Please do not answer unless you KNOW the answer. What domesticated dog/dogs can kill a wolf 1 on 1?
I read about many dogs being killed by wolves. Mostly hounds used for hunting. Why do hunters not use a wolf fighting dog to run in the pack of the hound dogs? I would imagine there are a few dogs that could take down a wolf or at least hold it off until the hunters showed up. If I remember right, Great Pyranesse's were used to blend in with sheep and protect the flock from attacks. I am thinking farmers or ranchers would be better educated than city dwellers.
Anonymous2008-12-24T13:00:33Z
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Most large dogs could put up a reasonable fight. The problem is that wolves usually come in packs and work together, so they can dispatch a dog pretty quickly as a team. Any sort of fighting dog would kill a wolf quite easily, these include Pitbulls, Akitas and Mastiffs among others.
I might add that fighting dogs are completely different to working dogs, and could not be used effectively when hunting game in a pack.
The phrasing of your question is quite strange - "hold off a wolf" - wolves are endangered species and it is illegal to hunt them in most places. Even when they are hunted, it is by one man with a gun, not with a pack of dogs. The only occasions that I know of where dogs are used for hunting is foxhunting, which is now illegal in the UK, the only place where it happened.
Other dogs are used in conjunction with other types of hunting but these are retrievers and pointers, used in the hunting of birds, like pheasants and partridges. These dogs would never need to fight anything.
Wolfhounds could very easily kill a wolf, they were bred for it, as the name tells you. Still don't believe it? here's a video of a wolfhound killing not one, but TWO wolves :
EDIT: there was a guy before me who said that " their bites are more then twice as powerful as any domesticated dog, including the pitbull" - this is a load of rubbish, a Pitbull's bit is far, far stronger, they were bred for fighting, they may look small but this is so they can get under bigger dogs and bite their soft undersides. He also said that "dogs for the most part are not wolves", which is also not true, all modern dogs are decended from wolves, and are only different because of extensive breeding. A wolf is certainly a dog.
There is also a lot of idiots saying that no dog could kill a wolf, this is absolutely not true - waimeranas were bred to kill bears and Rhodesian Ridgebacks were used for hunting lions, they would have no trouble with a single wolf.
Akitas, wolfhounds (Russian & Irish) and Anatolean Shepherds, maybe Huskies, Samoyeds and Malamutes, would each have a chance of survival 1:1 but aren't guaranteed to win. The wolf is a superior animal with strength that we've bred out of our own dogs in self-defense.
However, like several people said, wolves rarely act alone, except in the case of bachelor wolves (wolves that leave a pack or are kicked out and are seeking a new pack). Wolves in a pack are known to lure a dog into ambushes. No dog would survive.
In a pack of dogs vs a pack of wolves situation, the wolves would win because they simply work better as a pack, have more efficient strategies, and generally know the lay of the land better.
Also, wolves are protected. If a hunter or rancher were to hunt wolves with a pack of dogs he would face fines far larger than his livestock losses (there is a reimbursement program for wolf-killed livestock) and may end up with jail time.
Curtis M WINS! FLAWLESS VICTORY!2008-12-24T14:19:18Z
Russian Wolfhounds (Borzoi) and Irish Wolfhounds! Anyway, they hunt in packs so not a real answer. A gamebred pitbull of considerable size could kill a wolf. As could any large "fighting" dog. Wolves are wild animals, they don't get into knock down drag out fights because a hurt wolf can't hunt. Wolves have what we'd call in a dog "weak nerves" meaning they're fearful animals (as are nearly ALL wild animals, fear keeps you alive in the wild). I've never heard of wolves killing hounds. I'm quite confident they could kill beagles, maybe a basset hound, but I think a dog the size of a Bloodhound could hold it's own quite well. Not to mention most wolves would run when they heard the braying of the hounds. A wolf who'd kill braying hounds during a hunt is a rabid wolf...
Asking a lot The wolfhounds & wolf guards are the largest dogs (give you a clue about the difficulty of the quarry?) Borzoi (Russian wolfhound) were hunted in trio's Nad the wolf guard such ar the Pyraness seldom actuallly close with the wolves only make the sheep NOT easy prey so the wolf goes off deer hunting....
A domesticated dog that can kill a wolf is called a fighting dog and will attack all other dogs, not just wolves. Which makes then unsuitable for hunting as they need to be able to travel in packs.
Great Pyranees were raised among the sheep and the sheep were their pack and defended them as such. A large dog defending its pack, such as a Husky, Malamute, Akita, Shiba Inu, Tosa Inu and Cane Corso type dogs would be able to match a wolf.