Grizzer is 93 days old today. He tried to attack Nyssa through a V in a birch tree. He would growl and stick his muzzle through the V and try to bite her. She would do the same until she figured out that he was just around the trunk.
Grizzer’s response to the pups at the fence has been very interesting and leaves us cause to wonder how he will interact with his future pack mates. He displays high pitch whining, licking response and an almost obsessed look when the pups approach. This could be very good for the introduction if he takes some ownership in the pups. It could also mean obsessive behavior that may get a bit intense. The introduction is months away, but these daily fence visits will be observed carefully to gleam any indication of future issues. Other than the pup activity, the pack is very calm, and Grizzer and Malik have very few dominance interactions at this time of year. The presence of the pups seems to have stimulated Prolactin hormonal development, with the best indicator of this being the calm behavior. Grizzer was the first wolf to start the shedding process, where wolves lose the dense undercoat, leaving the permanent guard hairs as the dominant coat in summer. This makes wolves look extremely thin, including Grizzer.
Grizz has been showing signs of wanting to go out of the pen in the mornings. He is very restless, whining, scratching at the walls under the window frame. He was distracted with ice cubes but only for seconds at a time. Grizz did well during the programs. He played tug-of-war with Maya with a beaver tail, and enjoyed chewing on some ice. Grizz also enjoyed being outside. He chased after Maya and Nyssa and greeted the artics well. He dug in his den and rested there. Grizz has been very aggressive toward the nannies and staff members. He is attracted to long hair and bites and tugs on it while growling. Flipping him over and dominating him seems to calm him down.
Grizzer is 44 days old today. During pup pen cleaning, the pups ran around the auditorium with leashes on to condition them to wearing leashes. Pups did very well and explored the auditorium and went into pup pen. Grizz did well during the programs-he became anxious but was able to be redirected with stimulus items such as pig ear and beaver foot. Just before feeding, all three pups displayed interesting, possibly new (Maya and Grizz pair dominating Nyssa) behaviors. The play went on for 10 minutes and was captured by staff on videotape
Grizz went into a stalking mode and went after Nubee from across the pen. Grizz did well during the first program. He was exploring the pen, rubber Kong, and deer hide. He initiated dominance displays with both Nubee and Groan. Grizz did well during most of the second program. He was very interested in the rubber Kong that was stuffed with deer meat. He sniffed it and rubbed his head against the meat. Towards the end of the program, he was anxious to get out. Grizz's attention was focused mainly on the deer leg that was one of the stimulus objects in the pen. He spent the majority of the last program chewing on it and food guarding it from Groan. Grizz is persistently going after Nubee in dominance interaction attempts. Grizz was heaving before feeding, and coughed up small amount of bile. He was extremely startled by Nubee being put down near him. He growled and exhibited a defensive stance. It lasted only a few seconds, and he was not aggressive toward Nubee when she approached to sleep.
He seems to be more comfortable with having the pen cleaned. He was very playful with Groan and Nubee during the cleaning. Grizz was whining and begging for the bottle while Nubee was being fed. During an interaction with Nubee, he seemed to allow her to dominate. Grizz was very anxious during a special Girl Scout morning program. He was continually at the gate wanting to get out. He may have been too hot in the pup pen due to the morning sun coming through the windows. Griz handled the introduction of the fan (for cooling) really well. (Staff decided to use a fan in the auditorium to cool the puppies off.) Wolf Care and Program staff will lower shades in the auditorium to lessen the morning sun, hopefully this will cool things off. During the 11:00 program, Griz was exploring the puppy pen and did well. Nubee exhibited some dominance behaviors over Griz by grabbing his neck and standing over him. Grizz also did well during the 1:00 program. He interacted with Nubee and played with a pine cone and piece of deer hide. He appeared to be relaxed and at ease. During the 3:00 program, Grizz did well in the first part of the program, and was very interested in the beaver tail. He interacted with both Groan and Nubee. Grizz was persistently pursuing Nubee's bottle, ignoring his weening formula.
Grizz is 33 days old today. The pups were put in the outside puppy pen adjacent to the main exhibit. ML & SD showed excitement and greeted the puppies with whines and wagging tails. Pups were also excited with wagging tails as they greeted the arctics throught the protective hardware cloth fence. Pups spent some time exploring the pen, but Grizz became excited and anxious, vomiting .5 oz formula. Grizz was also digging under edge of concrete pad. During this time, the retirement pack got their first physical look at the pups and MacKenzie showed aggressive dominance toward Lakota and Lucas.
Today Grizz is 34 days old. Grizz is becoming more active as he is chewing and biting at toys, logs, people, and stuffed animals. He is also becoming more vocal with his handlers and packmates. Grizz was anxious in response to Groan during pen cleaning. Growled at staff members but submitted after being rolled over. He was taken into new pup facility. He played, ran, and got into the pond. Grizz explored the most of all the pups. He would come back for reassurance and go off exploring.
Visitors frequently ask about the Name the Pup contest and how/why the names were chosen: The nickname Grizz was chosen from the minute the pups were picked up at the game farm. Grizz has a grizzled gray appearance to the start of his guard hairs and is getting the classic wolf ruff around his neck. Wolf care staff were happy to see one of the names selected for voting was Grizzer… Garnett was also selected for the Name the Pup Contest. Garnett is representative of Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves superstar and 2004 NBA MVP.
Grizz is 49 days old. Grizzer has been very restless, often pacing from one place to another. Staff was successfully able to use music as a calming stimulus for Grizzer and his littermates when they were worked up during the early morning. When Grizzer gets worked up he keys in on the window as a source for escape and repeatedly tries to get at the windowsill. Grizzer has shown little interest in weaning formula which could be the result of a recent tapeworm diagnosis. The tapeworms are currently being treated with a dewormer not only in Grizzer, but his littermates as well. Grizzer sometimes seems willing to come to Nyssa's aid when she is being dominated by Maya, but when Maya is being dominated by Nyssa, Grizzer joins in on the domination. When staff brought in the weighing materials Grizzer tucked his tail and ran to the opposite side of the corner. Due to his intense fear response, staff did not attempt weighing him at that particular time.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.