Aidan – Maintaining the Dominant Leader Role

This has been a challenging winter season for the Exhibit Pack.  We have had years of concern for Aidan’s physical issues with his diagnosis of an auto-immune disorder, then we met another challenge with his digestive system this fall.  Both of these medical conditions seem to be under control with our treatment choices, but we know that Aidan is showing his age and there’s a 4-year old wolf watching his every move.  No doubt, we were concerned when we started a construction project in February, which is the height of the winter dominance, but we couldn’t wait on the Wolf Care Center expansion, it’s potential to improve the lives of our ambassadors is too important.  So, we watched, fed extra food resources as distractions and made sure that Aidan had staff attention first.  All of these efforts were necessary to maintain his confidence.  Our efforts seem to have worked, as this photo demonstrates Aidan’s dominant status and Denali shows his active submission.   Our goal was to get this pack through the winter season with no change in leadership.  Aidan is a great dominant male and an excellent leader for pups.  We know there will come a time when he loses confidence, but it doesn’t appear that will happen in this winter season.