Minecraft is filled with all sorts of unique mobs, which can be passive, neutral, or hostile towards the player. However, there are certain Minecraft mobs that players can befriend and get attached to. Those are pet mobs, like cats and wolves. In this guide, we are going to teach you how to tame a wolf into a dog in Minecraft.
Resources You Need to Tame a Wolf
The only item you need to tame a wolf is bones. The most reliable way to get bones is by killing any type of skeleton — be it regular skeletons, wither skeletons, skeleton horses, and strays. You can also find bones in chests in the following structures:
- Dungeons
- Ancient Cities
- Desert Temples
- Jungle Temples
- Woodland Mansions
The structures listed above have a high chance of generating bones in chests, but the jungle temple has the highest probability. Make sure to bring at least a few bones if you’re looking to tame a single wolf.
Where to Find a Wolf in Minecraft
With the release of the Minecraft 1.20.5 update, titled Armored Paws, wolves have different variants that can be found in different biomes. Some of the biomes stayed the same as before, but some new ones were added too.
We already have a guide on how to find the various Minecraft wolf variants, so check it out and find the right dog variant for you.
The wolf pack sizes depend on the wolf variant. Some wolf variants like striped and spotted wolves can spawn in larger packs of 4-8 wolves. Whereas a snowy wolf can only spawn alone.
Moreover, once you find the wolves, don’t hit any of them, not even accidentally. Wolves, just like bees and zombified piglins, will gang up on you and attack you if you hurt a single mob in the group. If you accidentally tap one, you’ll quickly realize that they are angry, since they start growling and their eyes turn red and, honestly, they look quite scary.
Tame a Wolf in Minecraft: A Step-by-Step Guide
Once you have found a wolf and have obtained bones, it’s time to tame it and bring that cutie with you.
- First, place the bones on your hot bar and select them.
- Then, simply walk up to a wolf and right-click it with the bones.
- You’ll see the black particles appear if the wolf wasn’t tamed instantly.
- So, you can just continue right-clicking it with its favorite snack. Every bone has about a 33% chance to tame a wolf, so it’s basically random.
- Once you tame the wolf, heart particles will appear above its head, indicating it now loves you.
- The tamed dog will then sit if you’re playing the Java version of Minecraft.
You can then “tell it” to stand up by right-clicking it again. Also, you can do the same to “tell it” to sit again. The dog’s collar is red by default, but you can use any of the color dyes in Minecraft to change the collar’s color. If you get far away from the dog, no worries, as it will teleport right back to you if it’s standing.
Why Should You Tame a Wolf (Dog)?
Is it worth it to tame a wolf in Minecraft? Even if you traveled far with your elytra and you have to take it back to your base with breaks so it catches up to you? Well, we can tell you that it definitely is worth it. So, let’s go over every reason why your Minecraft dog is useful.
1. Wolves Attack Skeletons Automatically
Since you use bones to tame a wolf in the first place, skeletons and their variants are frightened of these furry animals. Not only that, but if your dog is standing, it will automatically attack skeletons in range, without being attacked first. Tamed wolves don’t auto-attack other hostile mobs.
2. Wolves are Great Companions in Battles
Not only will your loyal Minecraft dogs protect you, but they will also help you in battle. If you are hunting hostile mobs for various drops during nighttime, consider bringing your tamed wolf with you. If standing, they will attack any mob and even another player that you are attacking. They do not deal a lot of damage individually, but a whole pack can be rather deadly.
Furthermore, wolves do have the same amount of HP as the player when you tame them. However, thanks to the wolf armor in Minecraft, you should keep track of the armor’s durability. It’ll absorb damage from most sources, allowing your tamed wolf to become a little tank.
Though, you can tell how much health your dog has based on the angle between their tail and hind legs. If its tail is low, they’re low on HP and vice versa. To heal your dog, right-click them with any type of meat (raw or cooked) and even those poisonous to the player, like rotten flesh, raw chicken, and pufferfish.
3. Useful in XP Farms
In some Minecraft farm designs, tamed dogs can serve an important purpose. You can position your dogs in a specific place and let them auto-attack mobs that the farm produces. This way, the kill will count as the player’s kill and you can get valuable drops without killing anything.
4. Wolves are Adorable
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t want a cute dog in their Minecraft base? There are even 9 different variants for you to choose from. Not only that, but when combined with colorful wolf armor and dyed collars, you can create very unique mobs that are different from any other player’s.
So there you have it, everyone. Now you know where to find a wolf, how to tame them to be a cute dog, and why they are useful in Minecraft (cause they are adorable, duh). These mobs have always been so iconic and special, but thanks to the variations and wolf armor, they’ve become a lot better.
Also, if you want to have your own army of wolves, then make sure to check out our guide on how to breed dogs. With that, don’t waste any more time and go search for those fluffy pups right now.
Technically, they are all called wolves. However, when you tame a wolf, it behaves like a domesticated wolf, so it’s not wrong to call it a dog.
Wild wolves are friendly as long as you don’t attack them. Tamed wolves are always friendly towards the player owner.
Yes, when you breed two adult wolves with any type of meat, a baby wolf will spawn that looks like one of its parents if the bred wolves are different variations.
