Wolf Tales

A neighbor has four wolves and he uses them for educational presentations. His goal is for his audiences to understand the nature of a wolf and to dispel many of the myths that exist. We have had the pleasure of meeting the wolves several times and thought we would share some pictures of a presentation he made this past Sunday night. Hope you enjoy.

21 Comments

  1. Lexi and Jasper the Danes on September 16, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Wow what interesting neighbors you have!!

    Must have been very interesting! Are they pure wolf? Or are they Hybrids?

    I presume he does do a lot of work/training/handling with them – they seemed to be very friendly with people! We had wolf hybrids brought into NZ once for a project and a lecturer of my uni got to meet them and took a video, you definitely couldn’t do what it looked like the viewers were doing at your presentation! Love to know more about it πŸ™‚

    ~Laura (Lexi and Jasper the Danes

    • D.K. Wall on September 17, 2011 at 7:45 am

      Interesting, part of Rob’s presentation is the behavioral differences between wold hybrids and wolves. Hybrids have that dog loyalty to humans trait, which includes protectiveness. Thus, he states that wolf hybrids are far more dangerous to humans than pure wolves. He said the way he lets the wolves interact with humans in the presentation (in a very controlled manner with the audience’s movement restricted) he would not try with a hybrid because a hybrid is far less stable.

      On the flip side, wolves have no desire to please humans like dogs do, so they are untrainable in any dog sense. He does interact with them regularly in that he walks and lives among them.

      One interesting side story. The wolf pup interacted with everyone, but the adult wolf was actually very choosy about who she would talk to. She has never had any interest in spending time with me, but on Sunday, she came over to me, sat down, and interacted with me for several minutes. Interesting that he says they have a good memory and, basically, she decided between meeting me several times and seeing me interact with the pup, that I was an ok person. Very cool moment.

  2. Skye & Kate on September 15, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    They are absolutley beautiful, but I feel very sorry for them on the end of a leash, as you can see from the video they are not happy either.
    Do the poor guys ever get to run free and try to have some kind of “normal life” or are they always restrained and kenneled?

    • D.K. Wall on September 15, 2011 at 9:00 pm

      It is a terrific question. They are on leash ONLY when they are out for public demonstrations like this one. They live their lives in a large , wooded compound in their pack of 4 wolves. They are fed foods natural to wolves and on their normal schedules (which is NOT daily or twice daily like dogs) and they are NOT fed kibble or anything like that. Rob is very particular about not treating them like pets at all. In fact, part of his message is that wolves are NOT pets and can not be treated like them.

      The video is from the very beginning of their presentation (as he was introducing them by name). The wolves actually settled down and enjoyed their time with us.

      Hope that helps you feel more comfortable. Feel free to contact us if you want more information.

  3. jen on September 15, 2011 at 11:55 am

    so beautiful! i love the pup’s bucket trick πŸ™‚

  4. Khumbu on September 15, 2011 at 4:11 am

    wooo beautiful wolves, how lucky are you to have wolves as neighbours. Great thanks for sharing πŸ™‚

  5. Holly & Khady on September 15, 2011 at 1:39 am

    Our humans woman absolutely LOVES wolves! They are her obsession, even more than us! She has been to Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana and been up close and personal with the wolves there in a fantastic photo seminar. She said it was the most exciting time of her life! They truly are the most magnificent animals ever and yet are so terribly misunderstood. Your humans are lucky to have gotten the opportunity to see them in person.

    Holly & Khady

  6. NCMountainwoman on September 14, 2011 at 10:02 pm

    Thanks for sharing the lovely photographs of the wolves. Do you hear them howling? I’ll bet four wolves could get the Herd in a great melody.

  7. siku marie on September 14, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Thanks for sharing these beautiful animals. It is too bad they are so misunderstood (and hunted in our part of the country).

    Speaking of misunderstood, we can understand the OP Pack being mistaken for Wolves…but the White Dog Army has been asked three different times if we were White Wolves! Really? No we are miniature Clydesdales!

  8. jansfunnyfarm on September 14, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    that was pretty neat. Thanks for sharing it.

  9. The Ao4 on September 14, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    “Big Bad Wolf” indeed! Woooo!!!
    What a cool post; thanks for sharing!
    Luv,
    Dave

  10. jack & moo on September 14, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    Wonderful video, good job hu-dad! Sure can see why huskies are the typical stand-in for Hollywood wolves! A-woooooooooooo!

    PS – drop by our blog today, we’ve got a special pic posted fur Rusty’s enjoyment!

  11. The OP Pack on September 14, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. We are always getting asked if we are wolves.

    Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

  12. Jan on September 14, 2011 at 10:15 am

    That’s great. So many of us grew up with big bad wolves as part of our lore.

  13. lexy on September 14, 2011 at 9:44 am

    very cool! and so pretty!

  14. Mogley G. Retriever on September 14, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Nice neighbors. All we have is a neighbor with a dumb cat. Can we trade neighbors?

    Mogley G. Retriever

  15. Denise on September 14, 2011 at 9:27 am

    Great pics! They are beautiful animals. Never seen pics of wolves interacting with people before. It was great! Thanks for such a wonderful experience.

  16. Terri Jacobson on September 14, 2011 at 8:55 am

    I think wolves are magnificent animals. So glad you were able to take their photos.

  17. houndstooth on September 14, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Wow! They are gorgeous! The eyes on the smaller one were really captivating.

  18. hisqueen on September 14, 2011 at 7:50 am

    If that girl had a bit more white on her face, she could double for Kiska.
    I see why some people mistake huskies for wolves.
    Beautiful pictures.

  19. 24 Paws of Love on September 14, 2011 at 2:35 am

    Very cool! Looks like home!! πŸ™‚

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