No not genuine wolves, but a wolf cross - mainly Malamute, bit of Sibe and a bit of wolf. They are more wolfy than say your average labrador or spaniel, but underneath the skin they are all "wolves" ... all come from the same ancestry.

A good analogy is we are exactly the same species - homo sapiens - as a Maori, a Kalahari Bushman, an Aborigine or a native of the Amazon rainforest - 100% absolutely and genetically the same species, homo sapiens. However, I think you will agree that you and I dropped out of the sky into the world of the Kalahari Bushman or the Aborigine would have trouble to survive ... and vice versa. I am assuming you do not speak the language of either tribe, and I certainly know I don't, and they would doubtlessly have no english. So already we have a problem. Well, just with the more wolfie of our dog breeds - the Alaskan Malamute, the Siberian Husky, Czech Wolfdog, Saarloos - so too do they not "speak" dog I don't believe, they "speak" wolf. Both sides can "learn" the other's lingo of course, just like we can learn Kalahari Bushman language.

but basically they are all the same species, yet very different.

No I think you are making wrong comparisons, humans have developed different languages and adapted to live very different lives in very different ways over many generations. Dogs generally all speak dog, all adapt to other ways of living extremely well and quite quickly.
An example of that would be rescue dogs who move from one situation to another and usually fit in really well, they adapt quickly we don't.

Exactly - that is what I mean. Dogs generally do all speak dog, and are indeed extremely adaptable, hence the reason that they are possibly the second most successful species on the planet. We have created over thousands of years the most amazing symbiotic relationship with the wolf, and created the dog. Still exactly the same species, but very different. Just as you and me and the Kalahari Bushman ... same species, but very different. Like the dog though, we too can adapt quickly - we can learn to speak Kalahari Bushman, and we could get fitter and learn to run for miles chasing game with spears! We would never be as good as them because we hadn't started living as a bushman from childhood, but we could learn. As could the Kalahari Bushman learn to live as a westerner.

We are very similar species to canids - both live in packs, although we can live alone, with a hierarchical system - which is doubtless why we get along so well together.

I am really enjoying this discussion btw

I am not so sure we could all learn like dogs do to adapt, they adapt to different customs and different languages etc we would I guess be able to learn to live in different ways but could we ever be as happy as dog to do it ?

I know I would be pretty miserable out of my own comfort zone whereas dogs can move from one family to another and fit right in fairly easily from what I have seen. And the joy on their faces when they realise they are part of a new regime usually says it all.

I think dogs suffer just the same as we do if they move out of their comfort zone, eg rehomed. But unlike us, they don't brood and dwell on the past, they live for the present and as such will "move on" much smoother and easier than we do. I will quote an example of a few years back when we fostered a young 16 week old F2 czech wolf x wolf (Mum was the wolf, dad was the czech wolf dog). He was as a wild wolf in that mother and pups although living in a secure enclosure had dug an underground den under their compound and as such the pups had not been handled by humans since their eyes opened. Consequently they had all the fear of humans that wild wolves develop once the eyes open. We took him into our home, living with our old utonagan Tai, and he was as wild as wild could be, was absolutely terrified of us, but after 3 days and nights of living with us and sleeping with us in our bedroom with Tai, he bonded and we became his pack. He was an absolute darling and a delight, extremely intelligent, but with just one problem - he was terrified of anything bipedal. I don't believe he would have ever got over this natural inbred fear, and he went back to live with his mother, father and remaining siblings and to this day is much missed by us all, although Tai no longer is alive and we now have just Ben.

This is a perfect example of how dogs aka wolves can quickly move on ... as we humans can, but far more slowly;

Hmmm food for thought certainly ! But still don't like CM or his methods !

Fair enough-ski. But he's not all bad - I pick out the wheat from the chaff and as a consequence have become much better at reading dogs and most especially my own