Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Which domestic dog breed can hold its own against Wolves?

Don't you wish there was that much support and celebration from the general population for anyone killing a wolf in the US?

Jim

I can't speak about the authenticity of this particular video, but i have personally seen/petted/my SUV attacked by Sarplaninac dogs (i lived in Bosnia for 7 years). They are *HUGE* - in the 120-160 lbs range and seem to fear nothing. There is another 'sheep-dog' in that part of the world called a Tornjak (a Bosnian breed iirc) and they are very large as well - though i haven't seen as many of them as the Sarplaninac.

I really wanted to get a Sar (to bring back to the States), but it just didn't work out. They look like a canine version of a lion. They don't bark unless there's a reason and then i'd rather not be on the wrong end of it! As to whether a Sar can kill a wolf or not is unknown to me, but i heard about an incident where a pair of them kept a pack of wolves from killing sheep one afternoon near the village i lived in for 2 yrs.

Recent story reminded me of this thread. Doesn't sound like the boxer did so well.

FLORENCE � Don Burgess loves a good outdoor adventure story.

The former hunting editor of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation�s Bugle magazine never imagined one of his best would happen right in his backyard.

It�s been about a week and a half now since Burgess was awakened from a deep sleep at about 5 a.m. to the sound of an obvious struggle right outside his bedroom.

Burgess lives about 100 feet from One Horse Creek, just about one mile west of the only stoplight in Florence.

�It was a pretty loud vocalization just outside the house,� he remembered. �It was a real alarming kind of sound. It was like someone was hollering with a gag in their mouth. I thought, �Gee, that dog is in trouble.� �

He jumped out of bed and reached for his flashlight, but ended up grabbing a canister of pepper spray instead.

�Ordinarily, I would have grabbed my pistol, but there wasn�t time,� Burgess said. �I ran downstairs in my skivvies and put on a pair of flip-flops and ran outside.�

He was met with a strange silence.

�The noise had been going pretty strong all this time, but by the time I got out the door, it had gone quiet,� he said.

He shone his flashlight around. One of his dogs was there sniffing the ground next to the back step, but he couldn�t see the other, a heavily muscled boxer that weighs about 65 pounds.

He walked over to the creek and shone his light there.

�I didn�t see or hear anything,� he said.

So he turned upstream and walked along a little trail that went back toward the creek.

�I was starting to feel like it was too late,� he said. �I didn�t hear any sound any more. It seemed like such a bad deal. I mean, we both love our dog.�

And then he heard something just across the creek.

***

It sounded like something was attempting to growl with its mouth full. In his flashlight�s beam, he spotted something on the other side of the creek.

�It was a little spooky,� Burgess said. �It gave me a bearing where the dog was and so I waded across the creek.�

He lost a flip-flop along the way.

When he lifted his flashlight again, he spotted them five feet away up against the base of a big cottonwood tree.

�They were real close,� he said. �Way closer than I thought they would be. This thing was facing me with its head down and apparently holding my dog in its mouth. Nothing was moving. I popped the pepper spray.�

Immediately, the light-colored wolf let go of the dog and stood sideways to Burgess.

�Here I was with this light looking through an orange cloud at this scene unfolding before me,� he said. �It was like a flash photo of this wolf with its head leaning forward and its tail standing straight out.

�I had this little snapshot of him and then he was gone,� Burgess said.

Burgess was sure that his dog was going to be shredded to pieces.

�I�ll be darn if it didn�t crawl out of the brush and slink back across the creek without even stopping to say hi to me,� he said. �It waded back across the creek and back to the house.�

It was met by Burgess� wife, standing there on the deck with a rifle in her hands.

�The only thing she could find to grab was a pellet gun,� he said. �The dog was so traumatized that all it could do was quiver. It went under the kitchen table and stayed for a long time.�

***

The dog�s only injuries were two puncture wounds. One was on top of its muzzle and the other underneath one of its eyes.

Later in the week, Burgess asked a state wolf biologist about the difference between the bite on the canine teeth of a coyote and a wolf. He was told a coyote�s teeth might span up to an inch and a half. A wolf�s would measure more than 2 inches wide.

�I measured the span at 2 1/4 inches,� he said. �That sealed the deal for me that it was a wolf.�

His boxer is 65 pounds of muscle.

�He�s a buff boxer. He looks like he�s half pit bull,� Burgess said. �He definitely more than met his match that night. Psychologically, it�s taken him several days to get over it. He still goes out on the deck and sniffs and looks around. He�s not very sure of himself any more.�

To this day, Burgess can�t be sure what it was that wolf wanted with his dog.

�I still puzzled over what that wolf was trying to do,� he said. �My dog may have attacked it and it was just defending itself. It might just have been thinking how it was going to let this thing in its mouth go.

�I�m still shaking my head about it all,� Burgess said. �It all happened so fast. All of it probably happened in a span of two or three minutes.�

It will definitely be one of those stories told and retold.

�It�s a good one to tell for a long time to come,� he said. �I can tell people to top that when they say they have a good wolf story to tell.�

My Parsons Russel Terrier would at least give it a try.

Luger.


Pieter

My Newfie might do ok....

In the 1880s a cattle rancher on the Powder River in southeastern Montana imported six Irish Wolfhounds to battle his wolf problem. He sent them out one morning with two cowboys. The cowboys stopped on a knoll to roll a smoke and the hounds continued on. Soon the cowboys heard a terrible commotion. They spurred their horses over the knoll and into an adjacent coulee where they found six dead wolfhounds, all of them savagely ripped apart. The wolves were not in sight so the size of the pack was never determined.

It's not a very well known breed as they're rare and very expensive but if i were to put money on one breed of dog vs a wild wolf it'd be the Dogo Argentino. I'd post a link here if i knew how to from my phone. They're a really cool breed developed in the early 1900's to hunt Puma (i think, can't remember) down in Argentina. Google : Dogo dogs, its pretty interesting if you like dogs.

Cory

I wouldn't bet the farm on a domestic dog taking a wolf one on one..There growing them very large around here..Look at that head and jaw power!!!!

From North Central Idaho.



Jayco

Those things are scary. I lived in Argentina for a couple of years, and those dogs are like nothing I had seen before, and I grew up with a father that was a Doberman and German Shepard breeder. The people down there told me that Dogo's can sustain a huge amount of punishment without slowing down, because they're nerve ending density is a lot lower than most other dog breeds, so they don't feel the pain as much.

I was in the post office waiting in line one time, and on the overhead TV there was a video of 3 Dogo's in a huge fenced pen with a large male cougar. Within a few minutes, the cougar was on the ground, dead, and the 3 Dogo's were sitting there with gashes and blood, as well as huge smiles, on their faces.

Gr

Im surprised someone knows what they are. I've done quite a bit of reading on them and apparently they're supposed to be great family dogs and very good with children. They are, like you said, scary looking dogs! The breed standard for color is a pure white coat and BLACK eyes! Kinda freaky if you ask me. If they weren't so expensive and i had the knowledge/balls to train one to be a family dog id love to have one but it'll never happen. If there is any breed of dog that has a chance against a wolf, the Dogo is it.

This topic has come up on the Traditional Working Airedale forum and the general consensus from folks who do lots of hunting with dogs is that there are no dogs that can deal with wolves.

Here is a picture of my short haired Airdale

Cane Corso comes to mind...

If there is a 150 pound version of a drahthaar.....I would put my money there. My little #50 drahthaar is quite possibly the single toughest thing I have ever had to live with. Sumbitch has hide made of asphalt and nerves of steel.

I wouldn't want a 150 pound draht around. Our 60 pounder loves to tear into coons and there is NO stopping him when he goes after one.

My gray muzzled mut would give it a try provided I could slow Mr wolf down with a 140 grain hornady before the start of the bout (to provide a sporting fairness).



He is undefeated against all comers be they stick or tennis ball.

heeler vs a wolf made of bronze??


ears back, bristling up a bit


seems to be equally as concerned about the bison.
can't seem to herd it.







I see where this is going. Yup. That's my boy.

My first bet would be the Dogo Argentino but I also think the Rhodesian Ridgeback might put up a good fight. The Dogo is pretty much the mixture of ten different big, powerful, and intelligent dog breeds. Look them up, pretty interesting. And the Rhodesian Ridgeback is used as a lion hunting dog in Africa.

That is one scary looking pooch... I've already moved my lunch money to my front pocket just in case he wants it!

They ain't so scary when they're little guys...

They are cute when little, but full-grown that is one impressive dog. The forelegs and musculature are impressive.