He took the animal to Southern Ireland where wolves can (rightly or wrongly) be kept as pets. Either way its confusing.

thats a mal, not a wolf,


I havent read it, but I would have thought training a wolf would need care and attention, they are sensitive animals, just as most breeds of dog are,
I never understand this go in hard with knees and chains thing, clearly novice owners,.

There are other photos of Brenin that show he has some wolf looking traits; so not necessarily a pure Mal. But the wide chest in this photo is very obvious.

Quite agree with Shona on training.

Mal not Wolf defo. All sounds a bit pretentious to me.

This is the description of the parents.

Brenin's mother, Sitka - named, I assume, after the variety of spruce tree - was as tall as Yukon, but far rangier and nowhere near as massive. She looked more like a wolf, at least like all the pictures of wolves I had seen - long and lean. There are numerous sub-species of wolf. Sitka, I was told, was an Alaskan tundra wolf. Yukon, on the other hand, was a McKenzie valley wolf, from the north-west of Canada

rune

Too much time on my hands!

http://www.pdg.sla-w.com/mackenzieofkeemaswolfpak.html

The parents of this one look like his wolf to me as well. OK----I think they interbred them---its in foreign! They go back to mals.

rune

Well, you cannot judge a book by its cover, but I do agree that the dog looks like a particularly handsome Mal.

However, whether or not a wolf cross looks wolfy depends on the amount of "F" ness - in my opinion. Hal was a high % mix, but he doesn't, or rather didn't, look particularly wolfy. He was an F4. Tai looks just as wolfy as Hal did, and is a very low %. If you have an F1, F2, or even an F3, I think as a general rule of thumb they look like what they are - for instance, they tend to have those lovely bony sinewy legs that wolves have, with massive bony feet. Hal did not have these, he had Mal legs, shortish and strong. His coat was not wolfy. A dead give-away which I have to say I have never known to fail is the white thumb print mark on the back of ears. The higher % of wolf blood, usually the clearer and more thumb-print-like the mark. Hal's were exactly this - they looked like you had dipped your thumbs in flour and pressed them down hard on the backs of his ears. Tai has them, but they are less defined. I personally have found this to be an excellent system, but doubtless it is not fool proof, it is just my opinion. I am not sure if pure wolves have "the mark", I have never looked, but next time I get the opportunity I will check.

If I had to place a bet, I would say the dog in the photo is a pure Mal, but looks can be very deceiving.

I know from personal experience that it certainly used to be the case that you keep a pure wolf as a pet in NI. The years do speed by, 2004 is not that long ago after all, but I was not aware that the law had changed. Are you sure Krusewalker? I'm not doubting your word, just surprised I hadn't learned of it.

My initial googling came across this on a BBC website, going back to April 2009:

"In England, Scotland and Wales the Dangerous Wild Animals Act makes it illegal for anyone to keep a dangerous animal as a pet, but this doesn't apply in Northern Ireland. You need a license to keep a dog, but can keep a wolf with no regulation at all. "

Much as I enjoyed reading your post, I have no idea what you are talking about! Maybe you would post a photo?