Tonight, a young husky-shepherd cross will be joining our pack. Bandit came to the shelter from one of the Yukon's outlying communities about 10 days ago. The man who brought him in had rescued Bandit and several other dogs from a neglect situation. He kept them until there was room at the shelter, but did not have the means to keep them as his own. The other dogs are young puppies and a couple have been adopted already. The rest will be gone in no time. Puppies are always the first to go.
Bandit is still sitting in the isolation ward of the shelter. The staff have decided he is a wolf hybrid and aggressive and needs to be euthanized. I have no idea where they got the idea he's a wolf. Apparently he did growl at a couple of the staff in the first few days he was in the shelter. My husband is the shelter administrator. He has no problem with euthanizing dogs who truly have no option. I've gone with him several times and held the paws of sick dogs as they made that last journey. However, he does not believe that this dog needs to go. He's a big tough guy on the outside, but seeing a decent dog die and being responsible for that death is not something he can accept!
Today is Stuart's day off and he asked me to drop by the shelter and check Bandit out. I saw no sign of aggression. I saw a dog who may be a bit of a beta bully, maybe a dominant male, but not aggressive. One of my big issues with the current staff is they can't tell the difference between dominance and aggression! We're working on getting some training for them in that area. What I saw more than anything is a young, active dog who is bored out of his mind. In the hour I was there, he brought me his kong about 50 times, play bowed, wooed and carried on like a fool--"c'mon lady, I'm bored, wanna play with me???"
I saw no sign of him being a wolf hybrid. If he is, it's extremely low content. He's black and brown, brown eyed, has shepherd ears and big block head on him! He looks like any of 100 other husky-shepherd crosses who come through our shelter every year.
One staff member followed me out to my truck and told me she thinks he's a nice dog who doesn't deserve to die. I told her that I agreed and that I would be back after work to pick him up. We'll be very careful integrating him and monitoring him closely, but I'm fairly sure that he's just bored silly. A little room to stretch his legs will do him a world of good!
The only major problem I have with him is his name! I already have a Bandit! Two Bandits is just going to be confusing. I'm hoping Bandit2 will tell me his real name soon.
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Can't wait to see new photos and hear what his name will be.
He's a very lucky dog! Can't wait for pics 
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