Everyone who handles wolfdogs knows this question in all its variations…
What percentage of wolf is he/she?
There is only one way to get a true percentage of genetic material, one parent is a 100% wolf and the other is 100% dog, which will produce pups that on paper are 50% of each. From there it’s a crap shoot of how many genes the pups of the 50 percenters will inherit from their wolf and dog grandparents.
Here’s an awesome article that explains the whys of percentage genetics in layman’s terms.
For a visual, I added this picture because many people have trouble
identifying the difference between wolves, wolfdogs and dogs, but can
clearly identify human differences.
Mom and dad are biracial; meaning they each had 1 parent who was of African descent and 1 parent who was of Eastern European descent. Each of their beautiful fraternal twins obviously inherited a different amount of genetic material from their grandparents.
While physical characteristics vary, how much content of any race in humans makes little difference in personality, temperament, and character because human babies are exposed to wide range of stimuli that will develop both their persona and true being.
In terms of wolfdog content, how much of wolf and how much dog will make a difference because animals rely on instinct (which human animals traded for a formal education) and rewards (which humans sort of lost when they stopped hunting and gathering). Nature usually wins over nurture in wolfdogs, which is not a bad thing, it just a matter of accepting certain traits may be unavoidable.
For example: A high content wolfdog may have inherited an intense fear of man, so you could end up with an animal that can’t leave it’s enclosure without severe stress, and that may not be a problem if you didn’t count on taking long walks and drives with a confident, cheerful wolfdog.
For content reasons alone, I personally don’t recommend puppies. You don’t know what you’re going to get as far as content personality until they’re about 2-3 years old. There are also plenty of post-adolescents in rescue.
So, that’s about as simple as I can present it. Percentage and content are different things. Individual wolf dogs will be different based on content, making it difficult to breed or buy a standard animal.
What percentage of wolf is he/she?
There is only one way to get a true percentage of genetic material, one parent is a 100% wolf and the other is 100% dog, which will produce pups that on paper are 50% of each. From there it’s a crap shoot of how many genes the pups of the 50 percenters will inherit from their wolf and dog grandparents.
Here’s an awesome article that explains the whys of percentage genetics in layman’s terms.
Mom and dad are biracial; meaning they each had 1 parent who was of African descent and 1 parent who was of Eastern European descent. Each of their beautiful fraternal twins obviously inherited a different amount of genetic material from their grandparents.
While physical characteristics vary, how much content of any race in humans makes little difference in personality, temperament, and character because human babies are exposed to wide range of stimuli that will develop both their persona and true being.
In terms of wolfdog content, how much of wolf and how much dog will make a difference because animals rely on instinct (which human animals traded for a formal education) and rewards (which humans sort of lost when they stopped hunting and gathering). Nature usually wins over nurture in wolfdogs, which is not a bad thing, it just a matter of accepting certain traits may be unavoidable.
For example: A high content wolfdog may have inherited an intense fear of man, so you could end up with an animal that can’t leave it’s enclosure without severe stress, and that may not be a problem if you didn’t count on taking long walks and drives with a confident, cheerful wolfdog.
For content reasons alone, I personally don’t recommend puppies. You don’t know what you’re going to get as far as content personality until they’re about 2-3 years old. There are also plenty of post-adolescents in rescue.
So, that’s about as simple as I can present it. Percentage and content are different things. Individual wolf dogs will be different based on content, making it difficult to breed or buy a standard animal.
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