If you’ve been following Flowery Prose for a while, you may remember that in July of 2016 my brother, my hubby, and I took a trip out to the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, near Cochrane, Alberta. We had such an amazing time on the interactive tour that we decided to go again in early March of this year.  What a treat!  The wolfdogs were still sporting their fluffy winter coats and the absence of green grass and leaves on the trees gave us a different perspective than we had in the summer.  The Sanctuary has taken in more wolfdogs since we were last there, and staff and volunteers have built more enclosures to comfortably house them.

WDSFPNormandeau1Photo courtesy R. Normandeau.
The ravens love to steal the excess treats from the wolfdogs. The birds and wolfdogs are very tolerant of one another…aside from an occasional bit of stink eye.  😉 

We did the interactive tour once again and had a blast feeding and meeting some of the beautiful residents of the Sanctuary, as well as learning more about wolfdogs and the unfortunate reasons a rescue like this is so badly needed.  The highlight of the trip, however, was when the wolfdogs all spontaneously set up a chorus of howling, joining together to sing for us.  My brother was quick on the draw with his cellphone and he generously allowed me to share with you the audiofile he recorded:

Audio courtesy D. Mueller.

So wonderful!  If you’re interested in learning more about – and/or supporting – the work that the Sanctuary does, click here.  If you plan to travel in this part of Alberta, it’s a highly recommended stop – the staff are incredible and it is guaranteed that you will totally fall in love with the wolfdogs. ♥

WDSFPNormandeau2


29 responses to “Alberta snapshot: Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.”

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      Yes – such a wonderful place!

  1. Olga Avatar

    Beautiful animals. Loved hearing their haunting howls. ❤

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      It was such a delight that they all started howling together, we were very fortunate to catch the moment.

  2. derrickjknight Avatar

    Well photographed beautiful animals

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      They are definitely very photogenic subjects – and I think some of them know how to pose just so…. 🙂

  3. ksbeth Avatar

    what an amazing shot

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      We captured so many great images that day, it was hard to choose! 🙂

  4. Gallivanta Avatar

    What a great project. And the tours are very reasonably priced.

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      Yes, they do keep the prices at a decent level – and you are giving back to the upkeep of the Sanctuary and the wellbeing of the wolfdogs when you participate, so that’s a fantastic thing as well.

  5. insearchofitall Avatar

    They are gorgeous animals and it’s sad they need a sanctuary. Beautiful photos of them too. Stink eye indeed. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      It was so funny to see that raven and the wolfdog Zeus – it was like they were playing a game.

  6. Laurie Graves Avatar
    Laurie Graves

    Beautiful, beautiful! Sadly, I couldn’t get the audiophile to play. Ah, well…

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      That’s so strange that you couldn’t get the audio to play – I just double-checked it on the administrator’s end and I had my hubby check it from another “outside” computer and it is working from what we can tell…. I wonder what the issue could be…? It’s just an MP4 file so it’s a pretty common file type.

      If anyone else is reading the comments and can’t get the audiofile to play, please let me know as well…I’ll try to figure out what’s wrong and fix it if I can. Thanks, Laurie!

      1. Laurie Graves Avatar
        Laurie Graves

        It’s probably something on my end.

  7. Plantsandbeyond Avatar

    gorgeous and in synchrony

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      Definitely a real treat to see (and hear) them!

  8. BuntyMcC Avatar

    Thanks for reporting on your visits and telling us about the sanctuary. Nowhere on the sanctuary site could I find a definition of a wolfdog. I think I know but you’ve surely heard the warning about assuming…

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      They’re just as you’ve probably guessed, a wolf and dog hybrid. Some have more “wolf” content than others – the ones in these photos are what are termed “high content” so they’re quite wolf-like in character. These ones are fairly socialized but they are still wary of humans. Contrary to popular belief, wolves and dogs don’t usually breed in the wild; wolfdogs are products of specialty breeding. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always produce an animal that is suitable as a pet (especially the high content ones) and they are often abandoned.

      The Sanctuary also has a coydog (coyote/dog) named Rango – he has quite the personality!

  9. natuurfreak Avatar

    Very interesting and good work to

    1. BuntyMcC Avatar

      Thanks for the explanation, especially the fact that these wolfdogs were bred not “wild” finds.

    2. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      The staff definitely works hard to give these animals a second chance and to educate the public. It’s good to see.

  10. Clare Pooley Avatar

    Beautiful animals! You have taken some superb shots of these creatures. I loved the audio recording (once I had turned off the mute!)

    1. Sheryl @ Flowery Prose Avatar

      Thanks so much! This blog post was truly a collaborative effort – my hubby and I shared the photography and my brother did the audio recording. It was fun to put this one together, and I’m so glad you could hear the audio recording.

  11. LB Avatar

    Oh my goodness, how amazing! and what a thrill to hear them.
    Thank you for the explanation of the wolfdogs.

  12. elmdriveimages Avatar
    elmdriveimages

    Sheryl: Thanks for the likes on, Elm Drive Images. NEAT IMAGES!

  13. plaidcamper Avatar

    Wonderful, and the audio of the howling is really something – thank you!

I’m delighted to hear from you – thanks so much for your comments!

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