all negative energy and fear for her to come near me.
I sat on the ground with the puppies and cleared my mind as Albert approached me again, tail wagging in anticipation to play with me and the puppies. Less than a minute later, I was petting Jasmine, though she was still timid.
I was interrupted, however, by the owner.
“I’ve got to say, I’ve never seen any man pet her like you are. I’ve tried this many times with many people, and with constant interaction it’s taken me no less than 4 months for any man to pet her.”
I was excited and humbled to hear this information. I’d always had a way with animals, but this was different. This was like interacting with a wolf straight from the wild.
At this point, it was time to start interacting with the puppies. I knew I wanted a female, and as small as possible – as much as I would have loved a 130lb Bob replica, there would be no way that I could house such a large dog.
We looked over all the puppies, and came across one of the smallest puppies with a distinct face mask and an overall calm demeanor. This was the one, and we took her home to the rest of the pack.
I had the idea that these dogs were roughly 25% wolf – considered a dog with recent wolf heritage. These dogs should show little to no signs of wolf lineage, other than their looks. This is a significant point, so remember this.
I searched the internet for a proper name for such an interesting dog. I finally came across the word Cana, which comes from an ancient Celtic language meaning “wolf cub” or “young warrior”. I changed the C to a K, and her name became Kana.
Kana was, well, difficult, and this is an understatement. Her sheer independence made her incredibly hard to care for because she didn’t care about anything or us. She didn’t care about food, she didn’t care about attention, she didn’t care about play. She just did her own thing, which usually consisted of destroying things. This was my first clue that she wasn’t as low content of wolf as I thought, but it could just be her personality. I should also mention that if she did give attention and played with her mouth, she would bite as hard as she could. She didn’t mean harm, but she didn’t know any different. After many weeks of bite inhibition training, she no longer bit, and no longer uses her mouth for communication.
Proceeding into her toddler months, she was easily the worst behaved dog I had ever had. She destroyed anything and everything she could get mouth on. Think that your dog is puppy proof? Try again, because it will never be Kana proof. She began to grow incredibly quickly, which is what I figured would come from a 25% wolf dog – wolves grow extremely quickly so as to keep up with the pack.
Wolves breed in the deepest and darkest months of winter, and go through a period called winter wolf syndrome (WWS). WWS is a condition caused by a change of hormones within wolves, and is mostly shown in female wolves. During this time, female wolves become vicious in nature, attacking nearby female wolves. They become restless overall, and change in demeanor. Kana’s first winter did not show these severe traits, but she did become much more skittish, and did not like me. For a couple of months she would not come near me, only to be best friends immediately following. This is also why I think she is higher than 25% wolf. Her next winter will show how she truly reacts to WWS because…
She has not gone into heat, and I consider this a significant reason as to why I think she’s more than 25% wolf. Wolves usually skip their first winter of going into heat, and will do so their second winter. Common dogs will usually go into heat between 8 and 16 months old, and will do so about every 6 months. Well, Kana is going on 1 year 8 months old, without a sign of going into heat. We shall see…
What can I do to find out her true percentage? Well, there are some new breed tests that can determine her percentage somewhat accurately, although they still aren’t 100% accurate. These tests, however, are expensive (around $150.00). If I had to take a guess, I’d say she’s between 35%-45%. What does this mean? Well, that would make her officially a low-content wolfdog, rather than a dog with recent wolf heritage. Other than that, it doesn’t mean much, to be honest with you.
Overall, life with a wolf is fantastic. She has stopped trying to destroy everything in sight, and has an incredibly sweet personality. She still gets into trouble on the daily, and I see myself having to kennel her when I leave for the entirety of her life, but that’s not a big deal. I can’t really take her places because she freaks out, and people are scared of her. I mean that they are straight “giant pit bull” scarred of her, and won’t come near her, except for a few people who then fall in love with her. I should also say that she is the most clean dog I have ever had. She constantly grooms and cleans herself, doesn’t smell, and will be spotless clean 4 hours after playing in the mud.
I do take extra precautions when people come to the house. First, it should be mentioned that she takes after her mother in that she is not a big fan of men. I’m not sure as to why this is, but she usually doesn’t like them. With that said, she generally warms up to almost anybody after about an hour or so. I also have the printed pages that I make everyone read before they come, so as to understand her mannerisms. These pieces of paper tell all about her, and why she isn’t necessarily a dog, or a rogue dog at that.
So how big is Kana now? She is about 85lbs, but very tall and long. She is only slightly bigger than her mother, and the the bottom end of the breed’s weight range. Did I mention that she absolutely loves tomatoes?
I get asked all the time if I can refer them to the breeder. 75% of the time I say no, because people aren’t prepared for this type of “dog”. This brings me to another point, and that is to not think of her as a dog, but rather as a companion. She has different needs, has different behavior, and overall is different.
For example, one day she came in the house with what I thought was a stick. I let her have the stick so she could have something to chew on. Well, a minute or two later she came up to me, only to realize that it was no stick, but rather a bird. It was a small bird ( I think a sparrow), and I saw its legs that I thought were sticks. I asked her to give it to me, but she was not going to let go of the bird. This is where an ordinary dog owner would not succeed with this sort of dog; they would have forced her to give that bird up. I knew that if I wanted that bird, though, that I would have to fight her for it, like any other wolf would have to. Any other dog owner would have either been bitten by a wolfdog, or would have lost all trust from their wolfdog if they tried to take that bird away. How did Kana and I compromise? I made her go in her kennel to do what she wanted with her newly found bird. Not 2 minutes later, the bird, including all feathers, had been eaten.
That, my friends, is life with a wolf…
If you have any further questions, or would like to hear/see more of Kana, write it in the comments!