Yes, I am writing a birthday post to my blog about my only baby boy!  Dakota is a wolf hybrid mixed with Siberian Husky and Malamute and he recently turned twelve!  I have found people either love animals or they pretty much do not care for them.  Of course he is no regular dog and I get that some can become upset by that.  For the record, I believe wild animals belong in the wild.  My conservative husband wisely pointed out to me that in order for that to happen we must work to preserve the world’s deserts, prairies, mountains, plains, islands, oceans, and forests.  Even our skies must be preserved.  I have said before I consider our wolfdogs ambassadors for their brethren in the wild.  Since wolves have been grossly maligned for millennia, it makes me feel great to see people awed, smiling, and asking if they can pet them!  I got my first wolf hybrid in college and she chose me.  I’ll never forget this pup with bi-colored eyes (that was the husky in her) came loping straight to me in this big enclosure that was surrounded by a lot of other people.  She licked me on my cheek and my heart was taken.  Nashoba lived to be about fifteen.  In the wild wolves have heartbreaking survival rates.  If heart worms from mosquitoes don’t get them, there’s mange.  On a human side, people poisoning a wolf mother’s den kills the nursing mother while their babies are left to slowly starve to death.  There are traps which at best leave them without a limb (if they can manage to chew it off and escape) and there are actual “sportsmen” armed with machine guns running them into the ground with exhaustion from helicopters.  I try to keep posts on my blog light, but wolves are my passion, and many people have no idea what all has and IS being done to them.  They are shot by ranchers the second a paw leaves protected national parks (like wolves can make that distinction) and, despite having tracking collars on them to show they’re being studied, they STILL wind up being shot.  Hunters claim they thought they were coyotes.  Of course coyotes are much smaller and redder, whereas most of our wolves today carry colors of white, black, and gray.  I shall not delve into the (no pun intended) grey area of coywolves.  Just know they are not only coming to a neighborhood near you: they are already here!  That’s what happens when wolves have no one left with whom to mate.  They will be smaller and and guess what?!  They are NOT out to eat your baby!  Pure wolves are inherently incredibly shy.  I cannot fathom why they have always been demonized.  In Native culture coyote is called “Survivor,” so do not bet on them just “going away.”  Much like their cousins, the fox, they have simply learned how to adapt.  Wolves have been annihilated almost into extinction worldwide, so their journey has been even more difficult.  Owning wolf hybrids are not “cool” like owning some kind of dog breed.  They need INCREDIBLE amounts of attention and activity.  I do it knowing my love for them is greater than my love for my “things.”  Dakota and his sister Cheyenne (who passed away from cancer last year) literally ate our beds, sofas, rugs and pillows just as appetizers.  My husband and I were their pack and they became quite anxious whenever we left.  Their claws and jaws went straight through sheetrock, wood, and they managed to peel up our metal door to the garage like it was a can of tuna.  I do have a theory:  people with lots and lots of children may have one pet.  People with no children most often have a couple and they will be considered family.  Despite how hard my folks worked, as an only child I will tell you that whenever I had ANYthing going on growing up:  a talent show, a swimming competition, a spelling bee, a play, or being in my high school drill team:  BOTH of my parents were always there for me!  I have always found it sad that people who adopt more than two animals are considered borderline nuts.  I just wish animal lovers were afforded an equal amount of respect versus being labeled “crazy cat lovers” or whatever.  The professional American distance runner Sara Hall is quoted as having said, “We all have our preferences – some people go for birds – but for me, there’s just something about the wolf; the design of it is really aesthetically pleasing.”  Just look at how the reintroduction of wolves completely transformed Yellowstone National Park!  It is nothing short of miraculous.  We need our apex predators to keep earth balanced.  Removing them is not the solution; preserving them is.  And preserve them in the wild we must!  Happy birthday Big D.