My friends,
I consider each of the three respondents in this discussion to be good breeders in their own rights. I would like to think that the animated discussions are because each of you have worked very hard to develop and maintain acceptable animals and each have your set of rules that dictate the quality to your prospective owners. Collectively, you could set the expectation for a wolfdog but you need to bring the conversation up a notch for folks like me.
Clearly, there is a difference in the expected behaviors and training of a near-pure animal, and a line bred F1,F2, or F3. As an owner, I have had a different expectation at each level and I'm sure your observations have been the same. Perhaps what really needs to be said is - "this is what you can expect"... instead of focusing on how you are going to achieve it. If you can agree at each level on what is expected, it is easy to frame that with HOW you expect to achieve it.
If you can bear with me on expectations for near pures, I'd like to explain my experience.
I have animals from Suzanne, a Gabe Davidson animal, and Tennesee Game Farm animals so I have a variety to compare.
The important thing to me is that the animal can be handled readily, is calm natured, takes food gently, and minimizes the jumping and mouthing. If they don't it does not make them unacceptable as near-pures but clearly points out the differences depending on the wolves that were used.
The animals I got from Suzanne all meet my expectation on behavior. Do they sit, stay, lay down, etc? They will if I do; they will with hands on. Does that mean that every one produced will have that nature? Probably most but not always all.
The Gabe Davidson is a whiner. She'll whine after you and expect to be the central point of attention but she's real snappy with food, hateful of every other female on the place, and will argue with you about hands on. Does this mean all Gabe Davidsons are like this? Of course not, but if I were going to breed, she would be my last choice to use unless I put her with a couch potato and culled anything that didn't meet my expectations. Behaviors like both of the above types are genetic and do get passed down.
The near-pure Tennessee Game Farms are atypical of wild wolves. They're shy, elusive, will not allow contact unless tightly confined, and must be darted to be treated. Again, this is a genetic pre-diposition. They're a very good show-n-tell animal for education but would never make an acceptable pet or companion. Should they ever be bred, even if they're gorgeous? Of course not.
I can say this because all babies were hand-raised from 10-12 days and raised in the house until they were 6 months old. No one was treated any differently and expectations were the same for all.
I've heard good things about each of you but for me, the expectations are very simple and very measurable on near-pures because I've had the chance to view some differences. It shouldn't be so hard to come to a concensus on basic expectations. How about trying it again?