Naia
Quick Bio
Naia is a female high-content wolf-dog, which means she looks and acts mostly like a wolf, but has some dog in her ancestry. She was born on May 13th of 2019 and came to Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in July of 2019.
Relationships
Naia originally came to Wild Spirit as a young puppy where she was hand-raised by Animal Care staff until she was big enough to live outside safely. During that time she was introduced to a number of domestic dogs who assisted in teaching her how to properly interact with other canines. Once she was grown, Naia shared an enclosure with senior Arctic wolf, Flurry. While Flurry initially loved helping raise Naia, as she become older her puppy energy and constant rough-housing become too much for him, so the two were separated and we began looking for a more suitable companion for her. In late December of 2020, we introduced Naia to high-content wolfdog Irwin, and the two enjoyed each other so much they live together now!
Fun Facts
Despite being a black-phase wolfdog, Naia will gradually “phase out” as she ages, meaning that her coat coloration will fade from black to grizzled grey and then to nearly white well into her old age.
Likes & Dislikes
Naia absolutely loves toys, blankets, and other forms of enrichment. She also enjoys tormenting her companion, Irwin, by nipping him on the heels and running away, only to repeat the process again when he isn’t looking.
Naia dislikes large groups of people and has shown discomfort around certain men; however, we are hoping that the presence of her companion, Irwin, will help her to feel more confident with guests during our tour season.
Naia‘s History
Naia was born to a private owner in the Northeast. Not wanting to keep Naia and feeling the pressure to re-home her quickly, her owner reached out to Wild Spirit for placement in the hopes that she could help educate the public as an ambassador for her species. We knew we could offer her a permanent home with the best possible care, so at only 10 weeks old we welcomed her into our wild family.
While all puppies take an incredible amount of time and patience to raise, train, and care for, high-content wolfdog pups are even more challenging. Like all of our high-content wolfdogs, Naia thinks and acts mostly like a wolf, meaning she demonstrates independence, intelligence, stubbornness, and a wildness that is clearly different from our domestic dog companions. However, being raised by various human Caretakers allowed Naia to gain an incredible amount of confidence in the presence of humans. However, it will take around 3 years for Naia to reach full maturity and it’s possible that her relationship to humans could change. Regardless of her future personality, quirks, likes and dislikes, this beautiful girl will have a permanent, safe home with us for the rest of her life!
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She is beautiful 😍