The Japanese Wolf That Said No.

[Ninurta]

...



Or is it a dog?

Going by the totality of the ears, the muzzle, the tail, and the ruffs of fur on it's jowls, it appears to be a variety of wolf rather than a dog. It's not a Timber Wolf or a Red Wolf or a coyote as found in the Americas, nor is it one of the slight "wolves" found in India. It's not a German Shepherd or "wolf dog" as found in the arctic, because it's legs are too long. I'm gonna say "wolf" rather than "dog", but a wolf of a variety I'm unfamiliar with.

I'll see if I can find those trail cam images, and if I can, I'll re-post them here. However, and I know it's contentious, they look to me to be more of a variety of big cat than they do a variety of big canid.

ETA: I found the tale of the Japanese "Okuri Okami" interesting, for one reason. In the late 1990's or early 2000's, a factory in North Carolina fired an employee who promised to return and "kill them all", so they hired me to secure the facility and prevent that. I didn't go inside much, reasoning that if I caught the miscreant outside, he'd never get inside to do any mischief, plus the brick walls would protect the other employees if any gunplay came into the fray. So I patrolled outside the building, and concentrated on the parking lot looking for any suspicious characters sitting in vehicles when they ought not to be.

On my second day there, a large dog or wolf just showed up. He had no collar or other identification on him, but walked with me on my patrols. The employees thought that I brought him as a police dog, because they said they never saw him unless I was there. But I didn't bring him - he just showed up whenever I did. Looked like a big gray wolf to me, and was not malnourished or underfed. I took to feeding him beef jerky after a couple days, same as I was eating, and he always walked the patrol with me.

When the assignment was over, I gave him a whole bag of beef jerky, thanked him for his service, and left, going on my merry way. The employees said they never saw him again after I left.

Americanized "Okuri Okami," "spirit animal", or just a fortuitous stray? I dunno, and reckon I never will, but I do believe he kept me out of trouble during that assignment.

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