Can A German Shepherd Beat A Wolf? How To Keep Your Dog Safe
Can a German Shepherd Beat a Wolf? How To Keep Your Dog Safe:
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Welcome back to Anything German Shepherd!
German Shepherds are well known for their guarding abilities, due to their incredible strength and voracious protective instinct. However, they’re also lovable companions, and many of them are used to a pampered life. Wolves, on the other hand, remain wild.
Despite their wolf-like appearance, a German Shepherd could not beat a wolf in a fight. Wolves are incredible predators, and the domesticated dog is simply no match.
While dogs were originally bred from domesticated wolves, enough history has passed for them to be a distinctly different species.
Nowadays, dogs are primarily seen as companions, but if you’ve ever seen a German Shepherd working as a police dog, or watching over livestock, it isn’t difficult to see they retain close ties to their wolf ancestors.
Despite this, the wolf is definitely the stronger animal, and has numerous advantages.
To start, there’s quite a size difference. The average fully grown male German Shepherd can reach heights of just over 2 feet, and will weigh roughly 88 pounds whereas a wolf can grow to almost 3 feet tall, and weigh up to 176 pounds.
While some German Shepherds have experience in hunting, they’re mostly pets. Even working German Shepherds are unlikely to need to hunt for their food whereas wolves will be hunting from a young age in order to survive.
This leads us to the issue of bite strength - German Shepherds have a powerful bite coming in at a force of 238 pounds per square inch (PSI).
A normal wolf bite is 400 PSI. However, when provoked, the wolf can have a bite of up to 1200 PSI.
The bite of a German Shepherd could hurt a wolf, but it would need to get in quite a few bites before any real damage is done. A wolf only needs to exert some pressure from its powerful jaws to cause serious injury to a German Shepherd.
German Shepherds are also slower, reaching a top speed of 30 mph which actually makes them some of the fastest dogs around, but still not enough to outrun a wolf which can reach speeds of 38 mph. The wolf is also ruthlessly persistent, and can track its prey for hours at a steady speed.
This leads us to one of the major dangers of wolf attacks: the pack. If a German Shepherd has only the tiniest chance of beating a single wolf, they have no chance of beating a pack.
The pack also explains the powerful motivation behind a potential attack on a German Shepherd. A wolf is unlikely to attack the dog as a food source. Instead, they’ll be motivated by the instinct to protect the pack.
For many of us, wolves present little threat in our daily lives. North America only has 18,000 wolves left in the wild, and most of them live in Alaska. However, certain situations do call for being on guard for potential wolf attacks on a German Shepherd. Caution is urged for GSDs that protect livestock, and if you live in or are planning on exploring the backcountry.
If you’re heading to the backcountry, research where you're going to check whether there are any wolves in the area, stay alert, avoid doing anything that may attract them, and don’t leave your German Shepherd unattended, especially at night.
If you do encounter a wolf, stay calm.
Stand tall, and try to make yourself look bigger.
Bring your dog to heel, and keep them close.
Slowly back away from the wolf, maintaining eye contact.
Don’t turn your back.
If the wolf doesn't retreat, or is starting to act aggressively, yell and throw things while continuing to back away slowly. This is done to deter the wolf from attacking.
But hopefully you’ll never have to worry about this!
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