Nali & Gandalf

Early in the spring of 2002, a man in Arkansas bred a white German shepherd and a collie to produce a litter of wolfy-looking dogs. He then loaded up the pups and headed off to a gun show in Colorado. At the gun show, the breeder sold two of the pups to a well-intentioned, but uninformed man. By lying and claiming the pups were 90% wolf, the breeder was able to sell them for much more money than if he had admitted they were shepherd/collie mixes.

When the man returned home with his pups, now named Nali and Gandalf, they were already too big and independent to be set free to run around the partially fenced yard. So they were chained outside to keep them from slipping away unexpectedly. It did not take long for the neighbors to come gawk at the pups. This only frightened Nali and Gandalf, sending them into fits of defensive fear barking. While trying to hide from the neighbors, the pups wrapped their chains around each other and a nearby porch swing, making them even more frantic to get away. Within a week of arriving at their new home, the pups were in serious trouble. The city government was alerted to the fact that wolf-dogs were being illegally kept within the city limits. Nali and Gandalf’s owner was given a week to remove the animals or they would be euthanized. The owner contacted Mission:Wolf and asked for help.

From the beginning, Mission:Wolf staff believed that Nali and Gandalf were not 90% wolf. However, they were still so young (only about 5 months old) that no one could actually tell what they would grow up to be. Nali and Gandalf’s situation was so desperate that Mission:Wolf agreed to give them a home. When they arrived at the refuge in August 2002, the pups were skittish around everyone and very frightened of fast movements. Their first months were spent hiding from and barking at staff and visitors alike. These two pups just didn’t understand that no one was going to hurt them.

After months of effort, the staff finally won their trust. The problem now was their constant screaming and whining for more attention. They were moved all over the refuge trying to find an adult wolf to act as a mentor and show these  two hooligans the ropes, but no one would accept. They were too old (and too noisy) for any of the wolves to put up with. The staff was frustrated and annoyed, but every time they were ready to give up on them, Nali and Gandalf would look at them with those innocent eyes and they couldn’t say no. In a last ditch effort to find Aurora (another resident wolf-dog) a companion, they separated Nali and Gandalf. With much screaming and crying, their separation was traumatic for everyone... but it worked out in the end.

     

Gandalf and Aurora got along famously. Aurora was ecstatic to finally have someone to play with and Gandalf was happy not to be competing with his sister for attention any longer. They spent the vast majority of their time laying together, play bowing and raising a ruckus with their incessant barking. With Gandalf’s influence, Aurora even started trusting the staff a bit more… allowing a few to touch her for the first time in a year.

Meanwhile, Nali moved in with an ancient wolf-dog named Yaqui. At 13 years of age, Yaqui didn’t know quite what to do with this whipper-snapper. Nali would race around and around their enclosure, teasing Yaqui, until he grumpily howl-barked at her. When no one else could, Yaqui would keep Nail in line by howling directly in her face whenever she got to rambunctious. The puppy-ish antics of little Nali kept Yaqui on his feet and healthy. Sadly, after only a couple of months together, Yaqui unexpectedly passed away from a quiet degenerative disease. Nali was alone for the first time in her life.

After Yaqui passed away, Nali moved into the house with the staff, getting to eat dinner in the kitchen, watch movies in the Visitor’s Center and go for walks every day. After only a couple of months of this, Nali was so well behaved the staff was convinced that she was a shepherd/collie cross without any wolf in her.

As both Nali and Gandalf have matured, they have displayed very doggy behavior. Their attitude toward people and life, extremely small feet, odd textured coats, and willingness to learn obedience commands convinced everyone that Nali and Gandalf are dogs. They became the refuge dogs, living with the staff rather than the resident wolves. Thankfully, since discovering they were shepherd/collie crosses, both Nali and Gandalf have found homes with caring people who have the time and energy to care for such high-maintenance animals.