Dogs/hounds

[The Skarzs]

That's not clear in the books. It's obvious they were powerful and feared, but what stance they took is never told. My guess is they would be bad if we were to go by the formula the books usually take.

[a crumb]

Indeed. Just based on the thinking Jacques used in his sorting, they'd almost certainly be evil. In English folklore/culture, wolves are about as quintessentially baddie as it gets.

[Jetthebinturong]

Except the one that guarded the head of Saint Edmund. That was a good wolf. The rest are eeeeeeeevillll.

[The Skarzs]

So what would the role of a wolf be do you think? A natural leader? Pure brawn?

[Ashleg]

Both.

[a crumb]

Honestly, more I think about it, probably not that different from wolverines. Despite all the debate about how wolverines might be neutral or good, I think the straightforward interpretation is that they are just savage, nearly indomitable dangerous monsters that tower over all the vermin around them.
So, if I was designing Redwallian wolves, they'd be very rare, the badger equivalent in evil alignment, and terrifying to both goodies and baddies. 'Omen of danger', to play off the folklore. Unless they are adverse to interaction, and just want to be savage predators removed from the politics of assembling a band/army/horde/whatever.

[KoudoawaiaVortex]

Also they were Dirgecallers not Dirgehounds.

[The Skarzs]

"Lone wolf" comes to.mind.

[Krantor the Brutal]

Maugrim from C. S. Lewis' The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a good example for a vermin wolf.

[Ashleg]

Wolves are also commonly (but less commonly) shown to be noble, strong, and majestic.

They could have worked as "gray" characters.

[MeadowR]

Yeah, could be possible. Then Brian could have gone down the same route as with wildcats, having the good, the bad and the grey. As others have said, going by how wolves have typically been portrayed in stories, I think they would have been mostly shown as bad.

[The Skarzs]

The good the bad and the grey. . . Heh.

[MeadowR]

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but yeah. :p

[Cinderpelt]

Well, if wolves exists as well as both house cats and wildcats, then there must be dogs, But if there are dogs, and we know that there are house cats because Julian in the first book is a house cat, that would mean that there would have to be humans, but where did they go? Did they even exist? If not, then how did house cats and dogs come to be? Aaah!!!

[The Skarzs]

There was also a horse and the mention of pigs in the first book. Some of those things never carried on to the other books so most of us think they're not really canon, so to speak.

I personally have never liked the idea of humans being in the Redwall world. . . It takes away some of the fantasy, for me.