At the Ranch / Laurel's Hybrid

Go Back to Visit the Ranch Check out other 'owners' Wolfdogs!
Want to see your Wolfdog's picture with your name at this site? Send e-mail to ( Kwewu7@inetdesign.com ) with 'photo' as subject.

Awwww, how sweet... snortin' zzzz's on the couch.

A very handsome fella, Shasta, "Shaz" will be 2 in February. His father, Thrasher, is 100% MacKenzie Valley Wolf, and his mother, Shinnequa, 67% Canadian Timberwolf.

I met Shasta on his 3-wk. birthday. I fell in love with him. I told the breeder that I wanted him, and we agreed that he needed to come home with me sooner than later so we could "bond." (You know, do "the wolf thing"...)

I struggled for a name for weeks. I tried to get one before he came home with me, just a short three weeks later. I wasn't happy with it. I had been looking for a Nat. Amer. word for wolf, one that sounded and felt and tasted right when I said it.

I found a word in a SE U.S. tribe (can't remember which), "tasha." Sounds like a girl name to me, I knew Shaz's spirit was ALL MALE - I could feel it.

I had gone to a touring museum piece about wolves, from Minnesota, and had lots of names from throughout history for wolves - they had power but I felt they were negative. Shaz is not negative, I could feel that.
He came home with me [and] I tried to call him Tasha but it felt yucky.

One day, I was looking through the Atlas, at the upper Canadian maps around Mackenzie Valley (his dad is 100% Mack. and mom is 67% Canadian timberwolf).

For some reason, "Shasta" fell into my head all of a sudden. I knew OF Mt. Shasta, I have been a (-n ardent) student of metaphysics for at least 21 years now. Whenever I heard the word, "Shasta," I got really good vibes. And it sounds and tastes pretty to me.

So his name is Shasta, as of right then.

This is Shasta at 6 weeks old, taking his first bath. This was also Shasta's first day in his new home with me.

He taught himself how to open the back door, going in and out, before he was 6 months old. I guess I have replaced the kick panel three times (last time was with a custom-cut piece of heavy acrylic - looks grungy but wolf-proof). The screen, twice. Then I resorted to metal door guards. I think I am in generation seven of those. On the last two I used my rivet gun and "fortified" the corners where the frame meets the screen, and then (in a second pass of destruction) the inner parts of screen-frame interface. We are waiting now to see how long it takes him to eat a large enough hole in the center of the screen to merit a new one.

Then there is the patio screen door(s), which I just put in the sixth replacement of yesterday. With a door guard. And the two bedroom windows, screens on the storm windows. Just the first replacement on those.

The hot tub cover, which met its end only four days after being delivered last May.

The new lattice on the deck fence and gate - you see, it was an impediment to the tub cover and the screen doors. I never bothered to replace this - I bought salvage wrought iron and am waiting to find a Cheap Welder to help me fix another solution.

He seems to have stopped digging tunnels in the back yard. He had one that went three feet down and then three feet laterally. It would probably still be there, but I stupidly walked across it (?) after a heavy rain storm. That was quiet a surprise.

I know this is puppy stuff, but I am patiently (and faithfully) waiting for age three to dawn, hoping that he won't feel obligated to put absolutely everything he sees into his mouth and shred it.

He does one unusual thing I never have had a dog do to me. Sometimes, when it's early morning and he wakes up but doesn't want to get up yet, he lays down so that he can easily hold one of my hands and forearms in his paws. Then he proceeds to lick my fingers, one at a time, just a few little licks, then sticks THE WHOLE FINGER way back into his mouth, sideways, so that he can feel my finger between his [Great Crushing] molars. Then he DELICATELY chomps down gently on my finger 1-3 times, moves it back up to the front of his mouth, and licks it again a few times. Sometimes he repeats this a couple of times per finger, then moves to the next one. Thumbs included. Then he shifts his weight and starts in on the other hand.

You tell me.

If you'd like to know more about Shasta or Laurel Blyth Riegel, contact her direct at ( spectre@intex.net ) with 'Shasta' as subject.

Take a peek at Shasta on his first day home at Blyth's Scrapbook and also see his 'owner', the "little Texan," all grown up.

Go to the top of the page