No sheep's clothing needed here

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Oct 18, 2009

Story and photographs

by Carolyn Kaberline

SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Dawn Liska has the same problem many dog owners face: Every time she opens the door to let Baby in the house, the large tan and gray canine heads straight for the middle of the bed.

The only difference is that Baby is a full-blooded timber wolf -- one of three owned by Liska, who lives in Perry.

Liska's interest in wolves goes back to her childhood when her family owned a German shepherd-wolf cross. The family had to give it away when her father, who was in the Army, was sent to Germany.

Later, when Liska lost an Australian shepherd-border collie cross she'd had for 20 years, she decided she wanted to try a wolf or wolf cross. She got Baby from a breeder in Topeka when the pup was only 8 weeks old and has had her since; she's even raised several litters of wolves and wolf-hybrids from her.

One of those she's raised is Sundance, a large golden male timber wolf, that's one of her three.

"It took me 10 years of breeding to get the golden color," Liska said. "Usually they're gray and tan in color."

Her third wolf, Yuki, is totally unrelated to the other two: Yuki is a white Arctic wolf that she obtained from a man in Manhattan who went to Alaska to get his wolves; Liska has had the white wolf, whose name means "Snowflake" in Chinese, since Yuki was 6 weeks old.

While people tend to think of wolves as dangerous, watching Liska give Sundance a tummy rub while a calico cat curls up against Yuki quickly dispels that belief.

"I've never heard of anyone being attacked by hand-raised wolves," she said. "If wolves don't like a person, they'll walk between you and the person in such a way that the person steps back. If a wolf doesn't want anything to do with you, they'll stay away from you."

Liska said wolves are highly trainable.

"You can train them to be anything you want," she said, adding that wolves are exceptionally loyal, never go looking for trouble and are more easy-going than other canines. A man in Holton who bought one of her wolf pups trained him to be a stock dog.

"I used to raise goats, and Baby would mother them," Liska said. "I've never worried with the kids around the wolves. I've had friends say wolves are just like people when it comes to mothering."

While wolves in the wild live for six to 10 years, they can live twice that long in captivity: Baby is now 16 and seems to have none of the infirmities common to older dogs.

"Wolves are exceptionally strong," she said, which makes them good sled dogs. Baby came from a litter of 12, and her litter mates placed second in the Iditarod, the famed 1,150-mile race across Alaska.

Liska said that while Baby is always trying to get into the house, wolves are better off outside. Not only do they have two coats, which "makes brushing them seem like it takes forever," their musky smell is potent.

"When you have them all in the house at the same time, their smell is overpowering," Liska said. "However, they get to come in the house to be pampered."

While the diets of wolves and dogs are similar -- they both eat dog food, meat and fish -- wolves don't eat a lot.

"When they get full, they'll bury the rest," Liska said.

Wolves also have a distinctive howl.

"The neighbors kind of like them when they howl at night, but they only do that when sirens go down the highway," Liska said. "Yuki has a break in her howl, but Baby has the longest howl of all."

While Liska has sold many pups over the years, she screens prospective owners carefully to find out how the wolves will be used.

"There are some people that just want to raise them for their hides," she said. "And if you want a pet, then it's like raising a kid: You're in it for the long haul."

Liska knows that these are the last full-blooded wolves that she'll be able to have due to Kansas laws.

"Although it's now illegal to have wolves in Kansas, I was grandfathered in," she said. "But I can't replace them."

Carolyn Kaberline is a freelance writer in Topeka. She can be reached at ckaberli@aol.com.