brown and tan wolf dog side profile with its mouth open

Wolfdog Percentage:

Wolfdog Percentage:

We will try to make this as painless as possible.
Wolfdog percentage the math way:

Step 1. 80%(wolfdog) + 75%(wolfdog)=155
Step 2. 155 divided by 2=77.5% (wolfdog)
Step 3. Litter should be 77.5%
But is that math correct?

 “Percent” equals actual wolf content
Most wolfdogs today are many generations away from a pure wolf

The Marble Theory:
So let us see if we can make a 50% wolfdog by breeding a pure wolf to a pure dog.

Dad is a 100% pure wolf .
Mom is a 100% pure dog (for fun she’s AKC).
Now let us give dad 100 YELLOW marbles (To represent 100% wolf).
Then we will give mom 100 PINK marbles (same reason as dad).
When they breed dad must contribute 50% of his genes to the pup and mom must also contribute 50% of her genes also to make a 100% complete pup. So that should make it 50% wolf right? 1/2 wolf 1/2 dog after all dad gave 50%.

gray and white wolfdog lying in green grass
black and gray wolf dog lying on the floor at the vets office

Dominance (left) 11%, Storm (right) 6% both are sisters from same litter. 

Let us see what really may be going on.

Remember the marbles now you need them.
Dad had 100 YELLOW and Mom had 100 PINK ones.
Dad must contribute 50%, so lets put 50 of his YELLOW marbles into a bag. Next mom must also contribute 50%, so lets put 50 of her PINK marbles in with dads 50 YELLOW marbles, you should now have 50 YELLOW and 50 PINK marbles in one bag.
Now you have a complete pup. (50% yellow + 50% pink =100%)

black wolfdog run across a open field
tan and white wolfdog standing over its food

Zeus (left) 67%, Athena (right) 57% both are brother and sister from the same litter.

Now let us see if it is truly 50% wolfdog percentage or if its something else.

Now reach into the bag and grab a handful of marbles.
Did you get 25 of each color? Was there more of one color than the other? 
In other words think of it in terms of identical twins.
Although they look the same on the outside they are completely different on the inside.

tan and white wolfdog profile picture of its head
black and brown wolf dog lying on its dog house

Lobo (right) 48%, Pandora (left) 49% both are brother and sister from same litter.

In a nutshell:

When a wolfdog has a litter of pups, it is hard to tell if they will all be the same in percentage. After all, they will pull traits from both of their parents. Regardless, the best way to find out for sure is to do a DNA test.

Trait–is a phenotype character we are looking at (height, eye shape, eye color, etc.)

Gene– is a segment of DNA that controls the expression of a particular trait that is it codes for the proteins required for the expression of that character. (height, eye shape, etc.)

Alleles– are different alternative forms of a gene.  (height can have 2 alleles- tall and short)

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