Greenthread of the Ebon Blade

“Buddy”

Buddy was born on June 27, 2018 and was bred by us, Wolfdogs of the Ebon Blade, here in Texas, USA. He is from our very first litter, which had 9 puppies (six males and three females). The litter theme was Texas Flowers, so each puppy was given the common name of a flower species native to Texas. Buddy’s parents are Anubis and BIS MULTI GPI INT NAT CH Tarheel Queen of Hearts (“Talia”).

Buddy is a very serious and thoughtful dog who enjoys hanging out with us and watching everything we do. Occasionally, he’ll come up for some scratches on his neck and chest, which are his favorite, but for the most part, he likes to be close without being snuggly. He has tended to be a rather quiet dog for most of his life, although he has started to become more vocal within the last year or so, which is fun to see. He is a very intelligent guy who learns quickly and is very food motivated, so training is pretty easy. He remains pretty calm in stressful situations and prefers to just sit and observe everything going on while sitting next to us.

Buddy has displayed mild Same Sex Aggression towards some of his brothers, but is perfectly happy to be best friends with his littermate brother, Teddy. He has a fairly high prey drive, so we do not allow him around cats or other small animals. Buddy will resource guard food and other high value items from other dogs, but not from humans that we have ever experienced, and if given the chance, will steal another dog’s food, so we keep him separated for feeding times.

Buddy will be getting neutered in 2024. We aren’t sure yet exactly what month, but probably closer to summertime. Once he has recovered from his surgery, we will be searching for a home where he can be spoiled as someone’s companion. We feel that Buddy would do best in a single-dog household whose owner leads a quiet lifestyle. Buddy is not the type of dog who would do well at dog parks or in group play with other dogs, and would not be a candidate for off-leash activities in public. He does very much enjoy spending quality time with “his” people. He is fairly shy with strangers and takes a while to warm up.

Buddy is used to living outside full-time, although we feel that, with proper training and gentle boundaries put in place, he could transition well over time to being an indoor dog. Please understand that it takes wolfdogs months to adjust to big changes in location, lifestyle, and especially owners. We hope to find an owner who is committed to taking things slow and gaining Buddy’s trust before expecting very much from him.

We will require interested homes to have a secure, escape-proof fence for their yard, as well as an outdoor enclosure. The fencing must be made of reinforced steel, such as 9-gauge chain link, or 4-gauge cattle panels (wrapped with a secondary fence, such as horse wire, to prevent him from sticking his head through the gaps in cattle panels). The fence must be at least 8 feet tall, with lean-ins, dig-guards, and a double-gated entryway. The enclosure itself must be no smaller than 1,000 sqft. The enclosure would be the best place for Buddy to live at first, so he can start getting to know his new owners for the first several months. Once a bond of trust has been established with his new owners, it would then be easier on him to start transitioning him to life indoors. Crate training is something that you can work on while he’s living outdoors in the enclosure, such as teaching him the cue to go in and out of the crate, rewarding him for being in the crate, etc. He is familiar with being crated here, but dogs tend to be bad at generalizing what they know and applying that knowledge to new situations, so starting from step 1 would be helpful. I (Katie) have several years of experience working as a professional dog trainer and I’m happy to help come up with a plan if an adopter was interested in adding Buddy to their family.