Micah is a Siberian husky/wolf hybrid that was given to his owners by their daughter after she obtained him from a breeder in western Washington. He grew up with two other dogs, but when he killed one of his owners' cats, they worried that he was too dangerous to be kept at their home. They did not want to have Micah euthanized, so they asked Olympic Animal Sanctuary to take him instead.

Micah is a quiet, sensitive two-year-old, but he is settling in well at the Sanctuary. He gets along with dogs, especially females, and enjoys running around the yard, sniffing and marking his new territory. Steve is spending a lot of time with him, helping him get comfortable with his new surroundings, and accustomed to new experiences, like riding in the truck, and interacting with pushy pit bulls.

Wolves and wolf-dog hybrids are extremely popular in the United States; it is estimated that up to 100,000 of them are born in captivity in the US every year. Despite their popularity, they are not well suited to lives as pets. In the case of wolf hybrids, breeders have no control over which wolf traits and which dog traits the offspring will inherit, and there are no guarantees as to the resulting animals' temperaments or how well they will cope with domestic life. In most cases, wolf-dogs maintain a strong hunting instinct, and they eventually learn to kill smaller animals if given the opportunity. They also tend to be great escape artists, either by digging under, jumping over, or simply chewing through fences. This makes them a poor choice for a pet, and a major liability, in areas where there are cats, small dogs, livestock, or children.

At Olympic Animal Sanctuary, our fence is eight feet tall with 45-degree top arms to prevent animals from jumping or climbing over the top. To prevent digging under, we placed an 'apron' of buried fencing mesh around the perimeter of the yard. And in case of chewing, we use a special high tensile fencing mesh with a higher breaking strength than the heaviest chain link, and even if an animal does manage to bite through a wire, the fence won't unravel like chain link, so the dog (or wolf-dog) would have to chew through several wires to escape, not to mention the cedar boards on the other side of that. Frequent perimeter inspections are conducted to check that no damage has been done to the fence, and strategic plantings ensure that as time goes by, the yard will become increasingly escape-proof, as trees and bamboo prevent access to the fenceline, and their roots make digging out virtually impossible.

Are you prepared to spend thousands of dollars on fencing and landscaping, endless hours on behavioral conditioning, and provide an appropriate, safe, pack framework for a wolf hybrid, not to mention complying with zoning, building codes, and animal welfare laws, and dealing with concerned neighbors? Few people have the time or resources for that responsibility unless they're willing to make it a full-time job. If you think you can handle it, we suggest spending some time volunteering at an animal sanctuary before you take the plunge and find you're in over your head. If you still think you can provide an appropriate home for wolf hybrids after that, maybe you should start a sanctuary of your own -- there is no shortage of wolf hybrids in need of rescue, and instead of buying them from a breeder and perpetuating the animal welfare crisis, you can save them from euthanasia, or worse. But unless you're willing to make it a full time job for the rest of your life, or at least until retirement, please, please find another way to have animals in your life; these animals need your total commitment.

Micah relaxing indoors

A local Forks resident was giving away a litter of pit bull/boxer puppies, without screening the new owners; she admitted knowing that the people taking the dogs would not properly care for them, but was not willing to do anything differently. Olympic Animal Sanctuary was able to obtain only one puppy.

Clyde was only six weeks old at the time of his rescue -- too young to be away from his mother, but there was no other option. He was reasonably healthy, with the exception of a tapeworm infestation so severe that the worms were actually crawling out of his anus and up onto his back. He was treated for the worms, and is now doing well.

Clyde's litter mates are a perfect example of the problem with "free to a good home;" it may not seem like marketing, but it is, and it markets to people's impulses. People take home puppies and kittens without thinking it through, where an adoption fee might have deterred them long enough for their better judgment to kick in. The other problem with "free to a good home" is that the term "good home" tends to be highly subjective, and in most cases the quality of the animal's destination is never verified. Some owners are not financially or psychologically capable of caring for a pet; some are not allowed by their landlords to have pets; some are simply looking for animals to abuse. Dog fighters routinely use "free to a good home" animals as 'blood bait', or in the case of pit bull puppies, they may be trained to fight. While the person giving away the puppies or kittens may have the best of intentions, the reality of the situation is that few people are equipped to find good homes for an entire litter, and the animals' fate is left to chance. The best option for placing puppies or kittens into good homes is to turn them over to an animal rescue organization or a humane society; these organizations can screen potential adopters, require that the animals are spayed or neutered before adoption, and follow up on the animals to ensure they are being cared for properly.

Thinking about letting your dogs or cats have a litter? Please don't do it! It is our stance that as long as we are euthanizing millions of unwanted pets every year in the United States alone, the worst thing people can do is keep breeding more of them. Even if you can find wonderful homes for all of your puppies or kittens, think of the shelter animals that could have been adopted instead. For every puppy or kitten you sell or give away, there's one in a shelter somewhere that didn't get adopted, and was killed by lethal injection. It is true that puppies and kittens are a joy, but that joy comes with too high a price. We urge all of you to spay and neuter your pets; you'll help combat pet overpopulation, and your pets will also live longer, healthier lives.

Steve found a chow near the Forks post office, walking around in circles in the street. The dog seemed disoriented and afraid, and looked like he had either been on his own for quite some time, or had been neglected before he escaped or was abandoned. It took about an hour to catch the chow, who was then discovered to be saturated in grease. Steve bathed him, but had to shave off most of the animal's fur because it was too matted to brush and the grease would not all wash out. After shaving the dog and exposing his skin, some sores were discovered and the chow's skin was weeping fluid when squeezed. It was undetermined whether this was from being burned by hot grease or from fleas; the dog was treated for his flea infestation, and his skin began to clear up. Inspection of the dog's teeth determined that he had wear patterns similar to what is often seen in laboratory animals that chew on their cage bars, and one incisor was broken off. One of his eyes was mildly infected.

The chow did very well at the Sanctuary for about a week and a half, but then Steve located the owners and hesitantly returned the dog. It turned out that he had escaped the same morning Steve found him; according to his owners, he had chewed through metal siding during a thunder storm. This did not explain the long-term wear on his teeth, the greasy, matted fur, or the fleas. The owners expressed concern that the dog would be too cold without his fur, but said they could not keep him inside because he "hates cats." Steve had already exposed the dog to cats and found that he really liked them, but simply didn't know how to behave around them, and if they ran, he chased -- the same response almost every dog has.

We can't steal animals from their owners, even though sometimes we'd like to. It was clear that this chow was not being cared for, but legally he had to be returned. We will try to keep track of the dog and make sure that he does not return to the same state of neglect he was found in, but there may not be much we can do without an animal control officer in the city of Forks.

It was heartbreaking to return the chow to the people that took such poor care of him; we hope that we can follow up and ensure he is better cared for in the future.

On a trip through Texas, Steve came across a couple of men in Fort Stockton giving some scraps of food to a feral dog. He stopped and asked if the dog belonged to them, and they said she didn't. Steve asked if they minded if he took her off the street, and they said they'd like it if he did -- they had seen another feral dog killed by a car the day before, and didn't want the same to happen to her.

After about twenty minutes of talking quietly to the dog and giving her some beef jerky, Steve was able to get a leash onto her without being bitten too badly, and she was off to the vet around the corner for shots. She met the other dogs traveling with him without incident, and made the trip back to Washington with no problems.

Lupe is a feral dog, or a 'pariah dog,' which means, depending on which scientist you talk to, either that she is the descendant of domestic dogs that reverted to living wild, or she's the descendant of wolves that never took the last step into domestication -- wild dogs that have lived on the fringe of human society for thousands of years, eating our leftovers and picking through our garbage. In the southern United States, pariah dogs are often coyote hybrids as well, and a dog living in the west Texas desert almost certainly has some coyote ancestors.

Lupe is small, weighing only about twenty pounds; she is a little underweight, but she is eating well now that she's out of the truck and on solid ground at the Sanctuary. Despite her size, she is getting along well with the other dogs, and even though she is a wild dog, she has quickly taken to human contact, and would prefer to spend most of her time sitting on someone's lap. When she's not demanding attention, she loves to run around the yard, and she can really move!

As soon as she has settled in completely and her weight is where it should be, Lupe will be spayed and microchipped; she'll never have to scavenge for a meal again, and she'll have all the socialization with dogs and people she ever wants.

Click the images to enlarge.


Lupe loves to run.




Lupe (left) and Isabella


Too fast.