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Ayla at four weeks. Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
female wolves, exhibited a little<br />
more interest in the puppies<br />
than did Deneb and got to visit<br />
with the puppies inside their<br />
pen. Fascination with puppies<br />
tends to fade quickly with a lot<br />
of adult wolves, as the “cute<br />
little things” discover the joys<br />
of chewing on paws, tails,<br />
noses, and ears. Though she<br />
entered the pen with a gentle<br />
grin and a soft expression,<br />
after a little time being followed<br />
around by a pack of “grass<br />
sharks” nibbling excitedly on her extremities, Ursa looked<br />
ready to leave and was assisted back out of the pen.<br />
On May 31, Karin, who had four litters of her own in the<br />
late 1990s, got to visit the puppies. We took the pups over<br />
to an enclosure at East Lake, and, after they had a while to<br />
get accustomed to the enclosure, we brought Karin in.<br />
Karin knows exactly how to behave with puppies. She<br />
made herself small, crouched, whined, and lay down for<br />
the puppies to approach and<br />
explore. The puppies were<br />
so excited and thrilled they<br />
practically flung themselves<br />
at her head to submit to her,<br />
occasionally overshooting<br />
and actually flopping over the<br />
top of Karin and landing on<br />
the other side in their<br />
excitement. For about an<br />
hour they all enjoyed a love<br />
fest. We cannot recall a litter<br />
in the last twenty years in<br />
which all the puppies were so<br />
gentle, submissive, and well<br />
behaved with an adult for<br />
Chetan offers Tristan a submissive “smooch”.<br />
nearly an hour.<br />
The pups got their first leash lessons on May 20, at<br />
about five weeks of age. Their first “walk” is less about<br />
leash manners than about learning what the restraint of the<br />
leash feels like, and pairing that restraint with the<br />
indescribable joy of bouncing around in tall grass and<br />
hunting for mice. Wolves do not naturally take well to<br />
restraint, and we have to work hard to pair the leash with<br />
happy experiences and to<br />
help the wolves understand<br />
that the leash will not hurt<br />
them.<br />
The pups did very well at<br />
leash lessons, although<br />
Ruedi was a bit intimidated<br />
by the tall grass. Walking<br />
the pups in high foliage<br />
helps keep the pups from<br />
seeing something they need<br />
to run away from or toward,<br />
bolting, and getting caught<br />
up in the leash or suddenly<br />
Video records are made of<br />
the pups’ activities.<br />
Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
restrained. In the tall grass<br />
they walk slowly and calmly<br />
and have to pause a lot to think about how to get around<br />
the plants. This allows them to become aware of the leash<br />
in a calm and gradual and nonthreatening way, and<br />
assures that, next time they’re shown the leash, they’ll<br />
associate it only with good things.<br />
As of this writing, the pups are living outdoors in their<br />
own enclosure at East Lake, just like the “big wolves” do.<br />
They are still occasionally meeting adult wolves, practicing<br />
their leash lessons, and participating in the “Adopt A <strong>Wolf</strong>”<br />
program, meeting adoring sponsors in person as well as<br />
learning to pose for photographs in puppy photo sessions.<br />
Ayla, named after the lead character in the Clan of the<br />
Cave Bear series by Jean M. Auel, has already bought her<br />
“queening hat” and is just waiting to grow into it. She<br />
wants to be first for everything, whatever it is, and wants a<br />
part of anything anyone else happens to have, whether it<br />
be deer meat or shoelaces.<br />
Kailani, whose name is a Hawaiian word meaning “sea<br />
and sky”, originally held the title of Puppy Most Resembling<br />
A Square, for being nearly as wide as she was long when<br />
taken from the den, but now she is growing into a lovely,<br />
svelte young lady.<br />
Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
Alas, it appears she is already<br />
subordinate to “Queen” Ayla<br />
but that may change over<br />
time….<br />
Renki, named for Irenaus<br />
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, a well-known<br />
German ethologist and friend<br />
of Dr. Klinghammer, has<br />
already started dominance<br />
“wars” with his brother Ruedi<br />
and anyone else who will<br />
listen. He wears a very<br />
serious face while he does<br />
this, even though he is still<br />
very tiny. He looks a great<br />
deal like his father, Tristan,<br />
when he stands up tall and<br />
puts up his little baby hackles<br />
and growls.<br />
Ruedi, named after Rudolph Schenkel, the creator of<br />
the first wolf ethogram, is a sweet little thing with a<br />
penchant for nibbling on toes (at least, he did while visitors<br />
to the pups’ nursery were still required to remove their<br />
shoes). He is a little more laid-back than his brothers and<br />
sisters, and always seems to have a wiggly greeting<br />
(interspersed with “Can you feel it when I do this?” biting)<br />
for his visitors.<br />
<strong>Puppies</strong> greet Karin for the first time.<br />
Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
<strong>Wolf</strong> <strong>Park</strong> News Spring 2004 7