Wolves in MP in 1.8?

The server I'm a part of has been up for about 2 weeks now and is up to date w/ 1.8. The host set it so that endermen and creepers wouldn't spawn, and I'm wondering if that is affecting the exist of wolves (and slime). We made a slime pit (and we checked and it was a chunk where slimes should spawn) but nothing happened. Now I've been searchign for wolves in taiga and haven't found anything (no one has been able to find a wolf the whole time the server is up). I've even built a "wolf trap" (decent sized field area with a wooden fence around and it lots of torches in it in a taiga biome like i saw on a youtube video) but nothing. Did blocking some mob spawns possibly affect this? Is there a trick to finding wolves? i remember people finding wolves a bit in the last server i was on (same host) just by chance, but this time none of us can find any by chance and i can't find any when i really search. is there a mod that will show me where they are (if they exist) or is this a problem with a solution? i really just want to start getting some wolves, i've already gathered so many materials i don't need to do that and i need a new challenge now. thanks!