There are a range of experts who believe that they can tell the difference between a wolf, a dog, and a wolfdog, but they have been proven to be incorrect when providing their evidence before courts of law.

[4] At the same time, because many isolated populations of the three wolf species in North America have also mixed with coyotes in the wild,[5] it has been speculated by some biologists that some of the coywolf hybrids in the northeastern third of the continent may also have both coydogs and wolfdogs in their gene pool.

[10] In 2010, archeologists found the remains of wolf-dogs in a warrior's burial in Mexico's central valley that date about two thousand years ago, therefore what was once thought as coyotes depicted in Teotihuacan civilization art are being re-examined.

[11] Genetic research revealed that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation that entered the wolf population through admixture with the domestic dog.

Four breeds were the result of intentional crosses with German Shepherd Dogs and have distinguishing characteristics of appearance that may reflect the varying subspecies of wolf that contributed to their foundation stock.

[19] The intent behind creating the breeds has ranged widely from simply the desire for a recognizable companion high-content wolfdog to professional military working dogs.

It was officially recognized as a national breed in Czechoslovakia in 1982, and later was recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, the American Kennel Club's Foundation Stock Service and the United Kennel Club, and today is used in agility, obedience, search and rescue, police work, therapy work, and herding in Europe and the United States.

[24] Noted historic cases (such as the Beast of Gévaudan) of large wolves that were abnormally aggressive toward humans, may be attributable to wolf-dog mating.

[26] However, extensive admixture between wolf and dog is not supported by morphological evidence, and analyses of mtDNA sequences have revealed that such mating is rare.

[22] In 1997, during the Mexican Wolf Arizona Reintroduction, controversy arose when a captive pack at Carlsbad designated for release was found by Roy McBride to be largely composed of wolf-dogs, who had captured many wolves for the recovery programme in the 1970s.

[28] In September-November 2018, in the Osogovo mountainous region along the border between Bulgaria and North Macedonia a putative grey wolf was recorded by camera to be living with a pack of 10 feral dogs, and by its behaviour and phenotype was assumed to be a wolf-dog hybrid.

[29] The wolfdog has been the center of controversy for much of its history, and most breed-specific legislation is either the result of the animal's perceived danger or its categorization as protected native wildlife.

[35] Wolfdogs were among the breeds banned from the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton and elsewhere after a fatal dog attack by a pit bull on a child.

[25] Breeding experiments in Germany with poodles and wolves, and later on with the resulting wolfdogs showed unrestricted fertility, mating via free choice and no significant problems of communication (even after a few generations).

However, the offspring of poodles with either coyotes and jackals, all showed a decrease in fertility, significant communication problems, and an increase of genetic diseases after three generations of interbreeding between the hybrids.

[19] Wolfdogs display a wide variety of appearances, ranging from a resemblance to dogs without wolf blood to animals that are often mistaken for full-blooded wolves.

A lengthy study by DEFRA and the RSPCA found several examples of misrepresentation by breeders and indeterminate levels of actual wolf pedigree in many animals sold as wolfdogs.

[16] In some cases, the presence of dewclaws on the hind feet is considered a useful, but not absolute, indicator of dog gene contamination in wild wolves.

[37] High wolf-content wolfdogs typically have longer canine teeth than dogs of comparable size, with some officers in the South African Defence Force commenting that the animals are capable of biting through the toughest padding "like a knife through butter".

[38] Tests undertaken in the Perm Institute of Interior Forces in Russia demonstrated that high wolf-content wolfdogs took 15–20 seconds to track down a target in training sessions, whereas ordinary police dogs took 3–4 minutes.

[25] Due to the variability inherent to their admixture,[25] whether a wolf–dog cross should be considered more dangerous than a dog depends on behavior specific to the individual alone rather than to wolfdogs as a group.