Today Nyssa is 71 days old. She willingly went into the program, showed no interest in greeting the Arctics, preferring to rest. She did well during the program, submitting to Grizzer after a tug of war over the deer skull. At one point, Grizzer sat on top of her while she continued to chew and protest as only Nyssa, Ms. Vocal, could do. At the end of the program she was a little testy with the nanny and snapped and had to be subdued by staff before making her exit. She was fine being picked up out in the wolf yard and taken to the pup enclosure. She was very playful so no weights for her either.
Today Nyssa is 87 days old. When Nyssa was inspecting a dying moth before a pup program she swatted at it for several seconds and then did one of her first scent rolling behaviors. During the final pup program of the day Nyssa along with her littermates were very anxious and didn't want to be in the pup pen at all. Nyssa and Grizz have also been actively dominating Maya today. All the pups have been running around the pen playing with one another. There is no doubt today's cool weather has contributed to high pup activity levels.
Today Nyssa is 53 days old. Nyssa has been very active this morning and has been initiating dominance attempts with Grizz and Maya. Upon arriving at the outdoor enclosure, she greeted the arctics at the fence enthusiastically. Nyssa has been very affectionate with staff this morning with vigorous facial greeting/licking. Today staff started introducing a dog brush to comb their fur. We also started putting a mock "ear ointment" (Vaseline) on their ears. Since daily wolf care during the year will require being brushed and placing fly ointment on their ears, we are working gradually to get the pups acclimated to this kind of care and the various objects (brush, ointment containers, etc.)in our hands. These things are being done both when they are sleeping and awake, in order to get them used to being touched in specific areas. Today Nyssa was sleeping and did not seem to mind the brushing/ear care. Nyssa was very vocal and possessive of the deer hide in the morning program. When Grizz tried to take it from her, she growled intensely and bit him on the muzzle. During the afternoon program, she slept through the entire program.
Today Grizzer is 78 days old. He found the wheelbarrow full of rocks experience to be interesting, although he stayed out of the way for the first few loads, until he saw his sister, Maya, climb into the barrow on top of the rocks. He climbed up too and checked his footing before jumping out. Satisfied that he wasn't totally outdone by Maya, he took a nap. No weight for him today
Today Grizz is 79 days old. Grizzer growled and nipped at being woken up for the program, but willingly walked into the pup pen. He chewed for a little while on some venison meat, but then became impatient with being in the pen. He scratched and climbed once and was distracted for a moment and paced, eyeing the audience nervously. Then after climbing again, nannies removed him to the side door. He continued to check back in with the audience, whining and eyeing his sisters for remainder of program. Once outside, he was anxious and whining again to get into the enclosure while the weedeater whined too in the distance. Once in the enclosure, he settled down and konked out. Being "on" for two presentations in a row is tough on the man of the pup pack!
Today Maya is 79 days old. Maya had an intense fear reaction to the sound of the weedeater. She tucked her tail and ran to the corner of the fence. As the weedeater moved away, she seemed to calm down and began to play with some birch bark and other toys. When the wheelbarrow passed by, she showed no fear of that and went right up to the fence to investigate it with her packmates.
Today Nyssa is 72 days old. Nyssa was observed 'kissing' her packmates today. She licked at their muzzles and whined slightly. She has become a little easier to manage, and is beginning to submit readily to staff. Nyssa did well in the programs all day. As the weather began to cool down near the end of the day, Grizz found Nyssa and laid on top of her. Nyssa did not protest and they slept together for some time.
Today Grizzer is 80 days old. Grizzer was submissive while around other people. During a special pup program, Grizz seemed rather comfortable being around people he had never met. He spent most of the time during the special program chasing his littermates and playing with toys. On several occasions he did nip at staff, but he then quickly submitted and allowed staff to stratch his belly. Kristin Radermacher, a pup nanny from early June, came to visit and Grizzer became very excited when he saw her. He was following her around the pen and during the feeding, he seemed to prefer to be fed by her.
Today Maya is 80 days old. Maya seemed very irritable with wolf care staff. On several occasions she bared her teeth and snapped at staff, which is abnormal behavior for Maya. Generally Maya is very submissive with staff. When she greeted Malik and Shadow she was very submissive to them. When Shadow approached her she laid on back and urinated on a rock. Also, when Malik and Shadow began to howl Maya ran up to the fence and joined in on the howl. Grizzer and Nyssa were showing dominant behavior over Maya today as well. Both of her littermates chased her around the pen as Maya was showing a tucked tail position.
Today Nyssa is 74 days old. Today was a very hot and humid day and Nyssa spent most of her time sleeping, but instead of crawling into the den as her packmate Grizzer, she has a peculiar way of sleeping. She only woke up to play with Maya and a toad and for her presentations, but was kind of grumpy when nannies tried to lift her from this comfortable possition.
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