How do you potty train a wolf?

Greetings this is my first post.

I have recently fullfilled a dream and got my hands on a wold cub. I am not one of those who have no idea what they are getting themselves into and consider the home I live in now disposable. When he is finally trained I will get a new place. Things seem to be going better then I expected except for one thing.

Maybe it was a mistake but when I got him I trained him to go on newspaper in the house because he goes so often I can't be there 24/7. Then I decided it's time to go outside right and so I take up the newspaper so he starts going on every scrap of paper he can find laying around the house.  This is a wolf who's really trying to do the right thing, but I can't seem to get through to him that going OUTSIDE is the right thing.

Are wolves prone to go inside so they don't leave a scent for other aniumals or something? Is he worried about going outside because there are a lot of big dogs in the neighborhood going there?  It's to the point now that I've established he is litterally holding it until I'm done walking him (sometimes an hour) and then I come in, walk the otherdog and I'm back in 120 seconds and the wolf crapped while I was gone. He had to go but would not go outside to save his life. I will not have an outdoor wolf so this is something that I have to get figured out.

Also, the vet said I could just give him quality puppy food but I've read wolves should be on a meat diet, I want him to grow strong and solid so what should I do? When he's older we will be going to the woods daily and I'll let him eat what he catches.

Any help would be greatly appreciated I look forward to participating on this site, sure I'll know a bit about raising a wolf soon enough...

How old is your pup?  Is your Wolf a cross?  If so, you will have to get some advice from Sharona.  I only have experience with Wolves and they are not potty trainable.  Wolves normally use scat and urine to mark their territories.  If his territory is in the house most of the time,  then that may be what he is doing.  If your Wolf had a roomy place to be and run outside, I think that he would prefer that.  I don't know why you are oppossed to that???  As far as diet goes, he should be on raw red meat, especially organ meat.  I don't think your idea of letting him go in the woods is a good one.  First off, pups are taught to hunt by their parents and that process continues well into the first year.  I'm assuming that he was not born in the wild and therefore was not with his parents and taught to hunt?  Secondly, he should never run free as he is socialized to humans and this could be a very dangerous situation.  He could also make his way out to a road and get hit or shot.

Sharona has been very successful with raising a Wolf Dog in her home, but she also has a very secure outside area for her.  I'm hoping she will reply to you.  I am only experienced with Wolves that have been captive bred for conservation and that are kept in outside facilities.  I still have lots to learn, too.

PS  that website you posted in your profile does not respond.  What is it about?

Nakoowolf

        Wolf figurines, Wolf t shirt, Wolf pictures

Crate training works for Wolf Dogs as it does with dogs~You should start this right away though!I don't know if older pups will take to it?

Also an outdoor enclosure is necessary for keeping your animal safe & healthy~

Sharona

Thanks for the replies. Ghost should be around 10 weeks now. The women I bought him from said he is a cross between Timber wolf and another kind of wolf but I can’t remember if she said gray or what. By his looks I am guessing gray but yes he is a cross between two types of wolf. On the papers his fur is silver-sable and he has black on his muzzle and just a hint of brown in his face.

He very much resembles the following two links, the first when I got him and he should look exactly like the second within 2 weeks or so:

http://www.starving-artists.net/galleries/bearcroft/vb09--wolf-cub.jpg

http://www.primalx.com/cards/animals09.jpg

His ears are a bit larger but other then that those photos are him. So how ‘not potty trainable’ are they? I’m not opposed to him roaming outside, he will be my running partner among other things, but he’s still small. I’m afraid if he’s outside alone he will be attacked by another dog, stolen or just not bond the way I need him to. I also don’t want him to feel contained and so I don’t tie him out or cage him outside or anything. He lives with me and although he is adapted to being on a leash when outside spends about 1/3^rd of the time walking and sometimes slowly jogging by my side free. He is easily distracted when he hears someone and a car comes near but I’m going to be working on that aspect daily.

Ghost will be well cared for and under control but it’s my hope that he will run free much of the time. I’ve learned that time in the woods with a dog running free creates a very special bond; the animal will scout ahead of you, guard your flank and use it’s keen senses to alert you by body language of anything that seems unusual. Some dogs are too aggressive and bark when you are following your target but a wolf is a predatory hunter and I think would be ideal if he can be controlled. So you see I do not plan on keeping him indoors but on letting him live indoors with me and on being very active outdoors with him, especially in the woods at night.

Right now while he’s so young and it’s so hot out were rarely outside for more then an hour at a time but as it cools off and he gets bigger we will be spending hours at least 4 times a week in the woods roaming, hunting (not me but him), tracking and such on top of his running with me 5 times a week, hopefully off the leash if I can teach him to stop running up to strangers. The dog’s I’ve had in the past have all run free and been trained to stay within a certain distance of me while I’m moving whether jogging or walking in the woods at night. I notice that the wolf is smarter and tries harder to do what I expect of him.

Only problem is the potty training and running up to strangers, I have not taught him to stay or anything yet and can barely call him by name. I have very successfully taught him not to bite even a little bit ever and that seems to work well even when he meets new people, he was tearing up my full grown German Sheppard by the time he reached 8 weeks.

For what reason does he need to be on a meat diet, is there something lacking in quality dog food together with occasional bones? I give both him and Blade sectioned bones full of marrow occasionally but would rather not encourage him to eat meat until I think he’s old enough to appreciate the difference between a rabbit and a two-year-old human child.

As far as I know he was captive bred, I bought him on the side of the road and don’t know much about that. He sees the vet (who loves him) and gets every treatment imaginable and is a very happy content cub. When outside he does something I’ve never seen before though, he’s constantly finding (sometimes digging up) mushrooms and eating them like they are the best things in the world, ever heard of that? Doesn’t seem to hurt him so I decided to just let him do what he wants.

I’m in a gated community and Ghost is still not big enough to outrun me so he’s not getting near any roads, I know that will be an issue in the future and hopefully by then he will be trained well enough that he either doesn’t leave me or comes back when called or both. Right now he stays with me but leaves when he sees a child he wants to pet him or something. I just catch up to him and reattach the leash I always have on me in case that happens. It’s predictable and I think I can stop the behavior but right now the entire neighborhood and everything in it is new to him. I find that once a dog has explored and is familiar with a neighborhood they wonder less.

If I don’t have any luck with the potty training within 5 more days I’ll look at crate training, he was very upset when I tied him up in the kitchen the other day as punishment for going in the house and he peed and had to lay in it so maybe that could work. I think as he gets bigger maybe he will have to go less often? Then all I have to do is make the penalty for going inside so great that he will hold it, right now I think he just can’t.

I made this a bit long so that anyone with more experience can see what I am trying to do and point out potential problems. I know what I’m going to be doing is unconventional but I’m going to do it and if it cannot be done then I’ll just have to keep him on a leash while I run with him and go through the woods. I think it can be done.

As far as the website, the city made me shut it down. It’s a site exposing the cult of Islam, other things the media doesn’t cover like the Navy Jet that went down right here in Jacksonville September 21^st that never made national news. Anyway make a long story short I put a lot of pressure on the government and they found an excuse to raid my home, take my things including machine guns, and filed some false charges all of which were dropped. They agreed to drop all the 10-20-life crap (I defended the sanctity of my home from illegal entry by a corrupt police officer by force) if I would take the site down and let them hold onto my guns. Then they tried to keep the guns and so I said deals off and my lawyer got involved and so on. Everything will be back to normal inside 4 months and the site will be running then or soon after. Sorry…