Mine really loved swimming in the creek and the lake. Turtles fascinated her. In a bad way. For the turtle.
Posted on 05/25/2012 8:35:56 PM PDT by mamelukesabre
I became hyper-interested in canids awhile back when I read something about coy-wolf hybrids in the northeast part of the US. I've been reading about them lately. I know there is an ongoing effort to "re-introduce" wolves into certain parts of the united states. This upsets a lot of folks and makes others giddy with excitement.
So, I am sharing my only personal wolf story I can because it is the only one I have. It isn't much since they've been extinct in these parts for a very long time.
My cousin used to tell me stories about the old-timers hanging dead wolves from the eaves of their porch when he was a small boy. This would've been in the early 60s. He and I were business partners for awhile so we used to trade stories a lot. Sometimes I would wonder about the stories he told me and try to double check them by asking his brother, sister, and dad. This wolf story was one of those that I doubted since according to official history, wolves were extinct in that part of the country way before the time period he speaks of.
So I had a discussion with his dad one time when I was out to the old farm doing some odd stuff for him.
He told me "oh gosh no, those weren't wolves...he was mistaken and wasn't old enough to know the difference." I felt like the air was let out of me because I wanted it to be true. Then he said "those were wolf-dogs...half wolf, half dog...bigger and meaner than real wolves".
So then I said to him "you know, according to the experts there were no wolves alive in this area after the 1800s?" He says "yeah, I suppose. They might be right"
Then I say "well, if they were extinct in the 1800s, how the hell you get any wolf dog hybrids around here a hundred years later?"
He says: "Ya got me there, I guess there had to have been at least one more wolf around cuz those were not dogs. They were wolfdogs...And they were a serious problem around here in the 1960s. We were all out to get them around here. I bought a mauser to shoot them with."
Then I said "your son told me he remembers the dead wolves hanging from the eaves of someone's porch around here and they were so big, they were almost touching the ground."
"Yep...that was [i forget the name]'s place. He was old and strange and would hang them by the neck from the roof of his porch and the hind legs would be pretty close to the ground...let 'em hang til they rotted to nuthin. Those wolfdogs treed me once when I was new to this area. I was out on my old ford tractor pulling a wagon and mending fence. My dog warned me and I dropped what I was doing and ran up a tree while he kept them busy as long as he could. Best dog I ever had. He was free...came with the farm...lived under the porch. I was in that tree a long time waiting for the wolfdogs to move on."
I asked around after that. I decided the story wasn't made up.
Another person from that area told me there was a highway cut through some hills and it disrupted the hunting ground of a small isolated pack of wolves. The pack scattered and was on the run. Just a small number survived and bred with feral dogs. The resulting hybrids formed a pack and terrorized the area for years. This was the theory they come up with because the wolfdogs appeared shortly after a new stretch of highway was cut through some virgin hills.
no shitsherlock
I think the worst part about a hybrid is that they don’t give a damn about humans yelling and waiving their arms and stamping their feet and shooting guns in the air. Normally that kind of antics would scare the hell out of a wild animal and send it packing. a hybrid would just jump up and rip out the throat then do as it pleases.
Nope...mine was never a watch dog. He lived to be 14 and I can’t remember him barking. Howl...you bet, he sure wasn’t mute.
And he was probably the best hunter I have ever had. Not trained of course. When he finally decided to hang around home as he aged, no creature invaded his domain. I am in a rural area so there were lots of critters he took care of. So maybe he was a watch dog of sorts.
Years ago had a neighbor with a wolf hybrid. The animal was big, beautiful and friendly, went by the name of Timmy. Gorgeous animal.
for your info
I had a relative that had a violent aggressive golden many years ago. It was large and had long dark red wavy hair. very course hair. The story is that the original golden breed was created by crossing several different dogs. one of those dogs was a russian sheepdog of some kind. It was large, long haired, and incredibly tough. It is said that once in awhile, that russian gene pops up and gives you a golden that is larger and meaner with longer courser hair. Every year and every generation that goes by it becomes rarer and rarer since they breed to get rid of that particular strain. but it is still there hiding in every golden.
Any pack of feral dogs should be feared...not just hybrids.
Even if they were the most docile, pleasant dogs our world they will “pack up” and revert to nature if they have to.
Any pack of feral dogs should be feared...not just hybrids.
Even if they were the most docile, pleasant dogs our world they will “pack up” and revert to nature if they have to.
Mine really loved swimming in the creek and the lake. Turtles fascinated her. In a bad way. For the turtle.
They run in packs at night - running deer, especially. Our coyotes look a lot like Siberian Huskies - hear them yipping through my woods at night.
A little leary to go off into the woods alone anymore as they are getting pretty thick and some are agressive.
Had a couple 'hits' where my dog warned me, very quietly, that we had to get out of the area - He will usually set up a furious racket if he hears anything and would take on a moose without a second thought (He's a Shiba Inu, but thinks big and is fearless - and will not back down, except when it comes to coyotes.
The incidences in the woods, he just quietly alerted me and then dragged me back to the road. I knew enough to 'obey' as he's trained not to pull.
The first night he heard them running through the woods outside the house, he quietly came up on the bed and poked me with his paw on my chest until I woke up. I opened my eyes and he was staring me eyeball to eyeball. He made a quiet little "wuff wuff' and motioned towards the window.
I wondered what was going on and then I heard the pack. I had to laugh. It was like he was saying: "There's danger nearby. Be very quiet."
Agreed. We had a wolf/huskie mix that we inherited from a broken down farm we once rented. The owners had kept him tied to a tree for at least two years prior. We figured he was about four to five years old at the time we adopted him.
We let him off the tree, fattened him up, and gave him a ton of attention, but there was always something distant in his eyes. A sort of, "I'm not totally here with you" thing, that I took for his feral side.
In time, I realized it was mostly because he' d been abused for so long, and was slow to warm up completely to humans. Even those who were caring for him.
As the years progressed, he became more and more sociable - to the point where I let him stay inside most of the Texas summer. He was a good boy, and I miss him. Gotta say, though, he never did totally lose that wild thing in his eyes. There was definitely something there, which couldn't be accounted for, otherwise.
I’m one part curious and 2 parts crazy. I would’ve raised that pup just for the helluvit.
A mastiff/wolf hybrid. That could surely be interesting, lol. Pretty calm, but how in the world would you keep a dog that big contained with their wandering instinct?
Your pup is beautiful.
Sure makes me miss my old guy...as much as a pain in the rump as he was. I have an ancient Lab right now that can snore loud enough to raise the roof. He was best buds with my hybrid. He really greived when the Old Guy left. He doesn’t hunt or even look tough! But he’s pretty sweet.
Now, that’s my idea of a dog. No Shitzus for this guy.
Ours was a wolf/huskie mix, and was the worst damn guard dog you've ever seen. He'd make friends with anyone who pulled up the road, but heaven help you if you came in our house without first being introduced to him. I don't think I could have held him back.
If you google it, it looks like a werewolf. Don’t click on it, though, it takes you somewhere suspicious.
I don’t think mine ever looked at me with the total adoration my others have, lol.
I always thought of him much like a cat...I will own you, but you will never own me...so feed me right now!
Same with ours, but in unguarded moments, he could be like a big ole puppy. That normally didn't last long, and he'd soon revert to Lord and Master beingness. He had an interesting mind, that one. I don't think I ever quite figured him out.
Still, he loved his family, and I know that he would have given his life for us in a fight.
Hmm...no thanks. People post the weirdest crap to the internet. I know what a wolf hybrid looks like already.
Kill them all
I had a wolf hybrid from 1963 to 1974. He weighed 120 lbs. Solid muscle. Fast as lightning. Very sharp teeth. He took a Weimarener apart on my front lawn when it trespassed on our property. When we moved from Federal Way, WA to Chula Vista, CA, he had to stay in the back yard instead of roaming free. It took the same grade of chain used around the elephants feet at the San Diego Zoo to keep him tied out. The lightweight crap sold at pet shops pulled apart like a cheap suit when he pulled on it. He was very loyal and very intelligent. People outside the immediate family were treated with suspicion. He would leave food on the table untouched until given permission to eat it. My dad allowed him to sit at the table with family on special occasions. He waa a great “dog”.
Their advantage to eating humans is we are an easy snack...No fur or tough hide to chew throught to get to the meat. No fangs or claws to fight back and cannot kick like a deer....
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