Puppy season is over for us but our fun never stops at Miller's Wolfhaven. 

We want all of you to get to know us and our pack better, so monthly we will be featuring one of our pack members. That pack member may have 4 legs or 2 two legs because with out both we couldn't do what we do. This month we want to feature where it all started and that is with Makynzi (Momma Bear) and Messiah.

 

We have a large pack and they are not all breeding pairs, they are all family members. Over ten years ago this year we decided to share the love of these animals with others and bought our first breeding pair. We started with low content wolfdogs just to get our feet wet and this pair is now our alpha female and alpha male on the property. Makynzi and Messiah are two of the sweetest wolfdogs anybody could ask for. They are the face of Miller's Wolfhaven.

We have several of our wolfdogs that we call our house wolves because they have run of the house and front yard. They are the welcoming committee because they will greet your with smiles and tail wags.

 

We thought we knew alot about wolfdogs when we purchased Messiah and Makynzi but we soon learned we did not know as much as we needed to. We learned that the importance of socializing at a very young age was one of the most important parts of being breeders. Our Makynzi had not been really socialized at all and it showed once we got her home. But with patience, love and education we were able to get  her to be the most affection well liked wolfdog on the property. The first several weeks she did nothing but hide in the corner or under the tables and would shake out of fear when you tried to hold or love on her. We never gave up on her and over time she came out of it and would be the first one to the door to say hi to everyone that entered her palace. 

 

Now Messiah gave us a whole other set of challenges. When we got him he had been a bit more socialized but definitely showed us another side of wolfdog ownership and that was how goofy and observant they can be. Messiah had a big tendency to fear noises and and things that were out of place. He also believed if he could put his mouth on it then it was his to do what ever he wanted to with it, this included an entire couch in one day. Raising him from a pup was a daily adventure into what was he going to find that he was going to be fearful of. some of those things were pizza boxes, a chair out of place or being covered by a blanket. We did find that he had a passion for balls and sticks so give him one of those to chase and you have a best friend, just don't throw it towards something he hasn't seen before because he will ignore the ball or stick and bark incessantly at the new thing for hours.

Despite the hiccups in raising these two when learned what we weren't going to be as breeders and what exactly we were going to be. We established early on that we were going to be breeders that put everything into education on the animals and helping buyers understand what they are getting and that they are ready for this type of animal as well. We wanted our breeding pairs to be be healthy and well rounded socially.  We wanted to make sure to give all the dams  everything needed during pregnancy, during delivery and after delivery. We continue to be hands on right at birth with every pup so we can begin the socializing as soon as possible. After all the efforts in the beginning with these two we decided with Makynzi and Messiha we had a good pair to start our program with. We did all the necessary testings to insure that the line we were producing would be of good genetics. 

 

Makyni has been retired for several years now but she gave use five very happy healthy low to mid content litters which had given her title of Momma Bear and is our resident Queen. Ten years old and  as queen she has demands and she will vocalize those demands as she sees fit too. Some of her quirks include but not limited to being put back outside when everyone comes in for bed because she has to potty one more time with no one else around, must have at least 2 treats before going to bed, and must have quality alone time a few times a day. One of the volunteers started another must have for her after she had her first litter and that was she got to eat an ice cream cup daily for the first few days after giving birth. Momma Bear turned out to be by far one of the best decisions we could have made.

 

We very early on gave Messiah the nick name Goofball. He is very quirky in his actions. He loves his butt rubs but will grumble the whole time he gets them. He believes he is a cat sometimes because he loves to rub his sent all over those he loves. He doesn't like loud crazy noises and will very gently try to take you and himself out of situations he deems scary, even if it means he will grab a pants leg and pull you  away all the will peeing on himself. despite his aging in his heart he is and always will be a puppy. If a car in the drive way doesn't look like he thinks it should he will continually bark at it trying to scare it away.  He was never the supportive father or grandfather to pups because to them they are an annoying little aliens and runs as far as he can get from them. 

 

Through our breeding program Momma Bear gave us 5 different litters, three of those with Messiah and two with our Micco. Messiah sired 2 additional litters off site as well. Pairing these two together to kick off our program brought us so much joy and taught us much. With out Momma and Si we wouldn't have what we have today.