Originally posted by Complaintdesk:

While taming the wolf, it is also important to be able to maintain LoS, while weaponless and crouching and to be able to move far enough away for the wolf to lose any agitation it may have. Being crouched and weaponless, helps to facilitate a calming effect on wild animals. Wolves can tend not to eat offered food when they are agitated.

This applies to all taming.

If the animal being tamed has the exclamation point above it's health bar then it is not gaining ground on being tamed.

While remaining within a certain distance there is a constant gain of being tamed. If you leave that distance then the gains stop.

Staying crouched and hidden also prevents you from doing things like chopping, mining, etc that can attract mobs, when the mobs are nearby the tamed creatures start acting afraid and gain the exclamation point above them.