Grizzer is 90 days old today. He seems to have lost patience with being taken into the building for programs. Grizzer was mobbed by Maya and Nyssa in several games of chase during the hours after dinner. He redirected onto a person, who rolled him over three times, until he finally submitted. He liked jumping onto the log, where he could swipe at the other pups from a height. When a male came into the enclosure, Grizz went over and sniffed him, and later submitted to him.
Today Grizzer is 92 days old. Even though Grizzer is the biggest of the three packmates, he rarely uses his size over Nyssa and Maya. Today during the program he started chewing on a deer leg and Nyssa came and took it away from him. Grizzer just pawed at Nyssa, roll over and tried to play with her, while Nyssa was growling and bitting. Grizzer then went to lay down and slept during the program. Today was a hot day, so in the afternoon, Grizzer decided to take a nap using a stone as pillow.
Grizzer is 95 days old today and it's the day before the introduction. We finally got a weight on him, they've all been a bit active to sit still long enough for the weighing process… Grizz has certainly matured to a nice healthy pup. We looked in the wolf logs from the summer of 2000, at 97 days, Shadow was 37 lbs and Malik was 36. So, Grizzer is 2 days younger and 4 lbs heavier. Good thing Grizzer has such a nice personality, he may have the bulk to push his way around.
Today Grizz is 89 days old. With the day of the planned introduction into the exhibit pack fast approaching, staff is carefully monitoring Grizz's progress. His activity level today made it impossible for an accurate weight, but staff is optimistic about his growth. His appetite remains consistently high, and he physically continues to appear more adult wolf like every day. The heat was intense today, so Grizz was very reluctant to leave his den for the Pup 101 programs. His continued renovation and expansion of the den makes it hard for staff and nannies to reach him in order to draw him out. Deer legs have been used to lure him out.
Today Grizzer is 50 days old. Grizzer was a little anxious while the puppy pen was being cleaned during the early morning shift, but he quickly calmed down. Following a rough morning program, the puppies stopped by a deer carcass thawing for the retired wolves. Grizz sat on top of the deer and began plucking hair. Interest in the deer lasted well over 40 minutes. Following the 3:00 pm pup program, Grizzer and his littermates went to the outside puppy pen. They romped around for a little while and then fell asleep for several hours. Grizz also has a slight case of diarrhea. Grizzer has been treated for tape worms and staff are still monitoring his stools after treatment. Staff have also noticed a bit of fear avoidance behavior toward the weighing bucket. As the pups get older, they become harder to measure. A pup's weight is much more indicative of health than body length. To avoid negatively conditioning them to the process, Staff decided to measure body lengths on Mondays and Thursdays only and weigh once a day on the night shift.
Today Grizzer is 71 days old. He did well in the programs, playing with Maya and chewing on ice. He put up no protest when being taken out of the pen at the end of the program. He also seemed more affectionate towards both staff and nannies in general. Upon returning to the pup pen he dug up some cached food and ate it.
Today Grizz is 52 days old. He has been showing increasing aggressive behaviors towards staff and nannies when he does not want to be handled. When he was put in a submisive posture, Maya came and dominated him. Grizzer's behavior indicates that he wants to be outdoors. He will whine and attempt to climb on the gate when he wants to go out. When taken out to the outdoor pup pen today, he ran around, explored, and greeted the arctics vigorously. During the Pup 101 program at 11:00a.m., Grizz did well and was kept occupied by a beaver tail. He chewed on the beaver tail for the entirety of the program. Grizz's appetite was very good at his 2:00p.m. feeding; he consumed 1 cup of food within a matter of minutes. Grizz exhibited the first incident of food caching behavior. He took a piece of venison mix from his feeding bowl and ran around the outdoor pup pen with it in his mouth. When he was out of sight of Maya & Nyssa, he cached the venison mix in a small depression and covered it over with dirt, using his nose and paws.
Today Grizzer is 53 days old. In the morning he started becoming anxious and wanted to be outside. Outside, Grizzer greeted arctics vigorously and then went to explore the dogloo dog house in the overnight outdoor kennel. Grizzer did well througout most of the 11 am program, then became anxious near the end and climbed on top of the log and tried to jump on the fence. He has been actively seeking a way out of the pup kennel during the programs and has learned how to jump from the log to the fence. Grizzer was anxious throughout 1 pm program. This time, he was not easily distracted and also he was very aware of the people and audience movement. He was panting it may have been too hot in the auditorium. Upon his return to the outdoor enclosure, he immediately ran to the pool and splashed water around. His appetite has been increasing, he gobbled down his portion and the left overs from Maya's. During the 3 pm program, he was anxious and he could not really be distracted by anything. He did a lot of pacing, but no whining or howling. He seemed to be a little warm as well.
Today Grizzer is 55 days old. Grizzer has been exhibiting fear avoidance behavior towards people he's unfamiliar with. When Grizzer is in the outside puppy pen he tends to isolate himself from the people as well as his littermates. It is very important wolf care staff help Grizzer work through this fear avoidance behavior rather than isolate him from them. When Grizzer and his littermates get older, they will need to deal with the many things on site such as weedeaters, lawn mowers, facilities maintenance workers, large crowds next to fence and more. Positive socialization and conditioning pups to a variety of stimuli is crucial when raising captive wolf pups. The experiences they have now whether positive or negative will play a big role in shaping their behavior when they are adults. With the weather being on the warm side today there was little in the way of play behavior. Grizzer spent most of his time sleeping near his new pond which he would periodically climb into.
Today Grizzer is 82 days old. Grizz, when compared to Shadow and Malik at 82 days old age, is 4 and 5 pounds heavier, respectively. Today was very warm, so Grizzer was not too active. However, as he was lying down, he began to poke his nose into the end of a pipe that was attached to the fence and took a deep breath, investigating the new smell. He continued his investigation for several minutes before dropping his head down and falling asleep.
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