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"How long did your son have the dog?"

"Not much more than a year Liah I never pressed him on the subject He would have lied if I had so what’s the point? He bought the dog frouy who had a litter of six in the back of his pickup truck I guess if you deal drugs, owning a wolfdog lends you a certain dangerous air They’re aggressive and predatory and they have those eerie gold eyes that look straight into your soul Hold on I’ll show you soot up and crossed the roo as a catchall--keys, junk mail, tools, paperbacks, a silver tea set with the crea at it for a ain and handed it to led the photo to elilare Lia Unlike his father, he was dark-haired and dark-eyed He did have his father’s physique in a lighter body style He wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and black boots He was hunkered beside the young dog, which stood facing the caence He looked like a Gers were longer His coat was rizzled black with layers of gray near his head The enetic presence of wolf

"He’s beautiful The name, Ulf, as in ‘wolf’?"

Flannagan smiled "Liaot him Six weeks old Even as a pup, he was a handful I never once heard him bark, but when he howled, even as a baby, it would raise the hair on the back of your neck Dog like that is always testing--theLiam was alpha male, which "

"So he reverted to you?"

"That’s about the size of it Wolves are pack animals They have a clear social structure There’s only room for one leader, and it better be you You want alpha status with a dog like that; you have to teach hi-of-ith hih the door first and he eats when you say so and not ain after the fact, there was no way the dog would accept me as dominant I tried to treat him as Liam had, but he wasn’t impressed He put up with me Beyond that, he obeyed if he felt like it, and the rest was e relationship"

"I’m not sure he ever felt rateful for his tolerance My biggest proble to treat him A lot of vets won’t do it There’s no approved rabies vaccine for the breed so if the dog bites so hial to oolfdog I’m not sure what the California laas back then, but I re to a new vet, to be on the safe side, you claim he’s a husky or half malamute

"That turned out to be a nonissue with Ulf He developed what I thought was hip dysplasia,hi was so acute he could barely get around I’ood a liar so I made a lot of calls before I finally found a vet who’d see hiested I drop hi and take X-rays Sedation’s a risky business olfdogs, but he said he understood and he’d be cautious about the dosage Anyway, I drove him up to Santa Teresa

"While Ulf was still under, the doc called and toldat osteosarco like Ulf, the tu and survival time is short A like him The vet offered to show me X-rays if I needed to be convinced, but I believed hireed"

He lowered his head and then pinched the bridge of his nose and let the air out of his lungs "Shit I know I did the right thing Own an animal and you’re responsible for his comfort and safety You do what you have to do, even if it breaks your heart But I should have been with hiain I couldn’t handle it I should have driven back up there, even if he was already sedated and wasn’t aware of as going on Instead, I told the vet to get on with it I told hi up the phone, I stood here and wept It was cowardly He was a noble animal I should have held him while he died I owed him that and Liam, too"