I guessing he'll be 20lbs by the 10 week mark. If he gains 2-3 lbs this week like he did last week.
Thank you for the comparison!
I love wolf dogs and actually wanted one but I'm not in the position to give a wolf dog everything it needs (according to their breeders)
They aren't pets for everyone, that's for sure. Like any northern breed, they are high energy. They don't reach full maturity until age 3, which means you basically have a hyper puppy for three years when you get one. While they are very intelligent, too smart for their own good at times, a high content wolfdog won't train like a normal dog. They can be trained but, that's by one person, the primary care giver/owner and, NEVER with punishment. The most you can do is get their attention, then turn your back to them and ignore them for a couple of minutes to correct them and, reward the good behavior.
They need room to run, lots of exercise and mental stimulation, they climb, dig and jump very well so, enclosures that are escape proof are challenging. You have to do things to socialize them daily to other dogs and, to people as well. Even then, once mature, they tend not to tolerate other dogs well for very long and, they are wary of strangers. It can take them up to six months to warm up to a new family or household member before the new person can even pet them without the primary owner being right beside the dog.
They are definitely NOT guard dogs. A thief could come into your home and take everything while the wolfdog hid and, the dog would let them. Now if the thief tried to take you, that's another matter as far as a wolfdog is concerned. Things don't matter to them, you matter to them. 2 hours is 1.75 hours too long to leave them indoors unattended and, out of their crate - do that and, they will give house broken a whole new meaning by digging carpets, chewing walls, doors and furniture and, shredding whatever they can shred - they are capable of shredding a 2 x 4 board in about an hour.
They howl more than bark and, that howl can be hear up to a mile away, as the crow flies, so, if the neighborhood won't tolerate that, especially in the late fall and winter months, then, you might want to consider a different breed.
Many locations have laws regarding keeping them that are different than normal dogs. Where I live for example, I can only have 4 wolfdogs without a special permit. Even then, I have to have a double fence,six feet tall with an outer fence 3 feet away, also six feet tall and, a double gated entry into their outdoor yard. They are not permitted in many places that are otherwise dog friendly. Like Petsmart, for example. While they can be vaccinated for rabies, if they ever bite anyone, they will still be put down because no rabies vaccine has been tested on them so, the law doesn't recognize that it works and, they don't get rabies once vaccinated. Many vets, boarding kennels and, groomer will not accept wolfdogs. You have to plan trips with them carefully to avoid locations where they are banned.
As far as giving a wolfdog what it needs, if you can provide the legal requirements in your area to own one, have a vet that will treat a wolfdog and, have researched how to train and handle them, then I see no reason you can't have one but, I'd suggest getting a mid content for your first one and, an f3 or f4. Save the f1 and f2 high content wolfdogs for later, when you have some experience with them. I have 1 f3, 2 f2 and one f1. (the f1,2,3, etc) denotes how many generations since there was a pure wolf in their ancestors. f1 means one parent was 100% wolf, f2 a grandparent was a wolf and, so on. Beyond f5, they are dogs, not wolfdogs.)
