My Dad Tried to Tame a Wolf

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My Dad Tried to Tame a Wolf

Post by cronus » Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:23 am

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/my-dad-t ... ource=dmfb

My Dad Tried to Tame a Wolf
By Gavin Jenkins

I was four years old when my dad bought a wolf. We named the pup Dusty and gave him a pen at the edge of our basketball court, in front of the garage. Our lives were already extremely weird by suburban Pittsburgh standards: My dad owned almost two acres of land and six huskies, and dogsled racing was his hobby. He raced in the Pennsylvania tri-state area, and as my older brothers and I grew up, he bought more dogs and structured our lives around the sport.

He dreamed of training a wolf to pull a sled. That dream failed, and today, when I remember the tragedy that unfolded, I look past his alpha-male facade and see a man who just wanted to give his boys the childhood he didn't have.

Dusty bit me the day we met. It was spring, 1985. My brothers, TJ and Aaron, were eight and six, respectively, and Dad had gathered us in Mom's backyard to play with the pup. Mom lived on a hilltop overlooking the Allegheny River, and the yard sloped gradually. At three months old, Dusty wobbled and fell, but once he got going, he charged. "Don't run!" Dad warned me. Ignoring his command, I tried to flee and Dusty chomped down on my ass. Mom, who believed her ex-husband when he said the pup was half-German Shepard, rubbed the bruise. Dad wasn't as moved by my tears.

"I told you not to run," he said.

People envision Paul Bunyan when I tell them about my dad. The opposite is true. He was a clean-shaven math teacher, who, at his peak, stood five foot eight. Since retiring, he's shrunk a couple inches and lost most of his hair. Once, as an adult, I watched his feet dangle off the couch and thought: This is the man who squeezed my neck when I made an error in little league?

I resent fearing him as a boy. Back then, he was big and strong. Every dog obeyed him—even the wolf was his friend. Dusty became the first in the family to stand up to him, though. The rebellion started on the trail. Dad lined him up with several teams, and when Dusty pulled the sled, he was stronger than all the dogs combined. But unlike our huskies, who instinctively wanted to run, Dusty usually trotted, and afterward, he'd tear his harness to shreds. Dad finally gave up when Dusty dragged an entire team into the woods after a bird. After that, Dusty's life was confined to a large pen and the enclosed basketball court, where Dad played with him every morning.

(Continued)
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Re: My Dad Tried to Tame a Wolf

Post by NineBerry » Mon Sep 19, 2016 3:23 pm

Amateur

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