One day, a young man from Arizona was walking on the street when he spotted a “free puppy” sign in front of a house.
Curious to see the pup, he rang the doorbell. Little did he know what he was in for…
The man fell in love with the little pup and decided to adopt him. He was only a few months old at the time and had the most beautiful eyes.
However, once he got home, he realized how difficult taking care of a dog was.
Neo was behaving well when his owner was at home. But as soon as the man left the house, he would throw tantrums and make a mess in the house.
Neo had to stay alone in the backyard when his owner was at college or work, and he didn’t like that. And one day, he learned how to escape the backyard.
One day, Neo managed to jump over the high fence and went to explore the neighborhood. That’s when he met his neighbor for the first time – the German shepherd.
Neo’s owner had to do something to prevent Neo from escaping and bothering his neighbors.
He put a higher fence so Neo couldn’t jump over. But his dog was smarter than he thought. The pup began digging under the fence and chewing it.
Then, the neighbors started to complain about Neo, saying he wasn’t an ordinary dog. Something was off about him.
At first, the neighbors didn’t mind that Neo came on his own to play with their dog, but it got annoying after some time.
Neo avoided the owners and would run away when they tried to approach him. He didn’t even want treats! Seeing that the dog wouldn’t leave them alone, the neighbors took him to a Humane Society of Southern Arizona shelter.
They decided to leave him there until the owner came home and found a way to keep him from escaping the house.
When the CEO of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Maureen O’Nell, saw them walking a strange pup, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
“I saw a couple walking a long-legged canine to the front door. It wasn’t his body composition that made me notice, but his behavior. Neo was completely avoidant of human interaction.”
But why was she so surprised?
She approached the neighbors and said, ”You know that isn’t a dog, right?”
Then, the neighbors responded that they had their suspicions for a while, and told her their story. It turns out that Neo wasn’t a dog.
O’Nell explained that Neo was a wolf-dog, and you could see it in his long legs, wide eyes, and coarse coat.
But what did it mean for his future?
Neo was attached to his owner and wanted to be together with him all the time because he thought he was a member of his pack.
When his owner was away, Neo tried to make a pack with his neighbor’s dog.
O’Nell wanted to help this wolf-dog, so she checked the laws in Arizona and realized that only Native Americans or people with a special permit could own a wolf dog.
She contacted the sanctuary in California, called Wolf Connection, in hopes of solving the issue.
The sanctuary has saved many wolf-dogs like Neo and cared for them. Fortunately, the CEO found out that they had an extra spot for Neo, and they could accept him immediately.
Now, it was time to inform Neo’s owner of her decision.
When the owner found out the truth about his pup, he was devastated. But he knew he had to let him go.
O’Nell assured him that Neo would be happy at the sanctuary, where he could meet other wolf-dogs and be a part of the wolf family.
Neo had to be isolated from the rest of the wolf-dogs to see if he was healthy.
“Neo decided that he didn’t like being kept so far away from the rest of the pack, off in the isolated area of the compound,” said Cate Salansky, the Director of Development at Wolf Connection. “He escaped the isolation kennel and went straight to the habitat of Wolf Connection’s alpha female, Maya.” Neo is not living at the sanctuary and made lots of new friends.
