grizzer – Nov 5, 2007 12:00 AM

This week’s video shows the two sides of Grizzer. In Shadow’s video, you will see Grizzer in full submissive posture towards Shadow, but in Grizzer’s and Malik’s video, you will see an excitable young male showing his status. Malik’s response to Grizzer is usually a growling threat display, which excites Grizzer to chase him. The key to managing dominance behavior is in keeping the lower ranking wolves calm. If Malik feels more relaxed, rather than anxious and threatening, Grizzer is less likely to see this as a weakness. This is easier said than done, but the dynamics of the handling is important. It is key that the wolf care staff interact with the dominant animals first, reinforcing their status and making them feel confident and calm. This is the wolf rank order rule, but it does contradict the human emotion side of wolf care, where humans would like to support the lowest ranking wolf.