How to find a Responsible Wolfdog Breeder
With spring quickly approaching and wolfdog puppy fever right around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to break down the qualities of an ethical, responsible wolfdog breeder. If you or someone you know are looking for a wolfdog puppy, this article will explore some of the key things to take into consideration.
Puppy Nova, my second wolfdog puppy I purchased from a breeder, before the existence of Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary. He was the first puppy I truly searched for a responsible breeder for. This experience taught me a lot!
I write this article on the assumption you have already educated yourself on the basic requirements for wolfdog care (containment, veterinary care, socialization, nutrition, enrichment, financial and lifestyle stability, etc.) and concluded that you are indeed able to fully provide an enriching and high-quality life for a wolfdog for the duration of their lives. I am also assuming you have come to a realistic and genuine decision on what wolf content of puppy would be best suited for your lifestyle- low, mid or high content wolfdog.
If so, you are perhaps now in the position where you are looking for your first/next wolfdog and you’ve set your sights on purchasing a puppy. Thanks to the internet, it is so easy to now search for and research wolfdog breeders. There are so many breeders out there now that you have the choice to be really picky about who you choose to purchase your wolfdog from. What this means is that you have the luxury but also the responsibility to purchase your puppy from the best breeder that you can find in order to ensure you are not supporting someone who is ultimately just profiting from breeding wolfdogs at the expense of the well-being of wolfdogs. Not only that, you are committing 10-16 years of your life to being responsible for caring for this wolfdog, so it serves your best interests to find an animal with the best temperament possible.
Little miss Kaya, a mid content wolfdog puppy. She was cute as could be as a puppy!
Below is a list of the 5 qualities you will want to keep in mind to ensure you have found a responsible wolfdog breeder. I also include some questions you can ask the breeder to obtain the pertinent information you need! I have tried to list these in order of true importance, but honestly, they are all really important!
1. Living conditions – one of the most important things to look for is the current living conditions of the wolfdogs residing with the breeder. One of the best qualities of responsible wolfdog owners and breeders is the quality of life they are providing to their wolfdogs. So naturally this is one of the most critical aspects to research and assess when deciding on a breeder. Some questions to consider for this are as follows:
-What are the current living conditions of the wolfdogs?
-Are they kept in large, spacious, clean enclosures with access to plenty of enrichment?
-Do the wolfdogs seem happy and content in their space?
2. Wolf Content (misrepresentation and DNA testing) – when assessing the validity of any breeder you want to keep a critical eye on the truthfulness of the advertised wolf content of their animals. If you are unfamiliar with wolfdog misrepresentation keep on reading. If you’re pretty familiar, feel free to skip to the next section. Unfortunately, there are an alarming number of breeders who misrepresent the degree of wolf content of their animals and subsequent puppies. In other words, the wolf content that they claim their animals and puppies are, is not actually accurate, usually not even close. There are an immense amount of breeders and owners who claim their wolfdogs are higher wolf content than the animals actually are. This is extremely dangerous for wolfdogs as a whole. See my article of Wolfdog Misrepresentation for a much more detailed discussion about this. If you are unsure of whether the advertised wolf content of the puppies is true, you are always welcome to send us a message with the link to the breeder or photos of the puppies and parents and we are more than happy to let you know whether the advertised wolf content is accurate or not. There are a lot of breeders out there that use all kinds of tricks to scam people. Wolfdog breeding has become a lucrative business with high content wolfdogs going for upwards of $3500 these days. If you can breed any old wolfdog but claim it as a high content and receive a big payout, you can bet there are a lot of shady people who will lie and deceive you in order to make a quick buck. It’s easiest to suss out the breeders who are claiming high wolf content when this is actually not the case, but misrepresentation can happen with any content of wolfdog (low, mid or high). With that being said, here are some typical red flags of wolfdog misrepresentation at play:
The parents and/or puppies are registered with a breed registry. Wolfdogs are essentially mixed breed dogs, meaning they are not pure-bred dogs, meaning they cannot be registered with any legitimate breed registry. A common fake registry we see is the Continental Kennel Club. Unethical breeders use this registration as fake ‘proof’ of the validity of the wolf content in their animals. However, in order to register the content of their animals, no legitimate proof is required; they just fill in the boxes, pay their fee, and get the resulting registration papers.
Things just sound too good to be true. If a breeder is telling you the wolfdogs are high content for example but do great living as pets in your house with your small kids and cats, that just doesn’t ring true. At the end of the day, it just is not possible to breed a wolfdog that looks like a wolf and acts like a dog. It does not exist. If this is the story the breeder is trying to sell to you beware. Either the wolfdogs do not have much wolf in them and therefore will look and act more like a dog, or they are in fact very wolfy and will look the part, but certainly will not behave like a dog.
The breeder is claiming the puppies are high content wolfdogs but they are born outside of April-May and the puppies are born with distinct markings. For more information regarding typical physical and physiological traits of varying wolf content, see our articles on Low, Mid and Hight Content Wolfdogs. To learn about phenotyping wolfdogs and determining wolf content, see our article on Phenotyping.
There are so many other examples such as using obscure subspecies of wolf, using extremely specific percentages, stealing photos and screenshots of other animals, etc. that I go into much greater detail in the Misrepresentation article. Please give this a read if you are new to the world of wolfdogs and would like to be educated on some of the crazy shenanigans that happen when it comes to people and wolfdogs.
Puppy Kaida getting up to no good, taste-testing my violets!
3. Temperament – one of the best markers of a good breeder is someone who is invested in bettering the temperament of the offspring they produce. This means selecting animals based on their balanced and good temperaments versus someone breeding just for the physical appearance of the wolfdogs. Essentially, you are looking for a breeder that is intentional with which two animals they choose to breed together as a way to select for desirable behavioural traits. For you as an owner, not only will you be investing thousands of dollars into your wolfdog through the purchase and lifetime care of that animal, but you will also be investing a whole lot of your time, effort and care into that animal. Don’t you want to make it as easy on yourself as possible by investing in an animal with a sound temperament? Think of how much frustration, struggle and sacrifice you can spare yourself if you get a wolfdog puppy with a balanced and desirable temperament versus the alternative. Picking a breeder that has adults with desirable temperaments maximizes the likelihood that the puppies will also have that good temperament. This is huge! Take the time to get the know the parents of the puppy you are considering. This is your best glimpse at what behaviours you are signing yourself up for. Another thing you can look at is the temperament of the puppies of any previous litters. Talk to the people who have purchased a puppy from that particular breeder and that particular pairing and see what their animals are like. This will also help you determine what to expect temperament wise.
4. Health – similar to breeding for temperaments, you are going to want to find a breeder that is intentionally breeding to better the health of the future generations produced. Feel free to ask the breeder of any common health issues seen in their adults or puppies produced. Talk to other owners who have purchased puppies from this breeder.
5. Breeder knowledge, support and screening– Another important aspect of finding a responsible breeder is finding someone who is both knowledgeable and passionate about the breed. Find someone who has a wealth of knowledge about wolfdogs and is happy to share that knowledge with you. This comes in handy when (because there will be a time!) you struggle with some aspect of wolfdog ownership. If the worst would happen and you are no longer able to care for your wolfdog, will they be there to assist and support you by either helping you to rehome your wolfdog or better yet, them taking this animal back. In my opinion, the true hallmark of an ethical breeder is someone who claims responsibility of the animals they produce for their whole lives. They are the ones that have brought this animal into the world (and profited from it) and therefore I truly believe they should carry some sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of that animal for the entirety of its life. By the way, you are totally within your rights to ask the breeder if they have had animals of theirs end up in rescue or returned to them. A good breeder will be open and honest about this information and speak with care and compassion about this topic. Lastly, a responsible breeder truly cares where their puppies end up and therefore will thoroughly screen applicants. If a breeder doesn’t inquire whether you have the basic requirements in place and just wants to sell you a puppy, that is a HUGE red flag. A responsible breeder will want to get to know you and your living situation to ensure they can place their puppy in a well-equipped and loving home.
Puppy Kaya on her second day under my care. She was just 10 days old when I became her guardian which is unusually young. This was when I had just started rescuing wolfdogs and she fell into my care.
Those are the 5 hallmark criteria on how to assess a responsible and ethical wolfdog breeder and differentiate them from the ‘bad’. In addition to this, below there are a few more things to consider when choosing your wolfdog puppy. There is no right or wrong answers to there per say, just things to think about.
1. Location and shipping your puppy – In a perfect world, you will find an amazing breeder that is close to you, willing to show you their animals and facilities and you can bring your puppy home in the most stress-free way possible. Realistically, this isn’t usually the case. In my opinion, it is of high importance that at minimum you travel to the breeder to pick up your puppy. This allows you to personally verify the things the breeder has been telling you by getting to see their animals and their facilities and getting to know them on a more personal level. If this means flying to that destination and needing to transport your puppy via air transport, that is your next best bet. Air travel can be very stressful for youe puppy as they will be stuck in a crate for hours on end and there are a lot of scary noises, but at the very least if they are small enough to travel in the cabin with you that minimizes the stress a significant amount. What I personally don’t recommend is purchasing a puppy from a breeder and having them ship you the puppy. Not only will you not be able to personally see the animals and facility of the breeder, but having your puppy transported in the cargo hold of a plane can be extremely traumatizing. Not only will they spend even more time in the crate (the drop off time is usually well before the flight departs), but it is also very loud and scary for the puppy and can be extremely stressful. I know in certain situations this may be the only option and that’s a decision you will need to make, but if you can at all avoid it, that would be my personal recommendation.
Puppy Nova on our transport home.
This was our little setup in the terminal at the airport. Nova was small enough to fit into a soft care that was allowed in the cabin with me. It was still tricky, but knowing he was right there with me made the transport so much less stressful for us both.
2. “Rescuing” a puppy from a bad place – You may find yourself in a situation where you come across a puppy that is living in deplorable conditions for example, or just isn’t being well cared for. Your inclination may be to purchase that exact puppy so that you can save it and give it a better life. This is indeed a very kind and noble thing to do for that particular puppy, but where the issue lies is that you are ultimately enabling and condoning this breeder’s actions. By purchasing this puppy, you are supporting that breeder. By supporting that breeder, you are perpetuating the problem and potentially causing even more animals to suffer in the future. If no one would buy their puppies from them, eventually they would choose to no longer breed as it isn’t a viable or profitable endeavour for them. It is usually that simple. That being said, as someone who has dedicated herself to rescuing wolfdogs and has a very soft spot for helping animals, I can truly appreciate what a difficult situation this is to come across. It is very easy for me to say, but much harder for me to act on. It is truly an impossible situation that I hope you never find yourself in. Ultimately, if you do ever find yourself in this situation you will need to decide for yourself what the best thing to do is. But just keep in mind that you are not purely doing a good thing. There are negative consequences to saving that puppy from that breeder.
Puppy Rango.
He came to the Sanctuary at only around 4 weeks old, but look at those sharp teeth already!!
3. Intentional breeding vs. ‘Oops’ litters – Some owners (and sometimes a breeder) may have an unintentional breeding of wolfdogs. In an ideal situation, you would probably want to get a puppy from a breeder who intentionally paired two healthy, well-tempered animals together to create a litter of puppies. However, sometimes you may come across a breeder who had an accidental litter or more commonly a private owner that had an unintentional litter happen. If you are considering a puppy from a scenario like this, make sure to do your due diligence. The same 5 criteria from above apply and personally, I would probably want to know if they will ensure an accident like this doesn’t happen in the future. I know personally, I would not want to encourage someone to just randomly breed wolfdogs together. Whatever you decide to do in this situation, just take careful consideration of what you are taking part in.
Our Engadine Pack.
This pack was born at a facility in Idaho that had an accidental litter. As they did not have permission to breed under their license they transferred these cuties to us here at Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.
4. Professional vs Backyard breeders – When it comes to ‘professional’ breeders, these are usually breeders who have a kennel name, a professional looking website, a history of breeding, and someone who actually assesses and decides their breeding animals. Backyard breeders usually fall somewhere more along the lines of a private owner who breeds their wolfdogs without much true consideration and thought behind it. Either can be ethical and responsible or unethical and irresponsible. That being said, usually I find that there are way more irresponsible backyard breeders than there are irresponsible professional breeders. Keep that in mind if you are considering purchasing a puppy from a backyard breeder. It is up to you the buyer to do your research and make the choice to support someone who is doing right by the animals. You will definitely want to ask lots of questions and ensure you are supporting someone who breeds well-tempered, healthy wolfdogs that doesn’t exploit you or their wolfdogs to make a quick buck.
A sweet moment caught on camera. This was the first time we introduced the Engadine puppies to our Yamnuska Pack. As you can see the adults were very overwhelmed by the squirmy puppies!
Hopefully this helps you define what type of breeder you want to support through purchasing a puppy and ensure you end up with a wonderful wolfdog companion for many years to come. By putting in a bit of extra effort researching where your puppy comes from, you are helping to ensure you end up with a wonderfully healthy, well-tempered wolfdog that you are able to share your life with for many years to come. You will have challenges, but by doing your due diligence at the start you are maximizing your chances of success in the future. Not only that, but by making a responsible choice you are helping to ensure the irresponsible breeders receive as little support as possible and hopefully one day choose to no longer breed. At the end of the day, if there is no demand for their puppies, they have no reason to breed. Meanwhile, by supporting the breeders that do take care and make the effort to better the breed of wolfdogs and claim responsibility for their animals, this will help to ensure fewer wolfdogs end up being exploited or placed in rescues.
As always, if you have any questions or need additional guidance, please send us a message and we are happy to help.
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