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01via Wolf Connection
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Coming across a “free puppy” sign on a random house as you're walking outside… you wouldn't think much of it. If you were already looking to adopt, it would feel like fate. And it did feel like fate, to a young man in Tuscon, Arizona. He noticed the sign, knocked on the door, saw the puppy, fell in love, and knew that this was his new best friend for life. Or so he thought.
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According to The Dodo, the puppy, later named Neo, was a little different than your ordinary puppies. He was always nervous, skittish, doing his business in the car rather than outside. The only person's company who he wanted was his owner's, and he wanted it all the time. Of course, his owner was happy to give it, but when he was at work or school, he would keep Neo in the backyard. "According to his owner, Neo would dig out or jump the fence to play with the neighbors' dogs," Cate Salansky of Wolf Connection explained. "He built a higher fence to help contain him, but Neo chewed through it and continued to escape."
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03 via Wolf Connection
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His looks weren't what gave him away. Neo passed as a regular dog. But eventually, the owner did begin to suspect that something was wrong. He looked like a wolf - amber eyes, long, lanky body. And he acted like a wolf in some ways too. His desire to constantly be around the neighbor's dogs wasn't simply a playful characteristic, it was his desire to be part of a pack manifesting itself.
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04 via Wolf Connection
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At first, the neighbors had no issue with Neo jumping the fence to come and visit. But the fact that he didn't want to interact with them at all, refused any treats, didn't meet their eyes… it caused them to be suspicious as well. And eventually, they had enough and drove him to a shelter to see if they could hold onto him until they found a solution with the owner.
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05 via Wolf Connection
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Maureen O'Nell, the former CEO of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, recalled the first encounter with Neo at the shelter. "One morning, before our animal welfare campus opened to the public, I was outside with another staff member," she said. "I saw a couple walking a long-legged canine to the front door. It wasn't his body composition that made me notice, but his behavior. Neo was completely avoidant of human interaction. The couple walking him seemed, as best as I can describe it, perplexed."
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06 via Wolf Connection
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She realized very quickly that this wasn't going to be a normal day at the shelter. "I approached the couple and asked, 'You know that isn't a dog, right?'" O'Nell said. "They responded, 'we were wondering.'" Of course, wolves cannot be kept as pets by simply anyone in Arizona, so she contacted Wolf Connection, a wolf rescue center and sanctuary in California, and asked them to take Neo, and they agreed. She then contacted the original owner, explained the situation, and ultimately, he decided that she was right. "I told him I was proud of his decision," she said. "His boy had a wonderful life ahead of him at Wolf Connection."
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07 via Wolf Connection
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At the sanctuary, Neo flourished. At first, the workers there attempted to isolate him until the doctors gave Neo medical clearance, but Neo desperately wanted friends. "Neo decided that he didn't like being kept so far away from the rest of the pack, off in the isolated area of the compound. So he escaped the isolation kennel and went straight to the habitat of Wolf Connection's alpha female, Maya."
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08 via Wolf Connection
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On the very first night, Neo joined the “nightly howl” of the pack. "He didn't wait to see where he fit in with the pack," she said. "He knew he belonged." He finally found his pack.
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09 via Wolf Connection
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10 via Wolf Connection
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11 via Wolf Connection
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12 via Wolf Connection
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13 via Wolf Connection
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14 via Wolf Connection
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16 via Wolf Connection, Chris Perry
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17 via Wolf Connection
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18 via Wolf Connection
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19 via Wolf Connection, Chris Perry / WildsideGalleries.com
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20 via Wolf Connection
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21 via Wolf Connection
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