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.
Photo 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. ♥
Flowery Prose 
What a treat!
Jean
Yes – such a wonderful place!
Beautiful animals. Loved hearing their haunting howls. ❤
It was such a delight that they all started howling together, we were very fortunate to catch the moment.
Well photographed beautiful animals
They are definitely very photogenic subjects – and I think some of them know how to pose just so…. 🙂
🙂
what an amazing shot
We captured so many great images that day, it was hard to choose! 🙂
What a great project. And the tours are very reasonably priced.
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.
They are gorgeous animals and it’s sad they need a sanctuary. Beautiful photos of them too. Stink eye indeed. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
It was so funny to see that raven and the wolfdog Zeus – it was like they were playing a game.
Beautiful, beautiful! Sadly, I couldn’t get the audiophile to play. Ah, well…
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!
It’s probably something on my end.
gorgeous and in synchrony
Definitely a real treat to see (and hear) them!
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…
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!
Very interesting and good work to
Thanks for the explanation, especially the fact that these wolfdogs were bred not “wild” finds.
You’re so welcome!
The staff definitely works hard to give these animals a second chance and to educate the public. It’s good to see.
Beautiful animals! You have taken some superb shots of these creatures. I loved the audio recording (once I had turned off the mute!)
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.
Oh my goodness, how amazing! and what a thrill to hear them.
Thank you for the explanation of the wolfdogs.
Sheryl: Thanks for the likes on, Elm Drive Images. NEAT IMAGES!
Wonderful, and the audio of the howling is really something – thank you!