"Whisper" came to live with us when she was almost
four weeks old, so needed very special care. Fortunately
she was taken in by "Echo", who had a litter of a similar age.
This was a miracle that astounded everyone who knew her, as "Echo" isn't
terribly fond of puppies and barely tolerates her own, yet she
understood the needs of this tiny pup and took her under her wing,
adopting her as one of her own. Although "Whisper" has bonded
with me, she has a very strong sense of self-preservation and soon established her place
within the pack but never trusted other humans.
She was extremely intelligent and had to work out for herself how
everything worked. She could delicately turn the key in a lock and
even separated the key, ring and fob! When I put some solar 'rock
lights' in the garden, she 'stole' one and took it to bits, obviously
trying to find out where the light came from!She loved to play tricks on
me and her favourite was to lift the drain cover and hide it -
she watched with a glint in her eye as I searched for it. On the rare
occasion when I couldn't find it she would eventually put it back for
me, giving me a look that clearly said "I won that round".
"Whisper" loved water and could usually be found in the 'dog
pool' on a hot day. She was expert at picking fruit from the trees and
would leap into the air to pick the best fruit from the higher branches.
She adored puppies and would play with them for hours, although she
never had any of her own. She also took care of them and if she saw me
getting the hose out she would
move any pups to a safe place, where they wouldn't get wet.
Despite rumours claiming that she was an F1 wolfdog, being spread by
certain 'experts' and 'people in the know' who don't like competition in
the Wolf Lookalike breeding world, "Whisper" was in fact only a low
content wolfdog from a Northern Inuit dog dam and wolfdog cross sire (Saarloos).
These wild claims are totally pointless as she was never going to be bred
from for a number of reasons and wasn't, therefore, a threat to other Wolfdog/Wolf
Lookalike breeders. "Whisper" inherited the natural wolf reserve from
her distant wolf ancestors, making her extremely wary of strangers; she
was inquisitive but preferred to watch from a safe distance. Although she had the Tundra
Wolf appearance that we are aiming for I do not want to breed timid
dogs since they do not make good domestic pets. In addition
to this her Northern Inuit dog line contained several health problems
that I didn't want to introduce into the Anglo Wulfdog breeding
programme, so she was just a beautiful, much loved, family pet.
However, she was a favourite with visitors who had to be content with just taking
photographs; she saved all her cuddles for me.
Sadly on the 12th of April she was stolen from our garden. From
reported sightings we think she either escaped or was dumped 40 miles
from home. We spent over three weeks searching for her and
tracking her progress through sightings as she steadily made her way
across open countryside in the direction of home. There was
a report in a local newspaper of a Wolf on the Wolds with a picture of
her, which is the last picture ever taken. Sadly she found herself
on a private estate, where near starvation caused her to kill some sheep
and she was tragically shot and killed before we could reach her.
She was brought home on the 8th of May 2012 and laid to rest overlooking
the open fields, where she loved to watch the pheasants. She has
left a gaping hole which can never be filled and she is missed terribly
by myself, the family and her pack. Run free sweet girl -
you were very special and will never be forgotten x
Note:
I can't believe that the person I brought Whisper from - who didn't
breed her but purchased the litter from the actual breeder at a very
young age as a business investment - has put on her website that she
bred the dog and she was a wolf hybrid! I have it in writing
from this person that Whisper was a Saarloos Wolfdog x Northern Inuit. I
was asked to help out as she was struggling to rear the litter as they'd
been taken away from their mother far too young and several of them were
showing signs of illness - so I took on one that wasn't ill and after a
quarantine period I allowed her to be reared by one of my bitches
alongside her own litter. Whisper formed such a strong bond with me and
my other dogs that I couldn't bear to be parted from her and I therefore
paid this woman £1,000 for the dog with the agreement that I would pay a
further £1,000 if ever I bred from her. However, a few
months later she decided that she wanted the dog back and she came to my
house late one night, with her friends, and tried to take her and
another of my dogs. Obviously the police were called and she even
had the audacity to tell the police, in front of me, that I had been
looking after her dogs and wouldn't let her have them back!
Fortunately I had written evidence that I had bought the dogs and they
belonged to me. Whisper was a very beautiful, intelligent dog who
won the hearts of everyone who met her. It is tragic enough that
she was stolen from my property and was either released or escaped 40
miles from home and was later shot dead. This family has gone
through enough without all the evil lies that are being told - we are
not even permitted to grieve in peace without sick minded people
spreading malicious rumours that we have "over 22 wolf hybrids here that
regularly escape and kill livestock" or that they "don't believe she was
shot but rather that my other dogs killed her" or "she ran away to get
away from my other dogs". I have welcomed dozens of families into
my home to meet my dogs and all would testify that I have no more dogs
here than are on my website; that they are an assortment of 'wolf
lookalike' mixes and all the dogs are sociable and
friendly - a couple are nervous and these are the ones that were
actually bred by this woman and are poor examples compared with my own breeding.
Can you believe anything this person says? Obviously just a
commercial breeder with no heart or compassion!
(This page will be updated in the very near future
with the last, stunning pics of Whisper taken during the snow last
winter plus the newspaper report with her last photo).
I would just like to take this
opportunity to thank all the wonderful people who were out searching for
her, offering practical help and moral support throughout the last three
weeks. You gave us hope and kept us going through the very hard
times. We very much appreciate the network of dog lovers who were
with us in our hour of need and I'm only sorry that there was such a
very sad end. Thank you.
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