It’s a dog’s life for the 40 or so residents of Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, a 64ha not-for-profit animal shelter at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. Or is it a wolf’s life? The answer to that question comes down to content, guide Arilyn tells me. Grizz, Quinn and Aspen – three beautiful wolfdogs with thick, cream-coloured coats – approach cautiously from behind a grove of speckled aspen trees, leaving delicate pawprints in the snow.
The wolfdogs watch as Arilyn reaches into a bucket and pulls out slabs of raw meat. Grizz holds his bushy tail in the air, and rests his neck on Quinn’s back in a display of dominance. “He’s the boss,” says Arilyn. “But he’s also a sweetie. Every wolfdog is different.”
As the name suggests, a wolfdog is a hybrid between a wolf and dog. High-content wolfdogs have more wolf DNA than dog, and are often not far removed from the wild wolves still legally hunted for sport in Canada. Low-content wolfdogs are more dog than wolf, and better candidates for domestication. Humans are the content creators and, sadly for the wolfdogs, we’ve created a bit of a mess…
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