Schuck Handsome has donned the orange bandana since he was about 1. Prior to having his iconic blaze, we often ran into trouble around town. We would be happily walking along enjoying a warm Missoula afternoon when a SHRIEK/GASP/SCREECHING TIRE would interrupt our placid walkabout. The cause of this disruption was/is always an overzealous pretentious dog owner that MUST be heard...From here I would have some variation of the following conversation: I will use 'Uppity Lady With Lab' (we will call her ULWL) as the antagonist for this particular example:
ULWL: "Is that a wolf?!" Me: "No he's a..." ULWL: "It looks like a wolf, you should not have him out in public. Is that even legal? My God!..."
Mind you, at 1, Schuck was quite the terror walking in a perfect nose to knee heel and automatically sitting when I would come to a stop. So here we are: Schuck calmly sitting wondering why this weird loud vertical creature was making gestures in his general direction. And myself, calmly standing and waiting for a break in the exhausting ignorance fueled diatribe. As the rant concludes the now sweating ULWL scoops up her overfed dog and shuffles by. I add one more attempt at resolve: Me: "not a wolf" ULWL: "(now struggling to carry the weight of her lab) Unbelievable."
And there you have it. This would happen more than you would think. To avoid such interactions I started having Schuck wear an orange bandana. Instantly, everyone diffused. Apparently bandanas = super nice friendly...not wolf.
Nevertheless the look was born.