One day, an Arizona college student was walking home when he saw a small puppy on the side of the road. Next to the puppy was a sign that said ‘free puppy.’
It felt like fate to the student — he had been wanting a dog for a long time. And so, he scooped him up and brought him home.
The student named the beautiful puppy Neo and tried to help him settle into the house. But the teen quickly realized there was something different about this pup.
After bringing Neo into his home, the teen noticed that the puppy seemed to be extremely unruly, more so than a typical puppy. The little dog wasn’t at all interested in learning how to potty train and seemed to have limitless energy.
It was obvious that Neo was going to need constant supervision and attention, something that the student couldn’t give because of his school schedule.
As days passed, Neo was proving to be more and more of a handful.
The college student was realizing that something was very odd about this dog. even his neighbors thought that Neo was atypical. One day, Neo escaped and ran into the neighbor’s yard. They invited him into their home and his demeanor completely changed.
After coming into their home, the normally excited and hyper Neo all of the sudden became reserved, scared, and stand-offish. The dog would avoid all eye contact with them and simply cower in a corner of the bathroom.
To try and comfort Neo, the neighbors offered him treats, but he just didn’t seem to be interested.
After a while, the little dog left their house, but the very next day, he would be back in their yard, repeating the same odd routine.
A few repeat visits of this odd behavior led the neighbors to call the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. The teen appeared to be out of town and they knew something was ‘off’ about Neo.
Maureen O’Nell, CEO of the Humane Society, arrived to evaluate the situation, took one look at the dog, and said:
“You know that isn’t a dog, right?”
As it turns out, Neo is what is called a ‘wolf dog.’ In fact, the energetic boy had far more wolf DNA in him than he did domestic dog DNA.
