Courage in a small package

Dear editor,

The wolf shot near Glasgow was not officially acting like a wild wolf. FWP says that being near buildings, livestock, or domestic dogs is behavior more typical of a habituated or food conditioned animal, a released captive wolf, or a wolf-dog hybrid. In fact, I’ve heard they took DNA from the Valley County wolf to make sure it wasn’t a hybrid.

Here is a true tale of wolf-dog hybrids. A rural community vet clinic doesn’t miss many local happenings. We immediately heard about it when an out-of-towner showed up and gave away a litter of beautiful wolf-dog puppies. Privately, I thought there was a good reason he didn’t give them away near his own home. I remembered my Mom saying that the coyote pup they raised would have another chicken as soon as she turned her head.

The puppies were easy to give away. However, rural people are good neighbors so the wolf-dogs disappeared quickly as soon as they started killing the neighbors’ animals. The sheepman that adopted one was a good shepherd, so his neighbors never had a problem… his wolf-dog started on his sheep and never had a chance to bother the neighbors.

One day I had barely finished treating the hospitalized animals when some clients arrived, out of breath and excited. Their little sheltie was panting from exertion and shock and dripping blood, but perfectly self-assured. She seemed to be saying, “I did what needed doing, so why is everyone so worked up?”

Her owners reported hearing a commotion. They ran outside to see their little dog attacking the neighbor’s wolf-dog. It had jumped the yard fence intent on having their two pet bum lambs for a snack. The owners grabbed garden tools and beat the critter off. At about 100 pounds, the wolf-dog had not considered a sheltie weighing less than 20 pounds a threat. The arrival of reinforcements soon sent the wolf-dog back over the hill to home. One owner ran for the phone, and the other got a blanket to wrap up their pet for the trip to the clinic. That afternoon, the owners came to pick up their sheltie, antibiotics, and instructions. They said their neighbor had called to report he had met his wolf-dog with something more efficient than a shovel, so their lambs and sheltie should now be safe in their yard. The sheltie was pleased to see her owners, no doubt wanting to go check on her little ovine herd. She bid me a dignified and relieved goodbye. The clipping and scrubbing necessary before suturing her lacerations had left her with a spectacular bad hair day. That heavy hair coat had probably saved her life, and I think she suspected me of making a big mess of it. But, hey, I did what I needed to do!

Rose Stoneberg, D.V.M.

Hinsdale