Wolves are regularly seen in Brabant. Last weekend another one was spotted in Gilze. But not all wolves seen are really wolves. That is not surprising, because the difference between a wolf and a dog is sometimes very small.
Just before Christmas, a wolf was spotted near the Boshoven in Baarle-Nassau. At least, the animal looked like a wolf, but was not. It was a Saarloos wolfdog, experts judged.
The confusion is logical, because such a Saarloos wolfdog looks exactly like a wolf, but is a cross between a wolf and a sheepdog. The coat is slightly lighter and the tail curls a bit more.
Blood relatives
Dogs are descended from the wolf. In most breeds, the blood relationship with the wolf goes back hundreds to thousands of years. Wolfhounds such as the Saarloos wolfdog were ‘only’ bred in the twentieth century. Their DNA is 70 percent from the sheepdog and 30 percent from the wolf.
In addition to the Saarloos Wolfdog, there is also the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, also a crossed version of the wolf and the German Shepherd. Other dogs that look a lot like a wolf are the Tamaskan and Indian Dogs.
But how do you know whether it is a wolf or a dog?
In the case of a shy, lonely, inconspicuously marked dog that walks around in the countryside with a tail that does not move much, it could just as well be a wolf. The head of the wolf is quite contrasting, so with a big difference between light and dark colors, with a lot of white around the mouth. The ears are not as big as in many dogs. Wolfhounds are usually even whiter and more contrasting than wolves. In short, they are almost only distinguishable by experts.
A wolf’s paw print can hardly be distinguished from a dog’s. On average, it is somewhat narrower than the dog.
How to recognize a wolf:
- White around the mouth
- Short, hanging and thickly furred tail
- Contrasting drawing
- Broad head, ears wide apart
- Ears are triangular with rounded tip
- Long legs
- Straight back
This is what wolfhounds look like:
- Lighter in color
- More curl in the tail
- Bigger ears
- Slimmer head