He Thought He Brought Home A Puppy, But Later Realized It Was Something Else
There has been a story about a boy meeting a dog for a long time, but this one isn’t the typical one. In his college years, he found a lost puppy in a shopping cart and asked his parents if he could keep it. When they learned it wasn’t a puppy, they were stunned!
A dog would be nice to have around, and the man’s parents thought that they could handle the responsibility, so they told him he could keep it. Having named him Neo, they realized he was quite different immediately. As a terror, Neo would only allow the man to give him attention, and he did want a great deal of it. He would use the man’s car as a bathroom, but he would only allow him to get attention from him.
As the man went to work or school, Neo was a total wreck. Neo’s parents tried to gain his trust but were unable to. So they decided to put him in the backyard, hoping he would run and play. But since Neo isn’t exactly a normal dog, that didn’t happen.
Playing with balls or lounging around isn’t his cup of tea, nor is playing with his neighbors. Neo was a master evader and his neighbors didn’t exactly like it. Neo wasn’t just an athletic dog, but he was very determined, too. He would dig under the fence to get out, or he would jump the fence altogether. Neo wasn’t trying to be an inconvenience. It wasn’t long before his owner understood why he escaped.
Neo enjoyed visiting his neighbors, the German Shepherds, whenever he broke out of his confines. Although Neo did not necessarily enjoy spending time with humans, he certainly enjoyed hanging out with other pups. He could not resist the call from the dogs next door, who just yelled at him. Neo had his own opinion on it, but the neighbors had their own.
Whenever Neo escaped, his human neighbors brought him into their house, and brought him back when his owner returned home, in an effort to help. However, Neo did not really care for making friends with them. There was no way for him to look at them or take any of the treats they offered. He just wanted to hide in the bathroom until he was ready to go home. At this point, his owner had to resort to extreme measures.
There was a need for Neo’s family to increase security a little bit. They wanted to prevent their crazy Neo from bothering the neighbors every day, so they built a fence much taller and much stronger than what they normally had. The fence seemed like the answer to their prayers, so they put it up even though it was quite expensive.
Obviously, the fence wasn’t going to hold Neo back, it was more like a new, exciting challenge. Neo chewed right through the brand new fence his family put up within seconds. With his jaw power, Neo was able to get back to seeing his friends again after that pesky fence problem was resolved. Everyone knew that something had to change regarding the escape artist.
After running out of options, the neighbors called the local animal shelter the next time Neo escaped. In order to get some professional advice and possibly a place for Neo to stay until his owner returned home, the family took Neo to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Everyone in Neo’s life was shocked when Maureen O’Nell, the shelter’s CEO, met Neo.
As soon as O’Nell walked over to Neo’s owners, she said, “You know it’s not a dog, right?”. Due to Neo’s beautiful, yet specific, markings (he had a rough coat, beautiful amber eyes, and a skinny body), and because he avoided most humans, Maureen immediately understood who Neo was. In fact, Neo was not a dog. He was a wolf! No one was surprised when they found out, but it did pose a problem for everyone involved, especially Neo.
As far as Arizona state law was concerned, wolves were not allowed to be owned by anyone unless they were Native American or obtained a special permit. There was no way Neo could be taken into the shelter without being reported to the authorities. That meant that Neo would probably be put down. However, Neo’s family refused to let that happen, so they had to find another solution.
In California, there was an organization called Wolf Connection that might be able to help. O’Nell began doing some research and found that this might work. In addition to their land, special facilities, and professionals, they were capable of caring for wolves and wolf-hybrids, which is most likely Neo. They would just need to wait for the facility to accept Neo and that he would receive the proper care he needs there!
It sure did work out for Neo! Although his owner found it hard, he agreed that going to the Wolf Connection was the bestthing for him. As Neo arrived at his new home, he had to adjust to a lot of other wolves, which he had to learn to tolerate. Normally this is done very slowly and carefully, but Neo had an entirely different approach.
Trying to escape was all Neo could think about. After Neo escaped from his pen, he decided he had to meet the alpha female who lived next door to him, a wolf by the name of Maya, since he wasn’t ready to wait any longer to meet his new friends. Despite the stress for the caretakers, the stubborn Neo could not be stopped.
Neo bonded perfectly well with the other wolves. As it turns out, Neo wanted to belong to his own pack, which is why he was constantly jumping the fence to hang out with the German Shepherd neighbors. That’s why Neo was always so shy around humans as well. Getting used to his new environment was the only thing left for Neo.
As a result of his experience with wolf-dogs such as Neo, Wolf Connection knew how to handle him, and he has become an extremely well-balanced wolf-dog because of it. The Wolf Connection website, as well as their Facebook page, where they continually post pictures of Neo and his friends, are a great place to keep up with Neo’s adventures with his new pack! Neo’s original owner and Wolf Connection’s staff made sure he had a happy, healthy life. Thanks to them, Neo is headed to a long, happy future.
