We’ve been keeping a little secret… ❤️ Meet our newest foster! He’s a 6 month old wolfdog, and for the past 6 weeks we’ve been quietly getting to know him and helping him build confidence. When he first came to us, he was incredibly fearful of people and unlike any foster we’ve ever had before. We’ve worked with a lot of fearful dogs over the years, but quickly realized that we couldn’t assume everything that worked for them would work for him. So over the weeks, we’ve done a lot of listening and a lot of learning. With an animal this fearful, our goal was never to make him love people overnight. It was to help him understand that he was safe, that his boundaries would be respected, and that he could begin interacting with people at a pace he was comfortable with and let him tell us when he was ready for more. And very slowly in the smallest moments, he started choosing us! First it was taking food from our hands, then playing with us for the first time. Eventually, he started asking us for affection which, made resisting the urge to pet this adorable puppy VERY difficult! Nothing changed overnight, it happened little by little. And 6 weeks later, we’re getting to know a completely different side of him. He plays with us, asks for affection, trains with us, hikes, swims, and explores with our pack! He’s learning to feel comfortable in new places and around new people. There are still things that scare him, and he still has a long way to go and that’s okay. We’re on his timeline, not ours. Our goal has never been to turn him into a different animal or expect him to fit into the life of a typical dog. It’s simply to help him feel safe enough to become the happiest, most confident version of himself. Whatever that ends up looking like for him, his needs will always come first. These past 6 weeks have taught us just how unique wolfdogs are and how different their needs can be. They require a different level of understanding, commitment, and lifestyle than a typical dog, and we’re incredibly grateful to have people with years of wolfdog experience helping us understand him and his needs along the way. We have a lot of experience rehabilitating dogs, but we would never pretend that makes us wolfdog experts. We’re learning as we go, asking questions when we don’t know something, and leaning on people with extensive wolfdog experience along the way. Right now, he gets to be a puppy, keep learning that people can be safe, go on lots of adventures and enjoy being spoiled by our pack❤️ — @thegoodhypeのTikTok