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.
Wolf
Livestock depredation has been one of the primary reasons for hunting wolves, and can pose a severe problem for wolf conservation: as well as causing economic losses, the threat of wolf predation causes great stress on livestock producers, and no foolproof solution of preventing such attacks short of exterminating wolves has been found. Some nations help offset economic losses to wolves through compensation programmes or state insurance. Domesticated animals are easy prey for wolves, as they have evolved under constant human protection, and are thus unable to defend themselves very well. Wolves typically resort to attacking livestock when wild prey is depleted: in Eurasia, a large part of the diet of some wolf populations consists of livestock, while such incidents are rare in North America, where healthy populations of wild prey have been largely restored. The majority of losses occur during the summer grazing period, with untended livestock in remote pastures being the most vulnerable to wolf predation. The most frequently targeted livestock species are sheep (Europe), domestic reindeer (northern Scandinavia), goats (India), horses (Mongolia), cattle and turkeys (North America). The number of animals killed in single attacks varies according to species: most attacks on cattle and horses result in one death, while turkeys, sheep and domestic reindeer may be killed in surplus. Wolves mainly attack livestock when the animals are grazing, though they occasionally break into fenced enclosures. In some cases, wolves do not need to physically attack livestock to negatively affect it: the stress livestock experiences in being vigilant for wolves may result in miscarriages, weight loss and a decrease in meat quality.