boltz – Jul 6, 2012 12:00 AM

As you can see by the posted weights, Boltz has topped 40 lbs. We are still planning for the introduction on July 30th, so we are on the 24 day countdown. There are three things we are mindful of about the introduction. First is his weight, we would rather he was under 50 lbs, although we think that might not be the case on introduction day. The weight issue is important so the adult wolves still see him as a pup and not a competitor. The good thing is, Boltz and Oscar still wrestle and Boltz still willingly submits to Oscar, so given the fact that he's conditioned to be submissive to a larger canid, we think he will submit to Aidan and Denali, even though he might be bigger than we like. The second issue is Boltz's eating pattern. He is a temperamental eater. He eats small quantities, usually after some effort by wolf care staff to feed him over a several hour period. He eats a good amount of food, averaging 1.5 lbs of meat and 10 ounces of esbilac a day. When he goes into the Exhibit Pack, we would like him to consume larger quantities, less frequently. The third issue we are watching is the hormonal influence of Aidan and Denali. Their Youtube video this weeks shows some passive dominance with "Stand Over" behaviors, but still very calm and social. <br> Here are the weights since the last posting:<br> Data is shown as:<br> Date Age Pounds <br><li> 6/30/2012 106 37.0 <li> 7/1/2012 107 37.8 <li> 7/2/2012 108 38.5 <li> 7/3/2012 109 38.8 <li> 7/4/2012 110 39.2 <li> 7/5/2012 111 39.6 <li> 7/6/2012 112 41.4