Bidding continues for the 3rd annual online auction of the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, located just 10 minutes west of Cochrane.

Since 2017, the online auction has been an invaluable source of income to the nonprofit organization in continuing to rescue and provide a safe haven for these misunderstood animals.

"This year our auction is bigger and better than ever and we are hopeful to surpass our previous $10,000 goal," says Alyx Harris, manager at the wolfdog sanctuary.

The bidding closes on Feb. 27 at 11:59 p.m. and opened earlier this week. All of the auction items are listed on the auction page album on their Facebook page and bidders just need to comment on the photo with their bid.

"It is simple and each and every bid goes a long way to helping us reach our goal," says Harris. 

There a wide range of art, pottery, sports memorabilia and tickets, gift baskets, goods, gift certificates and dog-related products and services are all up for grabs. They can be found on the YWS Auction Facebook Page. To be part of the bidding, simply leave a comment with bid by the item/s you're interested in winning and keep watch.

Since 2011 the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary has been rescuing wolfdogs and moved to a 160-acre parcel about 10 km west of Cochrane nearly five years ago after outgrowing its original one-acre location near Canmore. 

"We couldn't do much rescuing at that point. We only had our one pack and we were able to rescue some here and there but since moving here we have 25 animals, 23 permanent and two are available for adoption."

They now have 10 compounds with two to four wolfdogs in each, matched up by wolf content and personality.

"It's been definitely a work in progress. The sanctuary is growing at a very rapid rate. Pretty much every year we do reach capacity and almost every year we are ending up having to build another enclosure."

They anticipate adding three or four compounds over the next few years but despite their large land base, they face limitations in suitable locations with adequate water supply and proper coverage. They are also expensive, costing anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 to establish.

One of the immediate priorities is to enrich the enclosures to enhance their living conditions and provide them with further mental stimulation by enhancing landscape features to make their lives as good as possible. It's all made possible by fundraising, like the online auction, revenue from tours and its wonderful gift shop plus generous donations.

The sanctuary provides educational tours outlining the challenges of wolfdog ownership and the importance of wolves in the wild. They offer three types of tours and the most popular is the interactive tour that provides visitors with a unique hands-on experience with carefully screened "ambassadors." The interactive tour is particularly popular and even in the winter, you need to book a few weeks ahead, especially for a weekend time slot. Demand is even higher in the summer.

The sanctuary has a huge following in social media and has been recognized by Alberta Tourism as a major attraction. They've been awarded the opportunity to place signage on Hwy. 1 because they attract more than 15,000 visitors annually.

The additional larger highway signage has been drawing more people to the sanctuary, Harris says.

"It's another big expense but It has been very, very beneficial. I can't tell you how many people come in and say 'I saw a sign on the highway'. It's fantastic because they're coming in, they're doing a tour and they're supporting the sanctuary."

Last year they had approximately 20,000 visitors. The sanctuary has four paid staff and four volunteer interns. The number of interns increases during peak times, particularly in the summer.

Some come to the sanctuary believing they will be seeing wolfs, not wolfdogs. That, though, helps the cause of the sanctuary.

"People like wolves. They're a kind of majestic cool creature and to have the ability to be really pretty close to these guys is a pretty unique experience. Wolves are a very allusive animal so when you go for hikes in the Canmore Banff area it's not likely that you're going to see wolves.

"I know a lot of people even think our animals are wolves and that's kind of nice because that brings them out here and then we get the opportunity to educate them about wolfdogs and why they aren't the best pets in the world and why there's so much misinformation about them."

A Bit About Wolfdogs and Rescues

Wolfdogs are a hybrid created by mating domestic dogs with a species of wolf. In Alberta, their popularity followed the fur farms of the 1960s and 70s. If they were mated to create a hunting companion, guard dog or a working dog, the owner would be sorely disappointed.

"They would have learned very quickly they are the worse working dog ever," explains Harris."They are not going to be good guard dogs because they are fearful of humans. They are not going to protect you, they're going to go run away and protect themselves. As far as being a hunting dog, they have a predatory instinct but they won't willingly give up what you shot down."

Wolfdogs have since gone on to become exotic pets.

"At this point, that's why wolfdogs are still a thing. People want something that is cool that they can take to the dog park and brag to their friends about."

While wolfdogs will a low wolf content might be suitable as pets, many simply aren't.

"Typically, people get them from a breeder and then they realize how challenging they are when they are six months and older or something happens in their lives that they no longer can care for them."

That's one source of wolfdog rescues undertaken, but the sanctuary also receives them from animal control or humane societies.

Exactly how much wolf content the animal has determines how "wolfy" they'll act.

"Wolves are fearful animals. They are instinctively fearful of humans and small spaces and lots of different things. So if you put them in really small spaces they don't have the ability to take that flight response and they're pretty much always going to be on edge to trying to escape.

"But when you give them a nice big space they feel a lot more comfortable. Most of our animals are comfortable with the environment or have been really well socialized but we have quite a few that missed out on that socialization at an early age and because we give them these nice big enclosures they can just go and stay away from the humans and they don't have to worry about it."