aidan – May 14, 2008 12:00 AM

The pups are 17 days old today. Here are some notes from the Observation Logs. <br> <br> 12:20 am – Woke from deep sleep to sound of Jess's motorcycle, stood up, walked around then curled up and fell asleep <br> <br> 9:10 am – Staff brought pine boughs, birch log and cedar log into pup pen. Pup explored and sniffed the new items. Both pups laid down underneath the branches for several minutes. <br> <br> 4:50 pm – Startled when Sherry Johnson went to pet him while in den box. Pup whipped around and snapped at her hand. The Pup sought comfort in Joanne. <br> <br> 10:00 pm – Voracious suckling on bottle. If he released the bottle he voraciously sought a finger or fabric to suckle until the bottle was placed back into his mouth. However, actual feeding seemed slower than previous feedings. Pup whined while latched onto bottle. <br> <br> The concern about feeding issues is critical, a pup at this age, can’t afford to waste energy struggling with the bottle, they may get worn out and fall asleep before they get the nutrients they need to grow. Weights of the pups are conducted every morning, to ensure that we continue to have the daily weight gain desired. The pups are consuming about 14 – 20 ounces of formula every day. The video you are seeing shows the pups in a dominance display, with Pup # 2 using a squash technique to assert status, followed by a genital sniff. The audio clip includes the pups whining in response to the adult wolves howling bout.