This man thought he was taking a puppy home with him, to his shock it turned out to be something else completely
For many people, it’s a dream to “randomly” receive or find a puppy. Giving a poor, confused little animal a home and all the love and attention it deserves while getting the same gift from the puppy back tenfold. One 18-year-old student from Tucson, Arizona had the same fantasy when he found a puppy left behind in a shopping cart.
The boy asked his parents if he could take the little guy home. They had no idea what was coming next.
The noises
The 18-year-old student was on his way home from school just like any other day. He had no clue that his life was about to change forever. The boy’s phone had died so he had to walk home free of any musical distractions. And thank goodness, because without his headphones in, he was able to hear quiet noises
The noises were coming from an alley behind the local supermarket. It was a quiet day so the parking lot the boy crossed to get to the source of the sounds was nearly empty. He sounded like an animal was in danger and his heart wouldn’t let him ignore it.
The shopping cart
There was a shopping cart in the alley, left there by someone who couldn’t be bothered to bring it back to the supermarket. It looked as if the shopping cart had been there for a while seeing as it was now being used as a trash can. Cans, bottles, bags of chips: the cart was full of them.
The noise seemed to be coming from the shopping cart. And because trash doesn’t usually make any noise, the student decided to get a closer look. Something was moving amongst all the trash and a can fell to the ground. That’s when the boy saw the source of the noise; two ears, a snout, big black eyes… a puppy!
What did the boy do with his amazing find?
The puppy
The boy picked up the abandoned animal. It didn’t seem to weight much. With a few high pitch barks and a lick on his cheek, the puppy showed the boy just how happy he was to have finally caught someone’s attention. The boy fell in love immediately and took the small animal home.
Once he got home, he gave his parents a real shock. “You can’t just take a dog home?!” they said. “What if the owner was just doing groceries?” The boy calmed them down by telling them how he had found the puppy. The poor creature had clearly been purposefully left behind in the alley.
The boy asked his parents if he could keep the animal…
Family
The parents got back to the boy after a quick discussion: the puppy could stay. The boy was thrilled, and the puppy seemed to be happy as well. The new furry family member was clearly hungry and quickly gobbled down three portions before falling asleep on the rug in the living room. They had no idea that this new family member would cause so many problems.
The puppy was given the name Neo. It was clear right away that Neo was different from other dogs. The creature didn’t listen to his owners, did his deeds wherever he pleased and required loads of attention. The attention he needed was not split evenly. In fact, only the boy who had found him was allowed to even get close to him. The parents were met with bared teeth anytime they got too close.
What was wrong with Neo?
Neo and the boy
The boy and his dog were inseparable. In Neo’s perfect world, they would spend every waking moment together. The animal was very protective. It was an issue every time the boy had to go to school or work, because Neo wasn’t allowed to join him, of course.
No matter what the parents tried, they weren’t able to get Neo under control. It was a different ballgame entirely when the boy wasn’t home. To prevent him from terrorizing the whole house, the parents quickly decided to leave the dog in the backyard when they were alone with him.
This turned out to be a very bad idea…
In the backyard
Instead of running around and playing like other dogs in the backyard, Neo started behaving very oddly. While most dogs would play with balls or other dog toys, these products fell victim to Neo’s sharp teeth in no time.
Neo also apparently thought the backyard was too small because no matter what the parents did: he kept getting out. This was more than frustrating to the neighbors because Neo was a master at getting other dogs riled up and inspiring them to act in the same way.
Why did Neo want to escape so badly?
Escaping
As you just read, Neo escaped no matter what precautions his owners took. Netting, fencing, locks: nothing could hold the rebellious beast back. Neo showed much intelligence and always managed to find a solution to things. If necessary, he would dig a hole, jump or climb the fence, or hide until someone opened the door.
While Neo clearly wasn’t a people-person (with the exception of the boy that found him), he loved other dogs. He got along particularly well with the neighbors’ German Shepherds. Neo’s owners knew exactly where to find him whenever he managed to escape.
The neighbors were less enthused…
Friends
While Neo calmed down in the company of the German Shepherds, he had the opposite effect on them. They were a little too happy to mirror his rebellious character and were inspired by misbehavior and naughtiness. The neighbors were obviously displeased by this.
Whenever they found Neo in their yard, they brought him right back to his owners. The irrepressible dog was brought back home, making his objections to this loud and clear. This couldn’t go on any longer. Neo was upsetting the whole neighborhood and all the neighbors were slowly getting fed up with his behavior.
They had no idea what the true cause of Neo’s behavior was…
New approach
While he didn’t make things easy on his owners, they had still grown attached to him. There was something special about having such a wild dog. They couldn’t get rid of him, so they had to think of a way to keep him from disturbing the neighborhood.
They decided to build a new and stronger fence around their yard. They paid a pretty penny for a solution to their problem. The maker of the fence guaranteed them that no dog could ever escape from such a well-guarded yard.
But he hadn’t met Neo yet…
Mission accomplished
Where there’s a will there’s a way. And Neo…will always get away. With his incredibly strong jaw, the strange creature manager to bite a hole in the fence. It didn’t take long before Neo ended back up in the neighbor’s yard, together with his German Shepherd friends.
With their hands running through their hair, Neo’s owners contacted the local animal shelter. While it was of course quite impressive that Neo was able to escape with the highly advanced protection around the yard, this was the tipping point. Neo was truly uncontrollable.
Not surprising, if you think about what his owners had missed…
The shelter
The family took Neo to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Here they met with a real dog expert to get professional advice on how to improve Neo’s behavior. They also wanted to know if it was possible to drop Neo off there whenever his owner was at school or work.
The director of the shelter, Maureen O’Neil, was stunned. She told the family something that would turn their world upside down. It only took her a few seconds to come to the conclusion that would explain Neo’s behavior… something that the owners had somehow missed.
“You know this isn’t a dog, right?” Maureen said.
Not a dog
The family couldn’t believe their ears. Not a dog? So what was he? It had never even crossed their minds that Neo could be some other sort of dog-like creature. That’s why they were absolutely stunned when Maureen, the director of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, told them what Neo really was.
“This is a wolf!”, she told the family. This statement changed everything. The fact that Neo was a wolf wasn’t just a problem for the family, but for the wolf itself. According to the law, nobody in Arizona may keep a wolf as a pet, unless you are of Native American descent or have a specific permit. Neither of which applied to Neo’s owners.
What was going to happen to him? Read on now!
