Repo
Mascot for NW Wildlife rehab center
6265 Brickyard Rd.
Tillamook, OR.
1-503-842-2111
NWwildlife@hotmail.com
My Story of the rescue of Repo starts on the morning of Nov. 7, 1986. I
was called by the Lincoln County Dog Control to tell me that they had a
wolfdog that had been brought into their office from another location.
He had been found killing cats and eating them to maintain his life.
The officer that I was talking to said that they had held him the
required number of days and they had until 11 when they would TRY to get
him out of the cage to euthanize. I told them to hold their horses and
I would be there with luck before 11. I called a friend to tell her
that I was going to be gone most of the day because I was going after
another wolfdog. At that time Lobet my first was about 10 months old.
I went as far as the friends house and we climbed into her Nissan
station wagon. We were off on a journey that would last for many years.
We arrived in Newport and went right to the dog pound getting there
about 10 after 11. I was sweating bullets I don't mind admitting. We
walked into the office and I told them why I was there, the lady that
was at the desk asked me to follow her to the back so that I could view
this animal. These were to be the first steps on a long journey of
wolfdog rescues.
Following the lady as she was explaining that this was a big male and
that he was prone to growl at anyone that came too close to his cage.
We stopped at one of the cages and I heard a low growl coming from the
cage. I stepped around her into the face of the most beautiful year old
male wolfdog I had ever seen. His golden eyes bored into my very soul.
I knew that he was meant to be ours but, did I have enough courage to
face him down and make him a part of my pack?
I will tell you, my knees
were weak and I thought that everyone in the room could hear my heart
pounding. I decided that it was now or never with this beautiful
creature, and stepped into the cage with this beautiful creature. He
looked at me and started the threat posture as well as the growling, now
I was committed and there was no way that I could get out before he had
done some major damage. I looked into his eyes and reached out to him,
he stepped back, knowing that with most animals the fight or flight
response is very strong I took a very large step forward into his space
and reached out to touch him. Now was the time to win lose and no draw,
He let me touch him and then got very upset about it, that was my cue
and I grabbed him around the muzzle and in the throat threw him down and
quite literally alphaed him in a matter of seconds. I let him up and
took the leash from the lady and said for her to draw up the paperwork
and I would be right there to sign it and pay the fee to ransom him
out. When she left us my friend asked if I thought we were going to be
okay in her tiny station wagon with this big dog.
Of course that was the moment that Repo and I became the best of
friends and he accepted me as the alpha female in his life. I snapped
the leash on his collar and we walked out into the office as if we had
come in together, he was so glad to get out of there that I think he
would have gone with anyone to get out. We loaded him into that tiny
station wagon with the back seat laid out flat. He filled most of the
area and could stand up if he crouched down. What a site we must have
been to the other cars on the road two slightly silly acting women and
this big dog.
We got home at around 5 pm and I transferred him into my Toyota
pickup again my friend and I had to laugh as there was very little space
for me in there if I could not get this monster to move over. With a
little(?) pushing and shoving I finally was able to get in and the big
dog and I headed to town to pick up Jim, my hubby, up at work. The dog
and I pulled into the parking lot and Jim started to climb into the
truck with big dog and I, Dog says NO and hubby says what? and alpha
female grabs big dogs muzzle and says very loud in big dogs ear STOP.
Hubby climbs in and we go home.
We had a female that was about ten months old already and she was
causing a great deal of trouble here at the house. You can read her
story at the link called Lobets Song. We introduced the two and they
were instant friends. They played together and never had a cross word.
That was a big relief to hubby and I as we were not sure what the
reaction of Lobet was going to be. We now had two count them if you can
keep up with them two wolfdogs and still had the problem of no one to go
to the speeches with me.
Several weeks later I was talking to another friend that ran a pet
store and she wanted to see the big dog who by then had earned the name
Repo because he was a rescue from the dog pound. Repossessed dog, get
it? I came home and talked to hubby and he thought that Repo might like
to go with me. Now or never with this animal all the way until he was
with me several years. I loaded him up in the truck and we went to the
pet shop to meet Myrna and his public. He got all of the attention and
Myrna made lots of money as the word spread all over town that there was
a big wolfdog lazing around in the pet store. In looking at it today I
would never have done that with an animal that I don't really know all
that well, but God or good luck was with me and I never had one
complaint about his reaction to the public. He acted as if he loved it
so we made another date (Dec.23). That time I was really watching his
reactions to HIS public. He loved it!! What six foot long 120 pound
wolfdog or just dog would not love to be petted and spoiled for about
three hours. That was the test that told me that I was going to keep
this animal for speeches.
The only thing that happened during that time was our vet, now it is
funny but at the time I was a little concerned. We took Repo in for a
neuter and shots, The vet came around the corner and walked right into a
pile of children and Repo on his back getting tummy pets, they are still
his personal favorites. The vet looked at him looked again and said do
you know what this animal is? We said yes that we had gotten him as a
playmate for Lobet the vet said okay and that was that. The vets office
is one of Repos favorite stops.
Time slid by and we were into the spring and it was time to start
making plans to do the summer speeches. Of course I was hoping that he
was going to be okay with traveling a lot. He loved it, and I always
arrived with the front of my clothing soaked with the water dripping out
of his mouth. He has traveled over 130,000 miles with me talking about
the fact that they are not dogs they can be killers, Repo has killed,
cats, other male dogs, a goat, rabbits, raccoons, opossum, rats, a couch
that the spring squeaked in, and the paneling on the door of the pickup
because I was talking to someone with out him.
He is terribly smart, he can, open my truck doors from the inside,
he opens screen doors, he knows when he can show off and when he can
not, he knows the difference between still cameras and video cameras and
how to look the part for each. There are times when we are out and
about that something will be going on that upsets him and it is almost
like he sends me a message to turn and look. He will not let anyone
that uses drugs to have anything to do with him. Best drug dog in the
house. We at one time were going to see if he would show us if there
were drugs on a person but the police officer that wanted to do that
moved away and now I don't want to know for fear that I might say some
thing to some one that would do some thing to him.
About a year after we brought him home the original owners showed up
at the dog pound and wanted to know who had him and where they lived.
Bless the lady there she knew where he was and how well he was doing but
she told them that she thought he had been euthanized. This person had
his registration papers and showed them to the lady, they had his
picture attached. She quickly looked for the two things that I had told
her that I wished I knew. What his mix dog is and his percentage is. She
called me after they left, I guess that he was trying to say that he was
stolen from his home when he was gone. We found out that the dog mix is
malamute and his percentage is 95. That was a rather big shock to us as
here we had this monster child Lobet who was 93% it was as different as
night and day.
To this day Repo travels around with me all summer meeting thousands
of people young and old and loves every minute of it. In the years
hubby taught him to eat corn dogs and my friend and his taught him to
eat sausage and egg muffins. Other than that he eats only dog food and
once in a while a road killed deer or elk.
He has out lived all of the girls that have lived with him (6), and
is just as good as ever, He is getting a little slower but he is still
the beautiful animal he was that fateful day in 1986.
That my friend is Repos story.
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