Discussion split from NI and Utonagan owners thread Discussions

About my wolfy boys? I will try, and will also try not to ramble as I usually do when talking about my darling dogs!

Starting with Hal, he was everything that every other dog and I had ever owned was not. At 8 weeks, he was aloof, totally uninterested in pleasing you, a digger (although surprisingly very undestructive with regard to the house and its contents!), supremely intelligent, wily, dominant, disobedient - these are all the negatives. Positives were a total and absolute trustworthiness with food, he would never attempt to steal anything, or lick your plate if it were on a low table or anything like that. He would never foul the garden, even at 8 weeks, he was immaculately clean. He never attempted to jump up on the furniture, he was totally trustworthy where this and food were concerned. He started to learn words within the first week of having him, not just tone of voice like some dogs. Within a few weeks of having him, we could not say words that he liked - such as walk, or dinner, or out, we had to say "k-l-a-w" or "t-u-o", but shortly he caught on to this as well. He was totally uninterested in being patted, or caressed, but had to be with you, and had to sleep in our bedroom. He could not bear to be parted from us, although did have to be left sometimes. He had to go into the vet overnight when he was about 6 months old, and when I fetched him, he would have nothing to do with me for 3 days and 3 nights. He refused to leave the porch, but just lay there, only going out with my husband for a walk twice a day, he would have absolutely nothing to do with me at all, and growled at me every time I went near him. He ate no food at all in this time, but did drink. On the morning of the 4th day, he bounced in when I opened the door, and jumped on me covering me with wolf kisses as I call them - these involve the tongue being inserted inside your mouth if at all possible, and wolf kisses have to be on the lips, so you have to keep your lips well and truly pursed!

We have all heard of the dogs who know when their masters are coming home, but Hal was particularly spooky at this. He knew about 5 minutes in advance that one of us, or all of us were coming home. He wouldn't do anything obvious, Hal never really did anything obvious unless it involved sex, or was remotely connected to sex like crotch sniffing and goosing, he would just quietly look at the front door and prick his ears. He may get up and just lay down quietly in front of it, and that is all. He never barked, and was the world's most useless guard dog - as all ni's, utes etc. etc. seem to be. He would do the most extraordinary things sometimes. You would be lying in bed having woken in the middle of the night, and you might think to yourself "I wonder if Hal's water bowl needs filling up, and within seconds you would hear the pad, pad pad of his paws and the chink of his name disc of his collar as he went over to his water bowl and drank from it or, if it was empty or nearly empty, he would bash it with a paw. This happened quite a few times, far too many times to be pure coincidence, that dog could definitely read your mind.

I love these dog's superb intelligence - far superior to any other dog I have ever owned, including border collies - their sense of fair play, humour, which again exceeds any other dog I have ever owned. I love their sheer recalcitrance, their nortiness, wilfulness, disobedience, aloofness, their sociability with other dogs - I love their more-ness, they just seem to be the same as any other dog, but much much more, if that makes sense.

Hope this goes at least a little way to explaining why I am spoiled now for any other type of dog!

Ahh....that explains a lot. I love my collies, would never be without one....but brains....not so much.

I agree. But so many of the rumours are just that ... rumours ... spread maliciously by certain people to blacken her name and have her life made misery by the RSPCA. Until things went belly up for her, life was good for her dogs. But suddenly, she was plunged into chaos, left with far too many dogs that she could no longer afford to feed because she had no business. She used to be a very large lady, but when we first met her, she was very thin indeed, she must have lost 4 stone and she was not tall, much shorter than me (I am 5' 8"). She was diabetic, and I have never been able to establish whether she was always diabetic, or whether she became so.

As I have said before, you never met her, and personally I would never ever knock someone who I had never met, stating rumours as if you knew them to be fact. I have said many, many times, Eddy was far from perfect, and I personally would never have kept 2 wolves in a barn for example, but then I have never, thankfully, been in the dire straits that Eddy was - and none of it her own making. Other people kicked her in the teeth IMO out of jealousy and spite, and worse than anything it was her beautiful dogs who suffered.

I always think that collies are like horses ... neither IMO are very intelligent in the true sense of the word, but horses have AMAZING memories, and will remember a killer crisp packet that rustled in a particular section of hedgerow for 10 years! Likewise, collies are amazing at certain tasks, but I have always considered them too predictable and unchallenging. The old adage that collies are borne obedient is not exactly true, but does have a certain ring to it. The shepherd-dog breeds all are a bit too predictable for my liking, but I love them still. We rescued a lovely old BC called Bertie, who was a real character, he and Hal got on so well, he was a grumpy old git but the reverance that Hal showed him was touching.

none :? 99.9% !

Gnasher how can you possibly say none of it was her own making. She bought the dogs, she bred the dogs, she sold the pups, she kept the dogs in appalling conditions. Whose fault was that then?

You see there you go again ... listening to rumours!! You never met her, you never went to her house. The first time we met her, the place was in a state, her business down the pan, her lovely new kennels that she was building for the dogs abandoned and only half-built. All this happened because of the court case where an ignorant judge declared any dog with more than 1% wolf in its genes to be illegal. She was left literally holding the baby - or many babies to be precise. When she originally started breeding her crosses, all the in the garden was lovely, they were NOT kept in appalling conditions, the farm was not tumbling down, she had a good business.

I think you are being very harsh and judgemental. The blame for what happened does not wholly lie at her door.

I did not say the fault wholly laid at her door did I? But you said "none of it was her making". I don't have to listen to rumours I have seen the pictures of her dogs and have seen what awful conditions they were kept in. It doesn't matter if that was before or after the court case they were still kept in awful conditions. I am surprised the RSPCA did not take them away from there.

What a shame that she thought of her dogs as a business. Those poor dogs. Are you saying when you bought your dog he was kept in appalling conditions or have I read that wrong?

We also had a dog that could mind read. As a child I would get home from taking my ponies out and mum would always be ready with a cup of hot chocolate for me. I said to her how did you know and she would say Sophie always tells us 10 minutes before you get home. Sophie was a golden retriever.

I think it was stupid of JK to say anything at all, knowing the law as it was then. Her dogs were lucky they didn't pay the price for that particular incident of stupidity, though they've payed the price of others unfortunatley.

As for the wolfdogs, csvs and swhs, I think that unless someone comes along who's passion for these dogs and breeds, goes further than just lining their pockets, I don't think they have much of a future over here, as much as it saddens me to say it.

My words, not her's! And no, my dog was not kept in appalling conditions. And yes, I agree, many dogs can tell when their owners are on their way home, and pick up on their thoughts.

Here's a photo of my boys taken yesterday in the woods.

Tai is in the background, Ben the foreground, not a very good picture, but I rather liked the frosty foliage!!

They were pretty bad, and I agree with what you say.

lovely pic gnasher

... but theres no wolf in them

when you look at the founder dogs of eddies(the rescues)you honestly truly believe they are wolf hybrids?or dogs with any significant wolf content?... oh dear :-(

like i said before... people are still being duped thinking they are buying a hybrid in the states.

You can't always tell a book by its cover

I'd have to ask permission of the owner, but I could put up a photo of our neighbour's GSD bitch and you WOULD say she was a wolf cross. Thank goodness Hal's looks kept him safe. If he had had Ben's eyes, which are more wolfy looking, I think we could have been rumbled.

Now this one ... surely even you Tupacs you old cynic can see the wolf in there:



Nite nite everyone, I am thoroughly enjoying this thread, very interesting to chew the fat over my favourite subject!!

sooo cute .... id say gremlin tho lol ;-)

I'm only lookingonmy phone but they both seem to have collie in there

Beautiful fur kids xxxxxxxx

I googled Eddie and an article ( 1996 I believe) came up about Eddie selling wolf dogs to the wrong people and the family child having been attacked would be scared for life.