About Awakening Souls Sanctuary

Awakening Souls Sanctuary began with an unexpected realization from our founder upon meeting wolfdogs for the first time: the experience of being neurodivergent and chronically ill in today’s world is eerily similar to the experience of a wolfdog trying to exist in it. “How is that?” you might ask. We shall explain.

Speaking plainly, wolfdogs are brought into this world to fill a role that someone else chose for them without taking their uniqueness into consideration. They are bred intentionally for profit, and sold as exotic “pets” to people under the assumption that because they’re part dog, they’ll behave like a domestic dog but look like a wolf. However, this is almost never the case. Due to the presence of wolf content, which is often more dominant than dog content, the reality is that wolfdogs are more like wolves that happen to have some dog content in there as well. And people who buy wolfdogs are often not prepared to have a wolf in their house.

Wolves are naturally fearful of humans, as well as anything unexpected. They need lots of space, are territorial, have strong prey drives, and they don’t carry the desire to please humans that domestic dogs do. These traits are often the dominant traits of wolfdogs too, and as such, it is very rare to find a wolfdog who is well adjusted to typical home life.

However, wolfdog puppies often act like any other puppy, so these traits may not be very apparent right away, leading people to think that if they are “raised properly from a young age,” they will be just like any other dog. But as wolfdogs mature, their wild instincts emerge. Without an environment built to honor these instincts, they become destructive, territorial, master escape artists, and intense resource guardians. They are labeled as too much, too intense, and too out of control, often leaving their unprepared owners completely overwhelmed. 

When their natural needs are neglected, whether from cruelty or just lack of understanding, they can’t regulate their bodies or their nervous systems, and they get pushed past their limit again and again until they lash out. Then they are labeled aggressive or violent, and are abandoned or surrendered to shelters where they are almost always put down. As a result, it is estimated that around 80% of wolfdogs are euthanized before their third birthday, often much earlier. Their only other option is a sanctuary, of which there are very few, with very little space.

We know this story of not quite fitting in, because many of us have lived similar versions of it. Many neurodivergent and disabled people grow up feeling there is something wrong with them, that they don’t fit in, that they’re too sensitive, too intense, too much, and unable to function the way the world expects. Some of us learn to mask, trying to be what the world asks us to be, and maybe we can keep it up for a while, sometimes for years, until we burn out. Burnout often leads to a loss of functioning, inability to mask, and the triggering of all kinds of health problems, both physical and mental. And then we might be seen as too much, too intense, too sick, and so on, all over again. But the thing is, nothing was ever wrong with us. The problem was the expectation that we would function the way everyone else does in environments that were not made for us. 

But here is the beautiful part. When rescued wolfdogs are placed in spaces made for their needs, removing all expectations to be something they aren’t, their true magic shines. They are finally able to regulate, maybe for the first time in their lives. They learn who they are and step into their own unique, radiant personalities. They heal, and help each other heal, and inspire those who hear their stories. And the healing and magic spreads. When people are given that same freedom, the same thing happens. We start to discover who we are, what we love, how we want to live, and what our dreams are. And this radiates out to affect so many others around us who need our light, our passions, our truths. Us. Just as we authentically are. 

That is why Awakening Souls Sanctuary exists: because we need the wolfdogs, and the wolfdogs need us. The world needs us, more than it knows. So we are building a place where wolfdogs can be their true selves, where neurodivergent and disabled humans can embrace their own power, and where, side by side, we can be seen, be free, and keep creating the spaces that make the world a softer, better place for all of us.