Name: Shadeouh (SHAY-dee-Oh)

Alias: Shadey

Gender: Female

Height: 22"

Weight: 70 lbs.

Species: Canine

Breed(s): Black Labrador / Siberian Husky/Arctic Wolf(?)

Birthday: September, 2002.

How Animal was Obtained: I purchased Shadey from the Woodland Animal Shelter around November or December, 2002. We had to go through a long interviewing process to prove we would be a suitable owner for her, then my mother had to sign several forms, saying how we would take the best possible care of her, take her to the vet if she were to become ill, and say that we wouldn't sue or anything else if it turned out she were aggressive, being a large and "potentially dangerous" breed.

They told us that Shadey was discovered in a dry field after getting an anonymous call about what looked like a dead bear cub. As it turned out, it was just a black puppy, and she wasn't dead -- but nearly. She was lying there, and they said she was weak, nearly unconscious and had barely enough energy to open her eyes and try to lift her head.

They said that they looked around the field and found some 'remains' of a couple other black and white pups that had probably been her littermates, but none were alive and one looked like it had been mauled by some kind of wild animal, probably after it hadn't had any food or water for a while and was too weak to even hope to defend itself.

There were maggots crawling over them, so they had been there for a while after they were dead, meaning that if the others were too weak to escape a predator, the one that was alive must not have had anything decent to eat for days. The only thing she could have consumed to sustain herself was the thick muddy water in the ditches and her own feces, which was just enough to keep her alive.

They had to get her back to the shelter and hook her up to IVs to get her strong enough to move around and start walking and playing again, but she was still a really reserved and quiet pup. She would play with the staff when they encouraged her to, but otherwise showed no interest in roughhousing with the other dogs when the volunteers socialized them.

They told us that a woman who lived near the field they found Shadey in confessed to getting rid of the pups. She had apparently told them that her purebred black labrador retriever got hooked up with a stray husky-like dog while they were camping, and since he looked like he could have been wolf, she cared for the pups for about two months and then "let them go" in the field since she couldn't sell them, claiming that since they had wolf in them, they should have been just fine in the wild.

This is absolutely rediculous -- even a grown pure wolf can easily die in the wild if it hasn't been raised in a pack and taught to survive and hunt, much less a group of tiny two month old puppies without their parents; hence why only three of the pups were found at all, two of which were already dead and the third, Shadey, was well on her way to following them.

They said that the woman's identity was confidential, and that they couldn't tell us who she was, nor what happened to her -- whether she got to keep her other dog(s), got fined, went to jail or what. I certainly hope she wasn't allowed to get away with it, but to this day, as far as I know, I've never even met her. That's probably a good thing, because if I found out who was responsible for treating my baby so badly, /I/ would be the one going to jail..for assault and attempted murder. --;

We couldn't take my Shadey-girl home right then for a reason I don't remember, as I was about eleven, but she was put up as "adopted" so no one else could apply to adopt her, and believe me, there was quite a line of disappointed people every time I would come back to check on her, and take her out into the enclosures and play with her.

About a week later, we got to take her to our own house, where she got to meet our other dogs. Shadey was very sick with Kennel Cough and had worms which needed to go. She passed the cough to our other dogs, and we then had to get them antibiotics as well.

Unfortunately, she caught the cold from them again after she was almost over it, so it took her nearly a month before she was completely healthy. Once she was feeling better, she began to explore her new home more, and she took to Akita right off. The two became the best of friends, it was like they had been together all of their lives.

Shadey quickly grew a good twenty to thirty pounds bigger than Akita, but she was perfectly happy being second-in-command, faithfully following Akita and backing her up every step of the way. Shadey has never had any interest in trying to get a higher ranking, and would never dream of challenging or overthrowing Akita.

Notes: Shadey truly does have the best temperament out of all of my dogs. She's sweet, lovable, affectionate, and is VERY intelligent. It took me all of five minutes to teach her to sit, lie down and stay, and she loves to do some other tricks like shake hands, or lie her chin on your lap on command -- this has come in handy when you're trying to put flea medication on the back of her neck, or cleaning her ears. XD

Shadey is good with all other dogs that she has met, and most people, too -- but she seems to be afraid of some guys, especially if they're tall and wearing hats or anything around their faces. She's only growled at a homeless man who raised his hand at her when we were on our walk, and sometimes grumbles a bit and warns my dad's disgusting customers and weird friends not to come into our backyard without our permission.
She's a very good dog, and a lot of times even people who dislike dogs will still be fond of her. As soon as we brought our two new beagle puppies home, she took over the responsibility of keeping them out of trouble and from chewing things up that they aren't supposed to. She even broke up their fights if they would get too rough when playing.

Shadey's full name is "Shadeouh", pronounced "SHAY-dee-Oh". She reminds me so much of my old wolf/shepherd/collie mix, Mariah, who my parents had when I was adopted. They are both such good dogs that you couldn't tell that they have 'wild animal' in them at all unless you looked at the surface instead of what's on the inside...that, or listen to the howling, of course. :3

Update:
About a year ago, Shadey adopted a puppy. She's been spayed and can't have any litters of her own, but got to care for a tiny Jack Russel Terrier/Chihuahua mix who was separated from his mother far too young -- at three weeks. It was adorable to see her lie in the floor with him while he slept after drinking a nice big bottle of puppy formula, especially because he was around two pounds and she, nearly eighty.



Shadey has tons of friends around town, and can get along with just about any dog. She recently met a gorgeous gray wolf called Cody while she was at the vet to get some sensetive-skin shampoo and flea repellant. He was two years older than her, but still extremely hyper and playful. She wasn't quite sure what to think of him, and mostly stood and watched, occasionally yodeling and making a bunch of whimpery, talkative husky-noises at him while he jumped around, crouching with his rump in the air and pouncing at her, wagging his tail. It was pretty cute to watch, and he was gorgeous. I loved watching his "why doesn't she want to play with me?" expression when she'd sit there and cock her head at him.