Monday, September 17, 2018

Not Your Typical Dog Park


I've driven by the access road to it about a hundred times, and I have heard more than a few very positive personal accounts of visits to the facility. So when I found myself without much for plans this past dreary, cold, fall (??) weekend, I decided to book myself in for a tour of the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.

Wow. What a cool place! The sanctuary is located on a moderately treed quarter section of lovely land in the Rockies foothills west of Cochrane, and it currently shelters 23 wolfdogs. The interactive tour was incredibly informative and the guides Scott and Alyx were super knowledgeable and entertaining. Many of the animals were timid and kept their distance, but there were a few that were curious about the treats us humans were offering and they took a chance and ate right from our hands.

Nova and Zeus

The handsome Zeus

Arctic-white Nova

Treats!

Scott told us almost everything there is
to know about wolfdogs! Thanks Scott!

Kuna is an unusually social high-content wolfdog.
She carefully ate the treats right out of everybody's hands!



Kaida and TK

Kaida is the alpha female in this pack, and I'd
say the alpha in general - can you tell?

Look at those eyes!

Alyx gave the tour group an awesome explanation of wolf pack dynamics.

TK loved attention from Alyx



Loki was so friendly and gentle and could even shake a paw!

Rocky is the senior resident of the sanctuary - he is
estimated to be around 15 years of age!

The old guy needs love too.... he let me give him
a good chin scratch for about six seconds!

Rue kicked back while Loki and Rocky were in the limelight.

Eventually Loki had enough of entertaining the
crowd and joined Rue for some chill time. 


Kasha was oblivious to the gawking humans.



I will definitely go back, as the wolfdogs are beautiful creatures, the facility is exceptional, and the proceeds from all of the tours go towards caring for the animals and educating the humans. The biggest takeaway for me was the fact that there is a poor understanding of this particular breed, and while they are exotic and absolutely stunning to look at, a wolfdog does not make a good pet for the majority of people.

Put this on your list of places to visit, if you have a few hours to spare in Central Alberta!

Cheers.








2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow !!! they don't look like your typical wolf. would be interesting to know under what circumstances they ended up there. How long has that place been there?
are any of these animals used in movies?
interesting.....thanks for posting....love mom

Anonymous said...

What an interesting place,,,you discover the most unique places,,,,never heard about this place before great pictures,,,,love ya lots ,,dunkster,,,,,