By Richard Johnston

They may look like dogs, but they certainly do not make good pets like dogs. They are wolf hybrids, and they are proving once again that wild animals are not suited to be pets.

The Connecticut Humane Society warns that these animals, born of the mating of a wolf and a dog, do not make good companion animals. While wolves may fascinate people, mating a dog with one does not make the hybrid animal the wonderful pet the domesticated dog can be.

While dogs can be housetrained, wolves cannot. Wolves are good diggers and often make six-foot deep holes, causing damage and making containment to their owners’ yards difficult. In addition, although many people want wolf hybrids as protection animals, wolves tend to be shy. In all these instances, wolf hybrids may fall somewhere between the two parent’s different tendencies.

Most problematic, however, is the fact that unlike many dogs that when properly bred and raised make excellent family pets, wolf hybrids maintain the wolf’s predatory instinct. This instinct may lead them to consider dogs, cats or even children in the home as fair game. Wolf hybrids have attacked children with some of these attacks resulting in severe injuries or deaths.

In reaction to these attacks some states have begun to prohibit or regulate wolf hybrids. However, these regulations are confusing, particularly since it is difficult to tell by appearances alone if an animal is a dog or a wolf hybrid.

The Connecticut Humane Society recommends that wolf hybrids not be kept as pets. For those who currently own them, they should be spayed or neutered. Ultimately, the Society advocates that breeding or trading in wolf hybrids be made illegal. Wolves are wild animals. Dogs make excellent pets. A mixture of the two has no true place in either world.

(The Connecticut Humane Society is a private, non-profit organization with headquarters located at 701 Russell Road, Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594-4502. The Society operates animal shelters in Newington, Bethany, Waterford, and Westport.)