Luna – Unraveling her Behavioral Triggers

Since we made the decision to continue the pup socialization into the Exhibit Pack without Luna, we have been assessing her physical condition and behavioral interactions.  The Luna we saw in the Exhibit Pack was one of dominance, intense possession and assertive behavior and somewhat unpredictable and unstable energy that met with a lot of redirected aggression.  This is not the personality of Luna that we see when we manage her alone.  She is calm, rarely shows the snapping defensive dominance  and welcomes the staff’s individual attention, especially after receiving training on body work that made her more active and improved her physical activity.  We have discussed this with our Veterinarian and are cognitive of the potential influence of her early nutritional deficiencies and the influence it may have had on her physical and mental development, possibly causing her to be food-motivated to the point of obsession.  In addition, she may have been proactive in dominance as a defensive behavior to compensate for her physical weaknesses or in a pain response to the activities of a physically active Exhibit Pack.  We were aware of these behaviors, regardless of the reason, we adopted Luna and we will always do what we can to meet her needs.  The list of needs includes social needs for both her and Grizzer.  We spent nearly three months managing Luna alone and taking things slowly to get to know her trigger points both physically and behaviorally.  The good thing about Luna is she is always willing to communicate what she doesn’t like.  It was no surprise that when we recently integrated her with Grizzer, we saw a return of some of the food possession that was characteristic of the “Exhibit Pack Luna”.   Fortunately, Grizzer has displayed a tolerance that allows us to increase their social contact while we try to determine the most appropriate way to feed without triggering this intense possession behavior.  We will keep you posted on their progress, but as I write this and watch Grayson and Axel running, jumping and wrestling each other to the ground (with the other pack members are in close pursuit), I believe Luna is in the right place to meet her physical and behavioral needs.  I noticed a comment on the Youtube logs about our management decision about Luna.  I don’t want to mistake the idea that the Exhibit Pack’s calm energy as lazy.  Calm energy is the sign of a cohesive pack.  They are active and far from lazy.  Luna’s issues brings unstable energy and obsessive behavior that can be viewed as weak and a potential target.  We need to understand each individual wolf and do what’s best for each and every pack member and meet their social needs in a safe and stable environment.