Lakotah Sioux

sex: female
born: November 1993
birth place: Colorado

deceased: 19 May 2008

 

 

Lakotha Sioux's Memorial
see Newsletter - Spring 2008 (click)

Lakotah Sioux's Story

Although we do not consider Lakotah Sioux a rescued animal, it is a good example of goofy people with good intentions doing goofy things. In this case however, the goofy people happen to be Frank and Pat Wendland, cofounders of Wolf. Lakotah came into their lives when they still lived in town. Their neighbor, Don, was going through a tough divorce. He recently had to sell his mountain home and move into a duplex. In the process of the move, his dog escaped and was never seen again. The Wendlands would have him over to dinner almost every night as he was one of those men who never learned to cook. At this time, Frank and Pat had Frank's daughter's dog, Ginger, living with them. She is a Australian Shepherd-Heeler mix, an extremely loving and fun animal. Don adored her and continually questioned the Wendlands about her, suggesting she would be perfect for him.

The Wendlands decided to get Don a dog for Christmas. In fact, an Australian Shepherd-Heeler mix! They watched the papers and just before Christmas there it was, the exact combination they were looking for. They went to see the puppies and were kind of surprised by what they saw. Although the little bundles of fluff where hard to determine the mix of, the mom appeared to have something other than the reported breeds in her makeup. Even though the Wendlands were no experts, she appeared to have German Shepherd and wolf characteristics. Before they knew it Lakotah had chosen them and there was no leaving with­out her. As they questioned the owner about the lineage, she confessed that indeed mom was 50% German Shepherd and 50% wolf, and dad was an interloper with 50% Australian Shepherd and 50% Heeler. The Wendlands figured the small amount of wolf would not present a problem (and for most aspects of her personality it really didn’t). She would have made a wonderful pet for a single pet household. The real surprise occurred when they gave this irresistible fluff-ball to Don. His level of surprise and expressions were a little confusing, but he graciously accepted.

The next morning sitting down to coffee was a totally different story. Don came over and explained that he had not slept a wink all night. He was so stressed by the responsibility of a puppy to take care of that he was having anxiety attacks. It appears that he had never raised his own dogs before; it was either his mother or his wife who had performed all those tasks. Although a little stunned, the Wendlands apologized and took Lakotah into their home.

She was a wonderful animal and adored Frank, following him where ever he went. She was even the alpha female of the 14 animal House Pack, keeping a tight rein on everyone else. In fact at times a little too tight. It appears she probably started more conflict than she prevented. This aspect of her personality is one of the many problems with wolf-dogs. Eventually the House Pack decided enough was enough. Lakotah spent the remainder of her years outside of the front gate, free from the confines of an enclosure. She greeted visitors at their vehicles, barked to be escorted to and from the house as she pleased, and was basically extremely spoiled.

As she aged, she begin slowing down. She had terrible back problems from a fall down the stairs that required chiropractic help for her to walk easily. We ended up building a ramp off the deck for Lakotah and the other older ladies to use instead of the stairs. That helped for awhile. Lakotah began having more problems in May. She became ill and eventually was unable to walk. We cared for her as best we could until her eyes told us it was time. We carried Lakotah out to the grassy area by the pond on May 19, 2008 to say goodbye. We miss her, but know her spirit is doing well.

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