XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
I had a rather scary experience last night and I wonder what to do about it.
I went to see a friend/acquaintance of mine (we're not really close mates, just occasional friends) and he has gone and got himself a "wolf-dog". (he's a small chap and I think he suffers from "small man" syndrome).
Anyway, I was rather surprised when I walked in to be slobbered all over by something that looks bit like cross between a German shepherd, a husky and ... umm ... something from the depths of hell! He had that very long-legged, raggedy look that wild wolves have, together with the broad face and light-coloured eyes.
Apparently he is a wolf/dog hybrid, and he is huge. His paws are the size of a man's hand and when he sat beside me and yawned, his teeth were about two inches long. He weighs almost the same as I do and when he stood on his hind legs to be friendly to me, he was eye-to-eye with me, and I'm 6 feet tall!
Now, I know dogs, but the trouble is that my friend doesn't, he's never had one before. I also know that wolves are very intelligent and that they play "test-games" with each other in the pack to assert a dominance hierarchy in the pack. This usually involves testing each other physically and mentally to find the strongest wolf who then becomes the Alpha.
With normal dogs, this is typically no problem, a human is much bigger and stronger than most dogs and can easily assert dominance. Not so with this creature! He knows he is much stronger than a person. Also, I know that wolf behaviour is markedly different from dog behaviour in this regard - dogs are domesticated and typically much more docile than wolves.
We were in the garden, and this creature started play-bowing to me, so I picked up his rope and started tug-of-war with him ... needless to say he almost wrenched my arms out of their sockets! "By God, I thought, this boy is strong!" Then he started the typical wolf "test-games" with me - he pulled so hard that he pulled me over. He did it deliberately, I'm sure, just to test me. Then he started running at me and nipping at me - as much as to say, "I could rip you to bits if I wanted to".
All the while he was standing in dominance position - head and tail up - eyes locked onto me like he was in hunting mode - tracking me. His nips got more and more powerful until they actually hurt. Eventually he started flanking me, between me and the house, leaving me no room to manoeuvre to an escape route, sometimes darting towards me and showing me those f***ing huge teeth. So the wild animal wolf part of him had kicked in and he was actually hunting me!
I slowly walked over to the flower bed where my mate had been digging up potatoes and yanked out the garden fork. I didn't walk backwards, didn't let my posture drop, didn't break eye contact with the beast - I reckon that if I had, he would have gone in for the kill. Literally.
So I was left standing there, armed with a garden fork, shouting for my mate to come out and grab the damn wolf! He did eventually and I asked him to tie the thing up - he was still just staring at me. My mate didn't seem to think it was much of a problem, he just said, "Oh yeah, he's boisterous!". He wouldn't tie the wolf/dog up and so I told him I didn't feel safe and left.
I just wonder, are wolf/dog hybrids legal? I tell you, this thing has a BIG wild animal streak in him and last night it kicked right in. The trouble is my friend/acquaintance is a bit of a back-to the-Earth hippy (nothing wrong with that!) who has a very laissez-faire attitude to life and is happy to let the beast do whatever he wants. I have no idea where he got this thing from, I get the impression that he may well move in some decidedly dodgy circles! Who knows, this thing may not be a hybrid at all, it may actually be full wolf.
I went to see a friend/acquaintance of mine (we're not really close mates, just occasional friends) and he has gone and got himself a "wolf-dog". (he's a small chap and I think he suffers from "small man" syndrome).
Anyway, I was rather surprised when I walked in to be slobbered all over by something that looks bit like cross between a German shepherd, a husky and ... umm ... something from the depths of hell! He had that very long-legged, raggedy look that wild wolves have, together with the broad face and light-coloured eyes.
Apparently he is a wolf/dog hybrid, and he is huge. His paws are the size of a man's hand and when he sat beside me and yawned, his teeth were about two inches long. He weighs almost the same as I do and when he stood on his hind legs to be friendly to me, he was eye-to-eye with me, and I'm 6 feet tall!
Now, I know dogs, but the trouble is that my friend doesn't, he's never had one before. I also know that wolves are very intelligent and that they play "test-games" with each other in the pack to assert a dominance hierarchy in the pack. This usually involves testing each other physically and mentally to find the strongest wolf who then becomes the Alpha.
With normal dogs, this is typically no problem, a human is much bigger and stronger than most dogs and can easily assert dominance. Not so with this creature! He knows he is much stronger than a person. Also, I know that wolf behaviour is markedly different from dog behaviour in this regard - dogs are domesticated and typically much more docile than wolves.
We were in the garden, and this creature started play-bowing to me, so I picked up his rope and started tug-of-war with him ... needless to say he almost wrenched my arms out of their sockets! "By God, I thought, this boy is strong!" Then he started the typical wolf "test-games" with me - he pulled so hard that he pulled me over. He did it deliberately, I'm sure, just to test me. Then he started running at me and nipping at me - as much as to say, "I could rip you to bits if I wanted to".
All the while he was standing in dominance position - head and tail up - eyes locked onto me like he was in hunting mode - tracking me. His nips got more and more powerful until they actually hurt. Eventually he started flanking me, between me and the house, leaving me no room to manoeuvre to an escape route, sometimes darting towards me and showing me those f***ing huge teeth. So the wild animal wolf part of him had kicked in and he was actually hunting me!
I slowly walked over to the flower bed where my mate had been digging up potatoes and yanked out the garden fork. I didn't walk backwards, didn't let my posture drop, didn't break eye contact with the beast - I reckon that if I had, he would have gone in for the kill. Literally.
So I was left standing there, armed with a garden fork, shouting for my mate to come out and grab the damn wolf! He did eventually and I asked him to tie the thing up - he was still just staring at me. My mate didn't seem to think it was much of a problem, he just said, "Oh yeah, he's boisterous!". He wouldn't tie the wolf/dog up and so I told him I didn't feel safe and left.
I just wonder, are wolf/dog hybrids legal? I tell you, this thing has a BIG wild animal streak in him and last night it kicked right in. The trouble is my friend/acquaintance is a bit of a back-to the-Earth hippy (nothing wrong with that!) who has a very laissez-faire attitude to life and is happy to let the beast do whatever he wants. I have no idea where he got this thing from, I get the impression that he may well move in some decidedly dodgy circles! Who knows, this thing may not be a hybrid at all, it may actually be full wolf.
