Wolf

Wolves are mobs that appear to be based on the arctic wolf that can be allied with the player once tamed by being fed bones with the "use" key. They will shake themselves dry when they reach land after a swim or if drenched by rain, or otherwise come in contact with water. Wolves are 1 block in height, 2 in length, and 1 in width (1 × 2 × 1).

Like most mobs, wolves are vulnerable to drowning, suffocation, falling, contact with cacti or lava, and will take damage from being set on fire or coming in contact with attacking hostile mobs. Wolves can be healed by feeding them any sort of meat, including rotten flesh but not fish.

Spawning
Wolves spawn only in Forest, Taiga, Mega Taiga, Cold Taiga, and Cold Taiga M biomes. Wolves can also be spawned in Creative mode with a wolf spawn egg. Adult wolves spawn untamed and baby wolves spawn tamed. However, if baby wolves are spawned in creative by using the spawn egg on an adult wolf, they will spawn wild, and furthermore, can become hostile if attacked by the player. In Pocket Edition, however, wolves can spawn naturally as babies.

Behavior and appearance


Depending on if and how they are interacted with, wolves can be in one of three states: wild (untamed), hostile, or tamed. Tamed wolves can be bred to create a baby wolf using Porkchops (raw or cooked), raw beef, steak, raw chicken, cooked chicken, raw mutton, cooked mutton, raw rabbit, cooked rabbit, and rotten flesh. They will jump into lava, into the Void, and into creeper blasts.

All wolves will appear to 'scare' an ocelot, but it's actually the normal "coming too close" behavior they display with players. Tamed wolves do not appear to scare, or fight with, tamed ocelots (cats).

Since release 1.8 (snapshot 14w10) all wolves attack and chase skeletons that will run away. When skeletons are safe from sunlight, if a wolf attacks it, the skeleton will shoot at the wolf.

Also since release 1.8 wolves attack rabbits that will run away. Only killer rabbits don't run away from wolves and will try to attack them.


 * Wild wolves have white fur, a drooping tail, and their eyes consist of two white pixels and two black pupils. They are neutral towards the player and spawn untamed in packs of 1-8, occasionally coordinating attacks on nearby sheep while roaming around. When a wild wolf attacks a sheep, they will appear to become hostile, but will not attack the player. When the sheep dies, they will look like normal wild wolves again. Randomly dropped blocks of wool can be good indications of their presence. Untamed wolves will tilt their head to the side to indicate their interest in a bone or meat held by a nearby player. Untamed wolves will become hostile toward the player if the player attacks them.


 * Hostile wolves can be distinguished by their constant growling and appearance: the tail becomes straight, the eyes become red and the contrast level of the fur increases, revealing dark patches of bristling hair and a mouth line raised in a slight snarl. They will coordinate their attacks on a player that has injured a wild wolf in the pack, and will not revert from this state once aggravated, unless the player dies and respawns. If a wolf is hit and becomes hostile, but then takes fall damage, it will stay hostile, but not attack. Tamed wolves cannot become aggravated. Aggravated wolves will attack any and all players in range. They also use this appearance when attacking sheep, skeletons or rabbits, but once their target is killed or out of their range, they will change back into their wild appearance.


 * Tamed wolves (often called dogs) can be distinguished from wild or hostile wolves from their eyes as they change to look less aggressive (two white pixels and one black pixel), as well as a red collar (if not dyed) around their neck. The collar can be dyed if the player uses any color of dye on the wolf. When told to sit (right-clicking), tamed wolves will remain in place while the player is free to move around. Sitting wolves will never despawn, no matter how far away the player wanders, and not if the player leaves the game or goes to sleep. They will teleport if the player goes far away from it (and it isn't sitting) hence you can walk at normal pace without worrying about losing it. They also will resume following the player when he/she returns and tells them to stand up again. Friendly wolves will also bark occasionally at any nearby players. When standing, these wolves will engage any mob (regardless of the type of mob, unless a creeper) the player attacks or attacks the player (the notable exceptions being creepers and wolves owned by the same player). They will also not attack tamed horses if the horse is struck by the player. They will however, attack untamed horses if the horse is struck by the player. Tamed dogs are passive mobs and will not attack the player for any reason (with the exception of the player inadvertently attacking himself). If a player attacks wild wolves, tamed wolves will kill the wild ones.

Movement
By default, tamed wolves follow the player quickly in a wandering manner (as opposed to walking directly towards him/her) to avoid falling, but will continue to jump and move around even if the player stands still. However, if you move far enough away from your wolf, and it is not in sit mode (see below) it will move towards you, and if you get far enough away it will teleport to you. Besides making travel easier (no need to wait for them), this can be used to rescue them from lava, water, or pits. Note that they will not teleport to you if you are in water more than one block deep.
 * Wolves can be told to "sit" by pressing on them, and made to stand again with another press of.
 * When originally tamed, they will start off sitting, you will need to stand them up to take them with you.
 * While sitting, they will not follow the player. However, if their owner fights a mob near them, they are still likely to join the fight. When the fight is over, they will go back to sitting (if in water, they won't sit until they are on dry land). They will sit at their new location, not return to wherever they were.
 * Wolves will stand up and follow the player (teleporting if necessary) if pushed into water or injured while sitting.
 * A significant bug: Sitting wolves can occasionally teleport to you from unloaded chunks, most often when reloading a single-player game world and when the wolves grow from a puppy to an adult wolf. This is especially problematic when in a boat (see below).
 * Wolves can find paths to their targets if attacking, even in craters. They will also navigate along the edges of cliffs, but will occasionally take drops long enough to damage them.
 * Wolves attack their targets by leaping at them, much like Spiders and Slimes.
 * Wolves can navigate and turn around in 1 × 1 horizontal tunnels.

Hazards

 * Like other pets, they can activate pressure plates, perhaps letting monsters in or animals out of a pressure-plate door or gate, or even setting off a trap.
 * Tamed wolves will attack an animal the player starts to attack, so be careful not to hit your animals (or hit sheep with the shears) if you do not want it killed. Baby chickens are an exception, but villagers are not.
 * They can still block the player's attempt to click on something or place a block, or even intercept (and block) a player's attack against some other mob. They can also walk in front of your pick while mining.
 * They also can teleport in front of your boat whenever you are in shallow water (1 block deep). This can be unexpectedly lethal (to you), due to a long-standing bug with boats running into mobs.
 * They are not very good at avoiding environmental hazards:
 * They occasionally fall off cliffs or precipices, without apparent cause.
 * They are not sufficiently wary of lava or flame, and are prone to set themselves on fire by wandering too close. If on fire, they will make no attempt to seek out water.
 * Similarly, they can get caught in water currents. Even when not outright sucked under by a current, they can drown in a waterfall by trying to swim towards you, even if that means staying underwater.
 * Puppies can't swim, they will fall to the bottom of the water and will stay there, until they teleport. Even teleporting might not help, because if they teleport back to water they will keep drowning. Only way to avoid this is to wait until they are adults or travel through water so fast, that they will not drown.
 * Wolves will likely suffocate if a sand or gravel block falls on them, as they make no attempt to move out of the way.

Teleportation
Tamed wolves will teleport to the player if a large enough gap (roughly a 20 × 20 × 10 block area) is created between them and the player with a few exceptions.


 * Teleporting resets the focus of a tamed wolf, so if a wolf is attacking a mob and teleports beside a player, it will resume following the player.
 * It is possible for tamed wolves to teleport to an inaccessible location (e.g. under ice) and be injured or die of suffocation as a result.

A wolf will not teleport:
 * If the wolf has been ordered to sit
 * Exception: The wolf is likely to teleport if it is injured while sitting (it will no longer be sitting after it teleports). A dramatic example is if a wolf sitting outside is struck by lightning, in which case they will be on fire when they appear.
 * If the wolf is in a minecart
 * If the player is swimming or riding a boat in deep water; a wolf will only teleport as the player approaches land or shallow water one block deep (if the player travels long distances on water, whether with or without a boat the wolf(s) will not teleport upon reaching land, if they were left on a chunk that was unloaded).
 * If there are only transparent blocks (like ice, glass) around the player
 * If the player enters a portal and travels to the Nether or the End, instead remaining in the Overworld until the player returns. However, wolves can be transported to the Nether or End by pushing them into the portal first.
 * If the player is flying a certain distance above the land
 * If the wolf is tied by a lead
 * If the player teleports
 * If the wolf is in a confined space and cannot see the player

Combat
Tamed wolves (when standing) always follow the player around the Overworld, teleporting to him/her if they become too distant. They will attack any non-environmental entities that injure the player - even idle sitting wolves will stand up and descend upon an attacker to defend the player when he/she is hit by someone else or a hostile mob. If the player orders a wolf to attack an untamed member of its own pack, it will kill it, but turn hostile towards the player. However, it will not attack them. When the player hits a mob or another player with melee attacks (non-arrow), tamed wolves will engage in combat with it, focusing on one target at a time and switching to another only when the first has been killed.

Huge armies of wolves may be strong; however, due to unit collision between a wolf and another wolf, they are limited in how many can attack a mob at once. It is not recommended to have greater than 8 wolves out at once, due to creepers being able to kill or injure most of them. Wolves are best at attacking hostile mobs, Zombies and Skeletons, but Skeletons can still shoot the wolf, causing damage. They have a bit more trouble with the Spider and are sometimes hurt by the combat. Formerly they also seemed immune to Cave Spider poison, but in recent versions this is no longer true—like the player, poison will reduce them to 1 health point. When fighting Zombie Pigmen or Endermen, they are likely to need player assistance, including feeding them in melee. Note that tamed wolves are unlikely to attack Creepers, much less kill them before they explode. They will attack Slimes and Magma cubes, but only the ones you actually hit or are hit by—when the mobs split, they won't continue attacking the new smaller mobs.

Combining an army of wolves with a horse in a plains or desert is one of the easiest ways to kill mobs. When fighting mobs, the player can hit the mob, run away, and collect the drops and exp afterwards. One of the biggest advantages is you can run away from creepers and other mobs when you need to. Zombies, Skeletons, Spiders, and even Endermen will at most only attack you once or twice, and Creepers can be easily avoided on horseback. However, this method is ineffective against Witches, as their poison attacks are likely to leave you, your horse and most of your wolf pack down to half a heart.

On a PvP server, wolves are sometimes used in battles. The difficulty of killing the wolves or evading them depends on the situation.

If a tamed wolf kills a mob, it will drop experience orbs for the player to take, as any mob killed by the player. If the player is hurt by any mob, all tamed wolves in the radius will stand up and attack the mob.

Taming, health and feeding


First, find an untamed wolf or wolf pack. Tamed wolves are 5 times stronger than wild ones, with 2.5 times the health and double the attack power, and can kill 4 at a time, possibly without dying. Each individual wolf can be tamed by feeding (right-clicking) it bones. Once tamed, a wolf will not accept any more bones. Note that the number of bones required is random - each bone has a 1 in 3 chance of taming the wolf, and up to 12 bones need to be used to ensure that the wolf is successfully tamed. If the wolf is also tamed, it will get a red collar and (if not swimming) the wolf will sit down. Currently, there is no limit to the number of wolves the player can tame.

A wolf's tail will rise and lower depending on its health. The exact health of an individual wolf can be determined by measuring the angle between its hind legs and tail. The angle indicates the percentage of health that the wolf has (100 degrees for 100%, or 10 hearts; 90 degrees for 90%, etc.). Wild wolves have a maximum health of 4 hearts, so their tails will always remain significantly lower than those of tamed wolves. Tamed wolves can be healed by feeding them any sort of meat other than fish; this will restore as much of the wolf's health as the same food would restore hunger points when eaten by the player.

Puppies will not gain 100% health when born, but their maximum health is the same as an adult's, and they can be raised to full health by feeding them. (splash potions of healing or regeneration can also be used.) Note that wolves do not get food poisoning, so they can freely eat Rotten Flesh (often referred to as "dog food"), or raw chicken. For a perfectly healthy puppy, 6 raw chicken, 4 raw pork or beef, 3 rotten flesh, or 2 of any cooked meat is required. Feeding a tamed wolf which is already at full health will usually start the "love mode" animation. (However, if it's a puppy or has recently bred, it will not eat food unless it needs healing.)

You can change a tamed wolf's collar color by right clicking with a dye. The collars are now a different layer, so the collar will still be visible when affected by the Invisibility potion effect.

Breeding


Wolves can be bred, if tamed and at full health, through the use of any type of meat (raw or cooked chicken, raw or cooked porkchop, raw or cooked beef, raw or cooked rabbit, raw or cooked mutton and rotten flesh). Once you have two or more wolves, breeding them is a much better way to increase your wolf pack's population than taming more wolves, but keep in mind that wolves are born at low health and should be fed when they're born. It's best to feed wolves rotten flesh, because there are not many other uses for it, and wolves will not receive damage from food poisoning (hunger).

The growth of baby wolves can be slowly accelerated using any type of meat. Each use takes 10% off the remaining time to grow up.

The behavior of puppies is the same as tamed wolves, with few exceptions. They do not attack as well as wolves, and will drown after a short while of swimming due to their size and inexperience. The appearance of the pups also varies. They have large heads, similar to the offspring of pigs, cows, sheep and so on.

Breeding two wolves that recognize someone else as an owner will cause the puppy to also be owned by the owner of the original two wolves. In order to breed a puppy that recognizes you as its owner, one or both of the wolves must be tamed by you, and both must be tamed. In order to breed two wolves belonging to two separate people, the wolf owner who does not wish to have the puppy tamed to them must click the wolf belonging to the other person first, followed by his/her own wolf.

Trivia

 * Wolves were added by Jens Bergensten.
 * Angry wolves can be distracted with sheep, skeletons or rabbits.
 * Wolves are the first official tameable mob in Minecraft.
 * Wolves do not trample crops (but they can destroy them by jumping on them.).
 * Wolves make step sounds.
 * If the player attacks another player on SMP, even if PvP is off, a tamed wolf will attack the opposing player. They will continue to attack even if made to sit by the wolf's owner. Similarly, if a player attacks a tamed wolf that isn't their own, then the wolf will attack. In addition to this, the wolves will never stop growling unless they are killed.
 * If a wolf is in a downward water current, they will not float and, if not removed, will drown.
 * Wolves, Iron Golems, Killer rabbits and the Ender Dragon are the only mobs that can be hostile to the player on peaceful mode.
 * Wolves can teleport into transparent blocks. Therefore, it is not recommended to bring a wolf underground or near lava/fire.
 * If the player creates a new world and tames a wolf, then logs in under a different username, the wolf will not obey the player.
 * If the player attacks another player or mob while the wolf is in follow mode, even if it is enclosed then freed after, it will attack that mob or player. Whereas if it is sitting and the player attacks a mob or player, it won’t attack them, even if the player let them start walking again.
 * Wolves have two unused sound files called "howl1" and "howl2". They seem to be a sort of wolf/werewolf howling loudly. It is unknown if they will ever be used.
 * If you attack a wolf and then give the aggressive wolf food that it can eat (like Rotten Flesh), hearts will appear as animals do when entering breeding mode. The wolf will not breed and continue attacking the player.
 * Aggressive wolves can see you even if you are invisible. This may be on purpose, since dogs have a keen sense of smell, and it could be using it to detect the player. Zombie Pigmen also display this behavior when provoked.
 * In Pocket Edition, wolves will attack Creepers if you attack one.
 * If you throw a Potion of Invisibility on a tamed wolf the collar will still appear, as the collar is considered "armor", just like wool on a sheep.
 * Wolves are the first mob added that can teleport.
 * In singleplayer, if you punch a wild wolf and leave its field of vision, it will stare at you and not move at all. Going back into its range will make it continue pursuing you.
 * Aggressive wolves have the path-finding of most mobs, such as going around pits, but may sometimes try to jump to get a player that's separated by a 1-2 block gap. In two block gaps, they won't make the jump and fall, but may manage to damage the player.
 * In the Xbox 360 edition of minecraft, Wolves cannot enter the Nether.
 * Killing your own tamed wolves will still make them drop experience.
 * In Xbox 360 edition you can only have 1-8 wolves at a time
 * Untamed Wolves use their hostile appearance when they are attacking sheep, skeletons, or rabbits. They will change back once the targeted mob dies or gets out of their range.
 * If a tamed wolf is sitting and then pushed into water, they will stand up and swim. As soon as they get out of the water, they will sit. This only works if the player is in range or the wolf is tied to a fence with a lead, otherwise they will teleport to the player.
 * Also happens with cats.
 * If a wolf is in water or rain, it will turn into its untamed appearance.
 * If you manage to attack a wild wolf from 128 or more blocks away, it will instantly despawn, sometimes leaving behind the projectile, implying it got hostile before impact.
 * Attacking a wild wolf on peaceful won't damage you, however they get the hostile appearance and try to push you like a baby slime.
 * A wild baby wolf grows significantly when attacked.