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Then I thought about it.
HEY! Whatsa matta you? Come and play with me!

The dark crack between the cushions and the back of the couch could look like a mousehole, if you were a coyote. Sure enough, we found that our nutty pups were jamming their heads into any little hole that looked likely to hold PREY.
You can see the Norwegian Elkhound heritage in her face.
Sometimes their tails curl, sometimes they lay down an dyou would never know they could curl! This is Sofia.

Another evening I was typing on the computer. The landlord had just had the plumber in to fix the incessant dripping of several of the faucets, so when I heard a bubbly drippy sound, I thought, oh no, not again!

Then I turned my head and saw two pointy ears sticking out of the large water dish, and then a very wet-faced Sofie raised her head and looked at my as if to say, "Whaaat? There might have been some frogs down there, I was just checking!"

Here is Ole holding them at about five months old. I think that's Sofia on the right with just a little bit of a red collar showing, and Athena on the left. But I'm not totally sure. They are such twinsies!

After a few more months we realized that we didn't have wolf hybrids. We had coyote-dog hybrids. As they grew up, Sofie and Athena slimmed down and grew into their feet. They exhibited an incessant interest in PREY. Everything revolved around PREY. And when they caught a bird or a mouse, they'd POUNCE on it HARD, then toss it in the air and snap it down in two bites. They began chasing their tails in a fashion that other people remarked on, saying they'd seen coyotes chase their tails like that out in the hills. It's what coyotes do before they howl, to get all wound up for the hunt.

By the time they were five months old they were too big for Ole to hold both at once very easily. Never mind the dog's feet, check out those boy feet! (He grew into those, too.)

Sofie used to jump up on the sides of her pen, but wouldn't jump out! She'd just perch up there on the edge and try to get our attention.

If you take Sofia for a walk, she'll spend lots of time jamming her head down every hole she finds. Looking for squirrels and mice, naturally. Which, in Alaska, she has ample opportunity to find. Now CATCHING those dang, pesky squirrels, that's another story.

Sofia and Athena grew up to weigh in around 45 lbs each, definitely not wolf weight! So we conclude that they are coydogs, and the veterinarians, after looking at their teeth, agree with us. There is something else in the mix, too, probably Norwegian Elkhound, as you can see in their expressive and occaisonally wrinkly foreheads.

To see current Sofia photos click here.