I read an account once of a family who adopted a wolf from a circus. The man was told that the wolf was a serious danger to his children, and did some research, including wild-wolf observation. His observations were that in cases where a cub was killed by an adult wolf, it was ALWAYS the alpha male who killed the cub, never any other male, possibly an alpha female might have killed one.
This family had carefully impressed upon the wolf that the man was the alpha male and his wife the alpha female. Logically, he felt, his children were safe with the wolf. Nonetheless, the family rule was that neither child, nor both together, would ever be alone with the wolf without a parent. I think this was an excellent rule.
I don't approve of deliberately taking animals from the wild as pets, and few enough people understand how to handle dogs. We do the pack structure in our house, too. At one time we had an eighty-five pound shepherd cross who had odd eyes (one blue, one marl) and looked quite the sod. He would growl at people (not us) who came near "his" car (we just drove and paid the bills), though he never, ever bit. He was, I believe, psychologically incapable of biting either my husband or me, because we had impressed upon him from puppyhood that we were the alphas.
I growl at my dogs if they aren't behaving. Works great. And, yes, I hiss at my cats.
I've kept snakes (because I do love them), and seriously disapprove of people who go out in public wearing them. Snakes don't really like to be draped around your neck - it's an uncomfortable position without proper support. Also, they are cold-blooded and so can't maintain a healthy body temperature in the face of damaging cold or heat.
