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I grew up, or at least attempted to reach maturity on some level, in Denver, Colorado.
Over the years I read such things as 'Never Cry Wolf' and anything else I could find on wolves. Having been raised with German
Shepherds all my life, I realized later I almost did own wolves. They were classified as wolves by the AKC for quite some
time. Once I did grow up and had children of my own I decided it would be nice to own a real wolf or at least a hybrid. Nobody
ever really owns one, however. They become friends and companions to them in a symbiotic and wonderful relationship, one that
changed me for life.
My wife was looking for Black German Shepherds and ran across an advertisement
for wolf hybrids and asked me if that sounded interesting to me too. She had already contacted them just in case I was interested.
I talked to the breeders on the phone for a good while that night and decided if she wanted to get one, I did too. The two
oldest children were off doing something with their friends the next day so she was going to take our youngest son, Daniel
with her. I told her to get a male and to let the wolf cub pick them. I got a look from her that said "Duh!"
She
gave me a call at work to let me know they were home and we had a new family member. He was already named before his arrival.
His name was Timbre. One of the sounds of nature which has always had a strong effect on me is the sound of a wolf howl. I
named him Timbre because I knew he would have a beautiful howl. Life is a funny thing, however. It seems that life has a sense
of humor much like mine. Timbre never had a pretty howl it was however quite haunting. He sounded like a cross between every
breaking machine known to man and a fully functioning garbage disposal. That never did change either. He and I would stand
outside at the end of the day and sometimes in the morning to greet the sun or bid it goodnight in a heinous cacophony, ending
with a belly rub and a hug. But I am off course in this little story. Back to the first night he arrived now.
Terri
told me the people she bought Timbre from were surprised at how quickly Timbre picked Daniel, our youngest son. He wouldn't
leave Daniel alone either. Terri realized he was our guy so she bought him. She was told that he would hide in the house and
come out only when the children went to bed that night. They were only partially correct on that count. When I got home that
night Timbre was hiding behind a large antique dresser we keep the TV on. I got down on the floor and said hello and then
sat down to read in my chair. I wasn't there for more than thirty minutes and he came out from under my chair and began tugging
on my pants in a game of tug of war. He knew I was the guy it seemed. I picked him up and gave him a nice hug and played with
him on my lap for a while then put him back on the floor. He was now acquainted with everyone and felt a lot better I could
see. He went back to his hiding place for a while. We had one cat at that time who was real obnoxious and now eyeing him with
no small amount of hostility as she stalked him. I was just getting ready to go and stop her before she did something she
would later regret, when she attacked.
The most amazing thing happened there too. A puppy will
almost always start yipping for mommy. That did not happen, however. Talk about Zen and economy of action? He countered the
attack with a ferocity that was shocking and quite loud. I got the cat out of there meaning outside of the house as she ran
for safety from him. She decided that was one tough little black ball of fluff and never bothered him again. Now back to that
economy of action; a puppy yips for mommy the wolf called for help and at the same time dealt with his own defense. When I
got him out from behind the dresser he was having a great time and wagging his tail. The moment of hostility had passed and
he was just fine.
There are a few rules with raising wolves that I will now briefly mention.
Make sure nothing hurts them in any way while you are raising them. At the age of three months and up they begin setting permanent
memories and lifelong opinions. That is why you always get them no later than four weeks old. You will then know their life
experiences. I had a wolf that I will mention later one that was smacked by some guy when he was only four months old. He
hated all men except for a very select few after that. Boy did he rip that guy up though. That is another story, however.
One of the other rules is that you never hit a wolf. They are to be punished by lip pinches and nose biting until they submit.
As soon as the message has been responded to with a full submit, they are to be played with and loved. Punishment is immediate,
unforgiving and over the moment it is acknowledged. I had to submit Timbre twice and only twice. All it ever took after that
was a look, a "NO!" or a tap on the shoulder with a knee to bring about complete civility and calm. That isn't to say he didn't
check regularly to see if the rules had changed. One of the other rules with wolves is that if they are holding it, they own
it until they put it down. If you are holding it is yours until you put it down. I found that was a little bit negotiable,
however. The first two rules are inviolable especially respecting the full submit. That is another story though. Now back
to Timbre's first night at home.
Most puppies which he wasn't will cry all night wanting mommy
back along with their siblings. He decided he belonged in our house right off the bat and whimpered once or twice before going
to sleep. Not wanting anything to hurt him such as one of the cats, he spent the night in our room with us. I was surprised
at how quickly he settled in and went to sleep. I was awakened at about twelve thirty that night by him standing on my pillow
with his paws on my head and pushing as he pulled my hair and growled ferociously as he played with me. I had a hard time
not laughing but I did have to go to work that morning so I had to deal with this quickly. I picked him up and turned on the
light. Then I put him on the floor and began chewing him out as he began to roll over onto his back. He pulled his front paws
against his chest as his back legs began to splay and he slowly turned his head away from me. It was just like everything
I had ever read. I was amazed that the books I had read were actually right about their behavior. He turned his head away
from me but maintained eye contact with me. His head was about sixty degrees to me when he finally broke eye contact and that
was the end. I gave him a little belly rub and a smooch and went back to bed.
About three hours
later I was awakened the same way again. I went to work submitting him. Just as he was getting ready to break eye contact
I thought "What a cute little cuss." Suddenly he jumped up and playfully bit me on the end of the nose. I had forgotten a
critical thing about wolves. The reason for the eye contact is that wolves read your eyes as you can now tell quite accurately.
He read on some level exactly what I thought at that critical moment. I was doomed to many annoying wake ups as a result of
my error. The battle for control was now on.
The first twenty-four hours with Timbre were filled
with wonder for me but the rest of the time was incomparable. While I was coming home from work the next night I decided to
stop and get some leather chews and things like that for him so he wouldn't eat the house. He did like to chew we noticed.
When I got home he came out from his hiding place and followed me into the bedroom. Terri was there and the two of them began
playing with each other. I opened the various packages and put them on the floor where his bed was. He noticed the activity
and ran over to see them. As soon as he had examined them, he ran over to Terri and thanked her by licking her and then ran
back to his new toys. Terri was amazed, the little guy had done something people often forget to do. She was smiling like
a mother at him and I asked what that was just a moment ago she smiled up at me from the floor, "He thanked me. I can't believe
it he actually came over and said thank you." I smiled to myself at what was happening here because I also recognized a pattern.
I am a father so I saw a very familiar pattern. I smiled back at Terri, "Yes I bought him a bunch of things and he thanked
you." I looked at him and said "I was the one that bought them and you thanked her." He dropped his leather chew ran over
to lick me and went back. That really blew our minds. There was most definitely a form of communication going on here that
wasn't involving language.
Like I said, I spent a fair amount of time reading up on wolves
and raising them. I began mouth feeding them, much to Terri's disgust. That involved giving him a piece of jerky through my
mouth just like mommy and daddy wolf would do. It did increase the bond quite a bit. I had been warned not to give him food
using my fingers. Wolves aren't fed that way and it some times takes them a bit to learn that you aren't feeding them your
fingers too. I found out they were correct on that account. Using your fingers was a very dangerous act. I also fed him some
canned meat at night using a spoon. He would sit patiently and wait for each new spoon full to come to him. He was learning
not to jump up on people at the same time. If he was really in a hurry he would rise up on his hind legs to get the next spoon
full without ever touching me. I really didn't want to have an unruly 120 lb. wolf running around the house. That extra time
paid off later too. He did like to give me a lick across the face a lot. If he looked like he wanted to do that I would hold
my left arm out with the forearm parallel to my body and at about chest high. He would gently rise up on his haunches and
ever so gently touch my arm and lean forward to give me a smooch. That was when he got a little bigger, however.
I
mentioned that the rule of ownership was a bit negotiable so here is one on that subject from when he was still a cub. Having
children I knew I could not abide having an animal that got nasty or threatening while he was eating so I went to work on
that real quick. I would put his food down and then sit right next to him. As I put the food down I would have my hand sitting
in it. I would then allow him to eat after he realized I wasn't going to remove my hand. The moment I removed my hand while
he was eating he was in full ownership of it. If I tried to put my hand back in he would growl and snarl at my hand. I was
pretty amused at how independent he was. I would then spend the rest of his meal time trying to get my hand back into the
food. If my hand got too close he would snarl and grab it with full fangs bared and snarling. I knew instinctively he wouldn't
ever really harm me so I would let him hold my hand until he finally let go. Then my hand would get closer and closer. After
a few evenings he settled down because he realized I wasn't ever going to take it away from him. The only person he ever drew
blood on was Terri. She instinctively pulled her hand away and one of his teeth accidentally cut her. He felt horrible too.
He forgot all about his food and began trying to make it up to her. She let him know she was the one that screwed up by not
displaying trust and yanking her hand out of his mouth. He finally went back to eating and hovered around her for the entire
night.
One would think from what I have written so far that Timbre never did anything to me.
Before I close here is one of his little stunts with me. Every morning I liked to wander around the house with my cup of coffee.
As soon as he got to be about forty pounds he invented a new game. As I would reach the end of the living room and start to
walk into the hall he would fly by me and throw a shoulder into the back of my knee. After the second time I noticed it wasn't
an accident. He was stalking me and playfully so. He was careful not to do it all of the time too. Sometimes I would hear
him moving real fast only to turn and see him faking it. He would be just starting to sit down as I spun around. There was
always a light behind those yellow eyes as his tail wagged. Eventually I managed to stiffen my knee just in time and bounce
him off the wall which ended the real game but he still occasionally faked it, just to watch my reaction.
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Terri and the kids had gone to Idaho for a family reunion and this piggy stayed home. On Monday of
the first work week after they left, I sat down and got thoroughly trashed with a bunch of beer the night before. I had been
playing my guitar along with the stereo and it just sort of happened. I went to bed at about 12:00 and at 1:30 AM I woke up
and spoke my neighbors name as I flew out of bed and to the door. This is a guy that when you first meet him you sense trouble.
He has moved away since then thank God. I flew to the door without making a sound and stepped out onto the porch. My geese
down the road were making a bunch of noise in their pen and Timbre was in his pen silently pointing down the road. I put him
on a leash and he started to pull me down the road in my underwear. I fortunately won that argument. We went inside and I
went back to bed.
The following morning I started to get in my car to go to work and noticed a piece of cut pork laying
next to the tire on one of our vehicles. I got a plastic cup and put it in the freezer with the meat in it. The vet took one
look and said glycol most likely. One person told me I probably scared a scavenger away without even considering the fact
that it would have come back for it after I went to bed. There were no chew marks or anything of that sort either. It was
there to kill one of my pets. I thought about the situation a bit since it wasn't the first time anything like this had happened
since he moved in. I ended up walking down there and telling him what had happened. He said it wasn't him and I said fine.
The next time it happened there would be no doubt as to who was out there because I was going to ventilate them. You might
wonder where this is heading right? I did get through to him. A few weeks later his wife called because my wolf was out and
chasing his cattle. Terri informed him that Timbre was right there with her and not out at all. We never let him run loose.
Bad idea with wolves.
She went down to see what they had there and came back with a dog that was part wolf. She kept him
too. His name was Misha and he has passon on now, but still with us in memory. Anyway, Misha got the best of Timbre and loved
to submit him constantly. Terri also took in an ancient and crotchety Blue Tick Catahoula Cur that someone ran over and left
for dead. His name was Charlie, and he was a real A**hole too. He was always starting trouble with Misha and fights broke
out on many occasions. Terri and I always had to break them up too. What happened that was so interesting in all of this was
the change in power I felt and witnessed. Like I said Misha was always picking on Timbre who took it in a good natured way.
One day there was a fight that Charlie started and Misha got the best of him and submitted him. Charlie
had given up again as usual. I was watching the entire thing and suddenly as Misha stepped back he lunged forward and grabbed
Charlie by the throat and started to lift him. Mike, you could feel it in the air. It was an energy and it was powerful and
noble. Timbres' tail rose straight up into the air and his appearance changed forever. He was angry and had lost all patience
with Misha. His crime? He didn't accept the submit. He had decided that Misha was a tyrant and wasn't going to tolerate it
anymore. From that time forward Misha wasn't there to intimidate Timbre when I brought him in from the pen. He knew he had
blown it and did make a few attempts at regaining his position, but they were token attempts. I would like to point out that
Timbre never once challenged Misha. Raising his tail to the dominant position and staring into Mishas' eyes was all it really
took.
I was told many times that Timbre had a sagely look. That look appeared that day for the first time.
One
thing I have to say here about wolves though is that they are filled with unconditional love and forgiveness for the most
part and they are peacemakers. They are also very intelligent and they do have a sense of humor!
In
the meantime --- "ARRRRRROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
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