I also want to add about dog attacks, one of the worst ever reported was by a Pomeranian. And my neighbor has a Golden Retriever that I am positively terrified of.

Please be aware that we don't support the breeding of ANY dog outside of a reputable breeder (see "How to Find a Reputable Breeder" thread). The breeding of hybrids would not be considered a reputable practice by our terms. While we welcome your knowledge and experience, I want to caution you against speaking about breeding here. You are new, and welcome, so please don't take offense, but breeding is a VERY hot button topic on ANY internet forum. Not just ours.

Oh, thanks! >_<
Sorry about that.
We had actually planned on keeping them anyway

In my hunt for a husky, I came across what was identified as an "Alaskan Husky Mix". Beautiful, all white 3y/o girl who was a ball of energy. At one point she let out a howl so big, that it sounded like a wolf howling at the moon. It was beautiful Leads me to my question, can the way a dog howls indicate whether or not they are some sort of wolf/husky hybrid. Here are some pics of the lady in question.

Alaskan huskies are sometimes crossed with wolves but it would be really low content. I don't know that you can judge the howl by the wolf content. I think that since the howl is passed down from the mom teaching the pup it is probably more of a nurture thing. As for the white dog above, I would say she would be very low wolf content if any at all. She is gorgeous and looks wolf like but she appears pretty small and her paws don't look big enough. A good way to judge wolf content is to look at the toe nails, there will be black ones if there is a lot of wolf in the dog and also they will have black spots on their tongues.

She's a husky. Don't worry about that. She looks much too small to be a wolf, not to mention she looks pretty much pure husky to me. Alaskan husky and Siberian husky get tossed around in some shelters. If you ask me, shes a Siberian

Don't be conned by the wolf howl, God sent Siberians to the wolves to teach them how to sing.

Once again, there is no such breed as an Alaskan Husky. They are simply a mutt used in sledding. Shelters are horrible at identifying breeds.

Shelters are really bad about listing Huskies as Alaskan Huskies mix I think is covers alot and they don't have to be correct on the breed then.

My second Siberian was listed as Alaskan Husky mix. She is Siberian Husky.

chreiber wrote:

A good way to judge wolf content is to look at the toe nails, there will be black ones if there is a lot of wolf in the dog and also they will have black spots on their tongues.

Do you have any source information on that? That's news to me and I'd like to read more about it if that's true.

To the OP-- she looks full husky to me. Shelters rarely label dogs properly. They don't have any real way to tell other than guessing.

Koda wrote:

chreiber wrote:

A good way to judge wolf content is to look at the toe nails, there will be black ones if there is a lot of wolf in the dog and also they will have black spots on their tongues.

Do you have any source information on that? That's news to me and I'd like to read more about it if that's true.

To the OP-- she looks full husky to me. Shelters rarely label dogs properly. They don't have any real way to tell other than guessing.

Yes I would be interested also. My BC mix had solid black nails and black spots on her tongue.

I know a guy who rehabilitates wolf hybrids, the ones I have seen always have black tongues and atleast a couple black toe nails. Wolves generally have black toe nails in nature. There are purebred dogs who do have black toenails like german shepherds but as far as the tongue goes I have always read that chows are the only purebred dog that it is common for Chows. So from what I understand is you first look at the toenails and if they are black and the tongue has black spots then there is a good chance you have a wolf hybrid. Maybe this is just a bias because this guy happens to get dogs with black tongues and toenails lol but it is what I have always heard and read.

chreiber wrote:

I know a guy who rehabilitates wolf hybrids, the ones I have seen always have black tongues and atleast a couple black toe nails. Wolves generally have black toe nails in nature. There are purebred dogs who do have black toenails like german shepherds but as far as the tongue goes I have always read that chows are the only purebred dog that it is common for Chows. So from what I understand is you first look at the toenails and if they are black and the tongue has black spots then there is a good chance you have a wolf hybrid. Maybe this is just a bias because this guy happens to get dogs with black tongues and toenails lol but it is what I have always heard and read.

That's a pretty bold statement. My purebred male has multicolored nails I know.he is not a hybrid. I also know plenty of purebreds with multicolored toes and speckled tongues. Its a nice.observation but im not sure that its correct.

Just my two cents.

The "stop" from snout to forehead can be a sign of wolf content as well. Wolves have a more gradual slope, huskies have more of a stop. Lots of ifs and maybes when determining wolf content. The white one doesn't look wolf to me.

O ok, it is just what I have been told and seen. Like I said it could be just a bias I just had never seen a purebred husky with black toe nails or a spotted tongue. I would assume it's not as common as a pink tongue and flesh colored toenails. Also it would make sense if you cross a wolf with a husky you will get black toe nails in there since a wolf carries the trait to have black toe nails. With purebred huskies with black spotted tongues couldn't that be brought back to the debate that huskies were crossed with wolves to strengthen their gene pool and it is more recent in some than others? Either way I stand corrected that it is a "good" way to tell the wolf ancestory lol sorry about that!

No need to apologize, sorry if I came off harsh!

I wish it were a 100% accurate way, it would be much easier.

I still think DNA is the best bet when wondering if you have hybrid on your hands. But, that's just me.

O its ok! It's always kind of hard to tell in writing lol. Yeah you would think there would be! Are there DNA tests for wolves now? If so that is great!

Have you adopted her yet or just thinking about it?

lpp06 wrote:

In my hunt for a husky, I came across what was identified as an "Alaskan Husky Mix". Beautiful, all white 3y/o girl who was a ball of energy. At one point she let out a howl so big, that it sounded like a wolf howling at the moon. It was beautiful Leads me to my question, can the way a dog howls indicate whether or not they are some sort of wolf/husky hybrid.

I don't think you can tell by the howl. However, as I recall from reading my "Husky's for Dummies' book, wolves never have blue eyes. They don't have the gene for it. The blue eyed gene is not a dominate one, so the bi-colored eyes make me question any wolf content.

I would like to just put in my opinion here, I would never buy a wolf hybrid nor encourage someone to buy a wolf hybrid BUT there is a wolf hybrid dog that comes to the dog park regularly (every day) and he is amazingly well behaved and trained. This is not to say that it was without effort, the owner told me all the stories about when he was a puppy. He ripped and chewed apart everything, including cupboards right off the hinges. If you have heard stories about huskies being destructive, a wolf hybrid without exercise and proper training is a recipe for disaster. Not saying that there are not people out there who can train them well (as I have seen at the dog park) but it would take a lot of time, effort and consistency and even then they are still unpredictable. Just my opinion, I'm no professional!

There are many dog that have black spots on the tongue, and the myth about only chows having it lead many people to think they have chow mixes.

Breeds known to have members with spotted tongues (I've seen this numerous places, this is just a list from http://www.columbusdogconnection.com/BlackTongueDebate.htm

Airedale, Akita, Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Belgian Malinois, Bichon Frise Bouvier de Flandres, Bull Mastiff, Cairn Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei, Collie, Cocker Spaniel, Dalmatian, Doberman Pinscher, English Setter, Eurasier, Fila Brasileiro, Flat-coated Retriever, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Gordon Setter, Great Pyrenees,
Irish Setter, Kai Ken, Keeshond, Korean Jindo, Labrador Retriever, Mastiff, Mountain Cur, Newfoundland, Pomeranian,Pug, Rhodesian Ridgeback Rottweiler, Shiba Inu, Siberian Husky, Tibetan Mastiff, Thai Ridgeback

Sam your link is broken..

Here is a correct one I hope

http://www.columbusdogconnection.com/BlackTongueDebate.htm

Thanks! Updated mine, too!

Black pigment is definitely a myth. Kale has all kinds of black in his mouth and he's purebred. He's got a spot under his tongue that's black.

Koda's without a doubt purebred husky and he has black toenails. I can't comment on anything else, but I'm just sayin...