Wolves as pets and working animals
Though wolves are trainable, they lack the same degree of tractability seen in dogs. They are generally not as responsive as dogs to coercive techniques involving fear, aversion to stimuli, and force. Generally, far more work is required to obtain the same degree of reliability seen in most dogs. Even then, once a certain behavior has been repeated several times, wolves may get bored and ignore subsequent commands. Wolves are most responsive toward positive conditioning and rewards, though simple praise is not sufficient as in most dogs. Unlike dogs, wolves tend to respond more to hand signals than voice. Although they are more difficult to control than dogs, they can be easier to teach if the motivation exists.
Wolves are less suitable than dogs for working. Swedish wolf biologist Erik Zimen once tried to form a dog sled team composed entirely of wolves. The experiment failed as the wolves ignored most commands and were far more prone to fighting than sled dogs. North American wolves and wolf hybrids were used as experimental attack dogs by the South African Defence Force in Apartheid South Africa in an attempt to breed animals capable of tracking guerrillas. Because the wolves would not follow even basic commands, the experiment was abandoned. However, their sense of smell can rival that of established scent hounds. According to reports published in 2006, ongoing research at the Perm Institute of Internal Troops in Russia demonstrated that wolf/dog cross-breeds took 15–20 seconds to track down a target in training sessions, whereas ordinary police dogs took 3–4 minutes. Their success has led to plans to use them as police dogs for the Russian police.
Attachment behaviour in wolves
Wolves who have been hand reared for 16 weeks showed a different behaviour compared to those hand reared for 3-7 weeks. The wolves that were tested were separated from their mothers and littermates 3-5 days after birth. The wolves were in close contact with their caregiver for 20-24 hours for the first 16 weeks. The wolves were socialized with other wolves and were exposed to novel situations to the extent that they were used to traveling in cars and on public transportation. Due to the hand rearing the wolves lacked wariness and did not actively avoid humans. It was noted that the wolves had a strong interest in strangers. The experiment was tested over seven episodes where the wolves were first exposed to their caregiver, their caregiver and a stranger, just a stranger, their caregiver, were left by themselves, with a stranger and finally their caregiver. The hand reared wolves studied seemed to seek physical contact with the stranger and did not discriminate between following their caregiver or stranger. This result was theorized to be due to the wolves being of a more independent age at the time of testing. After the study the wolves used were able to re-socialize and were allowed to enter into a pack of wolves.