Yamnuska wolfdogs gaming the tourist system through busy summer

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During interactive tours at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, the wolfdogs train you.

“They do know how to work the system,” says Kyra O’Donnell, who has been working at the sanctuary for several years.

She says the wolfdogs are incredibly intelligent, and at this point understand that visitors are gunning for their attention. They’ll teach tourists to hold out whichever treat they’re in the mood for that day, and dole out affection accordingly until the tour’s entire lineup has learned their dietary preferences.

“Nova, he’ll do this big jump — that’s his big, ‘Hey, I’m showing off, please reward me for it,'” O’Donnell said.

“That was something that visitors kind of fed into, because when Nova jumped, they went, ‘Oh, this is so cool, here is all of my treats.'”

The interactive tour mischief comes as a departure from what the experience has been like in previous years. The group of dogs comfortable with so much human interaction has had a changing of the guard, even in O’Donnell’s relatively short time leading the visitations. Wolfdogs have grown old and retired out of the program, some have passed away.

“The tour is very different from when I first started here,” she said.

“It was very educational, and it was a really incredible opportunity. But now — it is [educational], but it’s also a lot more interactive.”

Previous versions of the tour asked guests not to even reach towards the animals, only seeing brief interactions when animals took treats from guests hands. The wolfdogs currently in the interactive tours all get “pretty jazzed about it,” O’Donnell said.

Dogs will “muzzle punch,” when not receiving enough treats from handlers, and started offering paws so frequently that the team was forced to stop teaching animals to shake.

“Especially, I find, the boys. The boys love, love, love it.”

One of the wolfdogs previously in the interactive program that has since passed away, was Kuna.

“Kuna is the whole reason why we’re doing what we’re doing today,” says Sarah Misson, Communications Manager at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.

Misson has been with the sanctuary for roughly a year and a half. She said that meeting Kuna, the sanctuary’s founding wolfdog, and Zeus, who followed shortly after, was an incredible privilege both as visitor and as staff member.

“To build a little bit of a connection and bond with her, through general animal care and spending time with her, was amazing,” Misson said.

“In retrospect, meeting those wolfdogs and being mesmerized by them, and really coming here and working with them, it was quite amazing.”

In that year and a half as part of the team, Misson has seen the sanctuary grow substantially. When Kuna passed away in Sept. 2024, the sanctuary was home to 58 wolfdogs. Less than a year later, they house 71.

Wolfdogs are not easy pets, results in surrenders

Wolfdogs are a breed of animal that first resulted in efforts to profit off the exotic pelt trade — and later the exotic pet trade. They can be difficult animals to take care of, not holding the same instincts to please or obey humans in the same way dogs without wolf parentage do.

Misson said that desire for wolfdogs as pets often jumps with portrayals in media, such as a spike seen during the peak popularity of hit television-show Game of Thrones. Owners, after bringing animals into their home, regularly see why the breed isn’t a good fit for their lifestyles, and surrender the animals to the sanctuary.

The teams are also forced to rescue wolfdogs from abusive or neglectful situations.

A wolfdog named Atka was rescued from a “backyard breeding hoarding,” environment. He’s missing several toes, and a chunk off one ear, after small and uncomfortable cages led to fence fighting between the territorial animals.

The legality of owning wolfdogs varies from one province to another. They’re legal to own here in Alberta, or in British Columbia, but illegal in a province like Ontario, which is the former home of the newest additions to the Yamnuska family.

In April, two team members made the long drive to Ontario and back to rescue 10 wolf dogs after being contacted by the provincial government.

Those animals aren’t along the public pathways visitors wander, still getting used to interacting even with staff on site. They’re split into a pack of three and six, with one single having arrived as part of the rescue.

Misson says that, with a focus on responsible rescuing, they are once more at peak-capacity. Another rescue is on the table for October this year, but they are frequently turning down emails of individuals looking to surrender wolfdog pets to the sanctuary, and stopped taking animals from the U.S. to keep up with the demand in Canada.

They’ll have to fundraise to build more space for animals.

The animals are currently split into roughly 24 different enclosures, which cost roughly $65,000 a piece. The organization is currently fundraising to properly equip a coyote-dog named Wildfire, who requires special accommodations like smaller gauged fencing.

No new enclosures are currently underway. For the first time since the initial visitor’s centre, Yamnuska is building a space designed not for the animals, but for guests.

Thanks to a $125,000 grant from the provincial government, a new community day-use area is underway, allowing the sanctuary to better accommodate groups and educate the public on wildlife. It will also be the sanctuary’s first weather shelter on site.

Guests’ only current option come rainfall is to purchase a plastic poncho from the visitors centre — all proceeds of which go to support the sanctuary.

Reid Hutchinson visited the sanctuary for the first time Thursday morning, stopping shortly on a long trip to British Columbia. He and his wife live nearby in Calgary, and follow the sanctuary on social media, but have never before made the visit.

“I think everybody should come and check it out,” Hutchinson said, holding up a small hoard of merchandise to purchase after their hour-long walk through the sanctuary.

“I think we’d come back, you know, bring our nieces and nephews, my dad or somebody. Just to check it out.”

Hutchinson says he’d do the tour next time; another visitor ready to be trained by a wolfdogs punching muzzle, or lifted paw, or skyward leaps.