[ceejayoz]

> Why would human tribes tolerate wolves in close proximity?

You don't start with the adults.

You kill the adults and raise the pups.

Even today, there are wolf sanctuaries with wild wolves who've become quite friendly and acclimated to their carers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gePE-_lrJUU

[542354234235]

>You kill the adults and raise the pups.

You are talking about the second domestication period, not the first. The first domestication period was not intentional by humans. It was that some wolve packs scavenged scraps from around human settlements, and so were in slightly closer contact. Over generations, the humans and wolves became slightly more comfortable with each other and humans started seeing some benefits from the proximity (early warning system, additional deterrent against other predators, etc.). This likely reinforced the developing relationship and prompted some humans to occasionally actively feed scraps/leftovers to the least skittish wolves, which again over generations, led to some wolves being close to what we would call “friendly” towards humans.

[serviceberry]

Right, but the argument here isn't that humans domesticated wolves, but that wolves self-domesticated themselves (i.e., humans tolerated adult wolves in close proximity).

[ceejayoz]

That’s the last bit of my comment. People get adopted by wolf packs at times. Both approaches probably worked for different groups.