I feel your pain. My first 2* wolf died while I was transporting it by longship. The wolf jumped overboard to attack a Sea Serpent that was tailing us. Following this I took precautions, made sure I had two 2* wolves aboard and did not unfurl the sail. I went oarspeed as close as I could to the shoreline without them being attracted to shoreline mobs. It was definitely worth the time and frustration though, 2* wolves are beasts. During a horde invasion last night, 2 of them attacked a fuling berserker and it died after they each got a hit on it.