Today Nyssa is 76 days old. During one program she approached crowd with flat ears and tucked tail. She rolled over in front of several people and licked and whined at various strangers. She chewed on a deer leg with Grizz and Maya, with some growling, but mostly seemed willing to share. She approached crowd again and rolled over in front of everyone.
Nyssa is 79 days old. Early in the day, Nyssa greeted Shadow at the fence. Shadow began to growl and Nyssa tucked her tail and ears. As the pen was being cleaned, the noise of the rake scared her. Today all pups were given a deer fetus. Immediately, Nyssa began to dominate the other pups. She successfully defended her claim to the fetus. Save for a few small bites, she ate the whole thing. Once again, staff was unable to get an accurate weight for Nyssa.
Nyssa is 60 days old today. Nyssa is really developing well. In comparison to Maya and Grizzer at this age, she is only .2 lb lighter. She is starting to develop the characteristic wolf ears, and facial features.
Nyssa is 80 days old. Nyssa continues to be the most aggressive of all the pups. During pup programs the audience most often hears the aggressive vocalizations from Nyssa as the pups compete for food. As Nyssa was in the outside wolf yard Shadow has raised hackles and was growling at Nyssa. Nyssa then tucked her tail and submissively rolled over. During the morning programs Nyssa was very possessive of the deer leg, but during the 5:00 pm program her littermates did not back down from her aggressiveness as they all fed on the leg simultaneously.
Today Nyssa is 81 days old. She greeted the morning shift with a submissive rollover and lots of facial licking. Nyssa and her littermates weren't very active during most of the morning and early afternoon because of hot and humid weather. Nyssa and her littermates were sprayed down with a hose to help cool them down. Nyssa lost control of a deer leg during one of the programs which seems to be usual because of Nyssa's aggressive feeding behavior. During the evening Nyssa and her littermates became much more active as they were all chasing one another around in the puppy pen.
Today Nyssa is 67 days old. Nyssa has been eating very well lately, consuming up to 2 cups of meat mix in a single sitting. Nyssa has also been very vocal when dominating Maya or Grizzer. She makes high pitched noises and then growls as she tugs on their ears, legs, tails, or whatever she happens to have in her mouth. Nyssa's play behavior shows that she has a very dominant personality, but it is yet to be seen whether she will be alpha or not.
Nyssa was much more playful prior to the Morning with the Pups program. She ran around the perimeter at top speed being chased by Grizzer and Maya, and by the time the presentation was on, she was pooped! We couldn't get her to be too active during the talk, she laid in the corner and allowed nannies to rub her neck and ears. Toward the end of the presentation Grizzer and Maya who had been having a chase for the audience landed on Nyssa and woke her up with a little bit of indignant growling and then she joined in chasing the others.
Nyssa is 62 days old today. Nyssa has become particulary fond of the Igloo dog kennel. Maybe because her coat is not as dense or developed as her packmates, or maybe she just likes straw. But, Nyssa has developed a pattern of getting to the Igloo first and guarding the entrance to allow no other canids to pass the door. She will defend it with barred teeth, deep throated growl and if that wasn't clear enough, she'll bite her packmates in the head.
Today Nyssa is 78 days old. She has certainly learned to use her vocal chords to make up for her smaller size. This is clearly demonstrated when pups are given a deer leg as a distraction. Nyssa commands the deer leg, not by physical strength, but by loud growls and whines. She's often so loud that the public can't hear the interns lecture. She was too wigly to have an accurate weight today.
Today Nyssa is 82 days old. Nyssa, when compared to Shadow and Malik at her age, she is one and two pounds heavier than they were, respectively. Nyssa's development becomes more obvious day by day. Nyssa is very independent and is sometimes reluctant to do programs. However, once in the programs, she did well today and spent most of the programs chewing on either a deer leg or beaver foot.
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