The following logs were written by Nannies, Vicki Bomberger and Lynne Haines.<br> Both pups were active during the programs. During the 5:00PM program Aidan focused and guarded a frozen beaver carcass. The pups have been extremely active between programs exhibiting jaw sparring, squashing and chasing. Aidan was particularly responsive to howling and bark-howling by Shadow. He would run to the fence or pace around the pup den. There was increased anxiety due in part to the 7:30 adult wolf feeding. Both pups were digging for cached food just before the evening feeding. Aidan, who has had some fear of males, accepted the new male nanny on Saturday.
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Written by Nanny Team Members Lynne Haines and Sherrel Grabler: Both pups were very hungry this morning. Denali consumed 5.3 oz. of chicken, 5 oz. of pure venison, and 8.5 oz of gruel before 7 am. During the vet’s visit, Denali experienced heightened levels of anxiety and displayed male avoidance behavior. He squirmed and urinated on Lori, during his examination and vaccinations. In a stress response he ultimately regurgitating his morning feed. Denali weighed in at 33.1 lbs. a half pound gain. During both Behind The Scenes programs, Denali remained relatively calm, alternating between sleeping and chewing on either his sibling, a deer leg or a beaver tail. When Lori Schmidt demonstrated howling with the Ambassador pack during the morning program, both pups ran, in fear response, towards their pup enclosure. Throughout the day when he was not sleeping, Denali joined Aidan in caching food, digging it up and consuming the cached food.
Log written by Alexis and Kerry Sharp: During the 5 pm pup program, Denali was chewing on a beaver tail which Aidan wanted. Aidan dragged the pillow which Denali was resting on and tried to submissively paw the beaver tail away from Denali. Finally, Aidan did a squash maneuver on Denali in order to distract him and gain possession of the beaver tail.
Written by Nannies, Tina and Ed Stimpson – Aidan was very active during the afternoon programs. He played tug of war with Denali. Aidan enjoyed play chasing Denali around the pup pen. Aidan and Denali did a lot of jaw sparring in the morning and in the evening. The pup pond was filled this evening; Aidan jumped in and out of the pond and tried to take the hose as the pond was being filled. Aidan and Denali joined the Exhibit Pack in howling this evening.
Written by Nanny Team Leader Kelly Godfrey: Denali was very active during the afternoon programs. He went out to cache chicken breasts, but decided to eat them instead. During the afternoon program Denali raised his hackles while he and Aidan fought over the beaver tail. He displayed food guarding behavior later in the afternoon program. While in the pup enclosure today he dug in the den, increasing the size of the already large den site.
The nervousness that Malik has been experiencing is related to a large aspen tree that blew over on the fence in one of the latest in the series of windstorms. Lori Schmidt and Joyce Riveroll entered the enclosure and cut the tree off with a chainsaw. All the wolves had chainsaw conditioning when they were pups, and all stood back and watched while the tree was cut, showing no fear anxiety. As a side note, Aidan and Denali also heard the saw, lifted their head to look and listen, then went back to sleep. This is important for a wooded enclosure that has frequent chainsaw issues.
Written by pup nannies Jennifer Ell and Betty Magnuson: Aidan cached some venison this morning, and ate a few bites that Denali dug up from a previous cache. Aidan chased Denali around the pup pen for about 15 minutes. Pups were asleep when curator Lori Schmidt started using the chain saw to cut a tree that had fallen in the main enclosure, both pups sat up, their ears turned around towards the sound, then laid down again. There were no signs of stress, just curiosity. It was a hot day, and pups sought out shade under the hut.
Written by Nanny Team Members, Tina and Ed Stimpson – Aidan participated in caching chicken this morning. He would watch Denali cache the chicken and then dig it up after Denali left. During the 11:00 a.m. Pup 101 program, Aidan found most of the elk and cheese meatballs that the nannies had hidden in the pup pen in the auditorium. Aidan and Denali both did jaw sparring, tug of war, food possession, and squashes during the Behind Scenes program this morning.
Written by nanny team members Jennifer Ell and Betty Magnuson: Denali started out his day by digging up Aidan's cache and recaching it. A routine urine sample was taken and sent to the vet. During the 11 o'clock program, Denali was pawing at the door, and when he was let out, he lay down on the cold soil. He slept through the 1 o'clock program. The weather was warm, since Aidan was underneath the hut, Denali sought out a shadow spot to sleep in the afternoon.
The pups' urine samples came back from the lab with no problems. This was just a follow-up to issues earlier in June, and is part of the pre-introduction health exam. The pups had blood draw twice this week, and both times, they slept without even waking up to the needle. Joyce Riveroll, visiting volunteer and veterinarian conducted the blood draw as a familiar person in their lives; It is six days and counting until the introduction.
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