11/29/16
We said goodbye to Viggo. Almost 16 years old, his back legs and body just couldn’t hold him any longer.
Viggo was wandering for three months as a stray in a neighborhood before one of the residents decided to protect him from being shot. A veterinarian, she brought Viggo into her home with her children and her own four dogs until he could be moved to Shy Wolf Sanctuary. When he arrived, he had heart worms and a bacterial disease called Coccidia. He pulled throughand became the leader of his own pack. In his older age, he met Dancer, who is kind of like an annoying little sister. But, as all siblings, they love each other; even when she tried to take his monkey.
Always a shy boy, he loved his volunteers with all of his heart. And we all loved him right back. Viggo peacefully crossed the Rainbow Bridge surrounded by his beloved Dancer, volunteers, and the pack who went before him at Shy Wolf Sanctuary.
Run free Viggo…always in our hearts.
*************
Viggo was wandering for three months as a stray in a neighborhood before one of the residents decided to protect him from being shot. She was a vet and brought him into her home with her kids and her own four dogs. When we were contacted, we knew that he would have to get along with Yukon and Nakipa, or we wouldn’t have a spot to take him. We did an initial introduction, which worked out well, and then broke our isolation rule. His rescuer was a vet who had brought him into her own home, so we expected she had done some basic testing. Boy, did we learn a lesson!
Viggo was heartworm positive, which cannot be directly transferred to other animals. However, he also had Coccidia, an easily transferred bacterial infection that is spread through feces. Since our animals frequently step in their foot tubs and also drink from the foot tubs it is easy to understand how Yukon came down with the bacteria as well. We were able to treat the animals, but we also learned we need to stick to our 10 day quarantine policy.
Viggo would be adoptable under our normal guidelines, since he warms up to people relatively easily and has been in a house. However, he had become the leader in his new pack and has formed a cohesive unit with three other non-adoptable wolfdogs. We are not willing to separate this family, especially since the members of this particular group had been bounced around, neglected, and socially isolated.
Since the loss of both Beauty and Elan in 2013, Viggo has moved to a new habitat with Dancer.
