How to Tame a Wolf in Minecraft

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, an amazing and fairly useful Minecraft pet.

This article was last updated on March 13, 2024, at 2:30 AM PST to include mentions of the new wolf variants and where they can be found if you wish to tame them.

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

All of 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

As of Minecraft 1.21, 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. So, the biomes you may find wolves in are:

• Forest (woods wolf)
• Taiga (pale wolf)
• Grove (snowy wolf)
• Old Growth Pine Taiga (black wolf)
• Old Growth Spruce Taiga (chestnut wolf)
• Snowy Taiga (ashen wolf)
• Wooded Badland (striped wolf)
• Savanna Plateau (spotted wolf)
• Sparse Jungle (rusty wolf)

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. You can check out our linked guide on all wolf variants in Minecraft to learn more details.

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 realize very quickly 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 “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 Even Tame a Wolf?

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 doggo is standing, it will automatically attack any skeleton in range, without being attacked first. This can be a great way to ensure no pesky skeleton sneaks up on you. However, tamed wolves don’t auto-attack other hostile mobs.

2. Wolves are Great Companions in Battles

Not only will your loyal doggos 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 their owner is attacking. They don’t 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 1.21, you should just 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, you can 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 (feeding your dog raw cod, raw salmon, pufferfish, tropical fish, cooked cod, cooked salmon and rabbit stew heals it only on the Bedrock edition).

3. Useful in XP Farms

In some farm designs, tamed dogs can actually serve an important purpose. You can position your dog in a specific place and let it auto-attack mobs that the farm produces. This way, the wolf’s 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 it, and why they are so useful in Minecraft (because they are cute, of course). These mobs have always been so iconic and special, but thanks to the variations and wolf armor, they have become a lot better. With that, don’t waste any more time and go search for those fluffy pups right now.