wolf and man

In the middle 1960s I brought home a small wolf pup to raise, which surprised my young wife. 

Wolves are not very dangerous. In the recorded history of the United States, there is no documented case of wild wolves killing a human. You can't say that for, say, deer.

Our pup had a fine coat of blacks, silvers and red-brown parts. We took him to a zoo to make sure what he was, a legitimate southern wolf, although I don't suppose there was such a thing in those days as a wolf with no dog genes in him. Wolves and dogs interbreed and produce young.

My wolf clearly believed that other dogs and other wolves were the same thing. 

The pup adopted me as his family leader, I think. He would groom me by licking the top of my head until my hair was sopping with wolf saliva. 

 I accepted him for what he was, a wolf, and did not attempt to change him. That might have been the key to our relationship. I'm grateful for our time together.

The wolf was the first animal people domesticated and the only large predator. Maybe the wolf came first because it was the easiest (I did it myself). Wolves and people lived in similar family structures. There's speculation that ancient wolves and ancient people may have camped near one another and teamed up informally on hunts. They both liked to eat horses. A few wolves hanging around campfires may have tamed themselves in exchange for food. 

If you're afraid of bears (and you should be) there's nothing like adding some wolves to your camp perimeter defense. The only time I saw my wolf enraged was the one time he came across a bear, whom he instantly hated with all his heart.