Oakley watches with his handler as a visitor is escorted into his enclosure and directed to squat or to sit on a stool. That puts the visitor's face at his face level.
Oakley comes over and sniffs the visitor up and down. He moves away, then comes back to nose the visitor's face. Then he moves away again. A squirrel in a nearby tree is more interesting.
That's a successful encounter for the four-year-old full-blood wolf, Wolfwood Refuge owner Paula Watson says. Oakley and several wolf-dog hybrids were at Five Branches Resort at Vallecito Saturday for their annual education and fundraising event there.
One of the hybrids gave the evil eye to the visitor. Watson said it's nothing personal. That animal, Jinn, was abused by a woman who looked like the visitor. The animal was bred to be a darling fuzzy puppy that someone would pay $2,000 for. When the cute puppy grew out of that stage, she ended up at Wolfwood.
Full-blood wolf pups aren't cute and fuzzy, Watson said. They're rather scraggly. She described observable differences between full-blood wolves and hybrids. The full-bloods tend to be lanky and have long legs and long noses, like Oakley. A wolf's canine teeth curve more toward the back of their mouth, the better to grab prey. They have black scent spots on the upper part of their tails that identify each individual to the others. Dogs and wolf-dog hybrids don't have that. Full-blood wolves don't have blue eyes.
Wolves aren't subservient to humans, as dogs are. They relate to humans the same as they relate to other wolves, Watson said.
She used Oakley's good buddy Trinity to show the hybrid traits. She is stockier and her legs are shorter.
The animals have definite preferences in companions. Oakley wants to be near Trinity. But Jinn and her companion Sheba are in an enclosure about 30 feet away. Things just go better that way, Watson said. It's the same when the animals are transported to one of their events. They have to be in specific places in relation to each other in their big red trailer. At Wolfwood, the animals are paired up with their chosen companions.
Oakley was one of nine wolf pups from a breeder in Alaska that was shut down, Watson said. Alaskan officials called Wolfwood to take the pups before they became evidence in a court case. Once that happened, they would be destroyed, she said.
Wolfwood also ended up with some animals from a breeder that was shut down in the Midwest. Animals there were crammed into tiny cages stacked one on top of another.
She warns against getting a wolf or wolf hybrid as a pet. Too many of them have arrived at Wolfwood. Many come from abusive or neglect situations and need physical and psychological recovery and socialization. Others were well cared for but their people couldn't keep them for one reason or another.
Watson, the cadre of ambassador animals, and several Wolfwood helpers travel to an assortment of education and fundraising events. She advised people to research an animal rescue before they donate to it and invited people to visit Wolfwood, located west of Ignacio. The refuge currently has 62 animals. Information is at wolfwoodrefuge.org.
