A wolf uses a variety of ways to communicate their feeling, intentions and rankings, and here is a guide to the basics. Hopefully this guide will help with more accurate portrayals of your wolf character.
Body language:
A tool of communication for the wolf. Just as a human has postures and gestures that express our intentions and feelings the wolf also uses body language to communicate.
Dominance: A dominant wolf will hold it's body tall, and the tail will be curled over the back. Legs will be stiff and the hackles about the neck will bristle slightly. Once a wolf has submitted, the dominant wolf may do a number of things, such as pinning it to the ground or standing over the wolf to demonstrate it's power over the submitted wolf
Submission (active): Essential if you want your character to get on in the pack. In this type of submission the body will be completely lowered, with the ears and lips drawn back. The tail is placed between legs, and occasionally a lick is applied to the muzzle of the dominant wolf.
Submission (passive): This is a very important show of submission as the wolf lies down to reveal neck and belly, two areas that could kill a wolf if attacked.
Anger : The fur bristles and ears stand up straight. Lips may curl, and a snarl may be issued, often teeth are displayed.
Fear: The wolf will try to make itself look smaller. The ears flatten against the head and tail may tuck between legs. Whimpering may also be accompanied.
Defensive: The ears will flatten against the head. Tail will tuck between legs.
Aggression: Snarling and possible crouching ready for attack.
Suspicion: Ears pull back, but not completely against head. Orbs will narrow and the tail will be stiff and horizontal to the ground.
Relaxedness: Tail droops down, the further down, the more relaxed. The tail may wag, and the wolf may lie sphinx-like or on its side.
Tension: An aroused wolf's tail points straight out, and the wolf may crouch as if ready to spring.
Happiness: As dogs do, a lupine may wag its tail if it is in a joyful mood. The tongue may loll out of the mouth.
Playfulness: A playful lupine holds its tail high and wags it. The wolf may frolic and dance around, or bow by placing the front of its body down to the ground, while holding the rear high, sometimes wagged.
Sound:
Just as us humans talk to each other, wolves have their own language to converse in.
The Howl:
●Wolves howl to assemble the pack (usually before and after hunts) to pass on an alarm, to locate each other during a storm or unfamiliar territory and to communicate across great distances.
●Wolf howls can under certain conditions be heard over areas of up to 130 km.
●Pups almost never howl, while yearling wolves produce howls ending in a series of dog-like yelps.
●When howling together, wolves harmonize rather than chorus on the same note, thus creating the illusion of there being more wolves than there actually are.
●Lone wolves typically avoid howling in areas where other packs are present so that they are not thought of as a threat to the territory.
● The higher the rank of a wolf the deeper the howl
Other Noises
●Wolves also produce a bark-like noise to warn other pack members of danger or to challenge an enemy.
●They often growl in dominance disputes or other kinds of “fights.”
●They make a squeaking noise to call their pups
●Mother's will whimper to calm down their pups
Scents
Canines have more olfactory receptors than humans. The olfactory receptors are organs located in the nose that are responsible for smell. A wolf when unhindered can pick up scents from over 3 miles away, but things such as snow and bad weather can easily disturb a scent trail
●With it's sense of smell a wolf can track down prey to hunt or food to scavenge from
●They can locate other wolves, The scent of the pack combined or that of an individual wolf that is intruding on their territory.
●Scent marking is a wolfs way of declaring their territory, By leaving the scent around the pack borders other wolves know when they have entered the territory