"Nearby was a herd of American Bison which was grazing in the large fields and being kept for study purposes."

Wolf Park

There is much we do not know about what makes dogs behave in the way they do; understanding Wolf behaviour adds to that knowledge and I hope to acquaint you with some of what I have observed and learnt.

Wolf Park Its Beginnings

Wolf park is situated in Battle, Indiana, USA - it is a non profit making organisation begun in 1972 by one of the world's top expert ethnologists, Dr Eric Klinghammer. Eric is assisted by Pat Goodman a Biologist who has been at Wolf park for over 20 years- her knowledge is immense-though you would not know this due to her modesty. Eric's philosophy is to keep some animals in captivity so that they can serve as ambassadors for their wild friends thus assisting people to develop a compassionate and realistic understanding of Wolf society. Wolf Park is set in about sixty acres with varying size enclosures. The main enclosure has a very large lake situated in the centre which not only adds interest to the wolves environment but gives the park a little of the wild - this is noticeable especially when a lone wolf can be swimming across the calm waters.
The older wolves, which can no longer live in the main pack for various reasons, are kept in smaller enclosures but cared for with the same dedication as the main pack. There is also is Red Fox and a Coyote named Wild Bill.

Wolf Park offers seminars attended by canine behaviourists, zoologists, veterinarians and dog trainers. School tours pass through the centre daily helping young people to understand the natural world around them. The Park hopes to change the lifestyle of the captive wolves through behaviour techniques and to help farmers protect their livestock from wolf predation. Monty Sloan, one of their wolf experts is also one of the worlds top wolf photographers and through the Wolf Park he organises some fascinating photography courses. Monty's picture library is simply amazing as the accompanying photographs demonstrate. I have to say that when I watched one such group of photographs enter the main enclosure and begin snapping away the wolves seemed just as curious of the group as the group was of the wolves.

Nearby was a herd of American Bison which was grazing in the large fields and being kept for study purposes. Certain wolves are allowed into the Bison enclosures for public displays of predatory behaviour while students from university study and film their movements. This may at first seem unkind but if you look at the picture adjacent it is clear that though the Wolves may be predators the Bison will not to be interfered with all the time and do retaliate, showing off the defensive skills of these giant herbivores

Wolf In You Dog

All dogs whether they are Chihuahua, Dachshund or Neapolitan Mastiff have 97% wolf DNA and when this is understood it explains much about the relationship between the wolf and domestic dog breeds. It may surprise you to know that this also helps us to understand pedigree dogs too. This knowledge of the wolf pack behaviour helps many dog enthusiasts care for their favourite breeds with TRUE kindness. It helps them realise what makes dogs and wolves tick and put the dog's needs first - human's second - I think that is probably the right order!

By studying Wolves in their captive environment, information that could otherwise not be collected in the wild can be carefully collated over a long period of time. The first wolves to arrive at Wolf Park were obtained from Chicago Zoo in September 1972. They had been taken away from their parents at the age of five days and reared by bottle in the children's Zoo. Therefore they were socialised with people yet still a part of their pack in the zoo so they retained their normal wolf behaviour. From these early beginnings Wolf Park now has thirty wolves in total.

Tame or Domesticated

What, really, is the big difference between dogs and wolves? This is an important question as there are many people who wish to own wolves or wolf hybrids and in some cases they wish to use the pure wolf blood to improve the genetic breeding base of some breeds already in existence. This is a dangerous, uncharted course and quite unnecessary, I feel.

The Wolves at Wolf Park are tame, but not domesticated. Domestication as Eric describes is "the process by which humans selectively breed animals for behavioural and physical traits that suit human needs". That is why we have the shepherding breeds for herding, the Gun dog breeds for search and retrieving and toy breeds for companionship and manageable size in the modern home.
Taming wild animals, on the other hand, is accustoming, in this, case wolf pups to accept humans as a norm and allow contact and other familiarisation. I call this conditioning socialisation - this is what breeders do all the time ( or should do) with their puppies. They socialise them with as many environmental factors as possible during the sensitive period of puppy-hood between two and twelve weeks.
Pedigree Dogs are domesticated, which means natural behaviour has been altered to fit our needs and tractability with humans is a part of this process. They have had their prime predatory behaviour altered and are therefore easier to tame or manage. Training and socialisation is still necessary but is without doubt much easier to achieve than the non altered (Non Domesticated) Wolves.
Tamed wild animals like wolves retain all their wild behaviours and instinctive responses to life, which is why they can be so dangerous when kept as pets. Hand rearing them does not alter their wildness but simply makes them more approachable. Of course this leads one into the debate on whether keeping Hybrid Wolves is a good a or a bad idea and I will cover this in the third and final feature in this Wolf series.

Filming Wolf Behaviour

I personally spent 80 hours filming the various wolf behaviours from the new observatory building that the park has built. This heated building was a godsend, considering that the temperature outside was mostly at freezing or below and I was unable to move much. After about two hours of filming with an icy wind of minus five Celsius on my face and hands I knew why wolves survived in the colder climes and I could not, unless assisted.

I have studied wolves for twenty years in three countries, but this was the first time I had uninterrupted access to wolf pack behaviour daily. This enabled me to see first hand how they functioned as a group animal by day and by night. As Dr Klinghammer stated earlier this is only possible by having science based institutions with tamed wild animals. So, although Whipsnade Wild Life Park is only two miles from my behaviour centre and I have studied their large pack of wolves for over twelve years the Wolf Park experience of hands on was exhilarating and quite different, and certainly highlighted my fascination with the natural world.

Swim or fight

On the twelfth day of my stay I was watching several of the pack members perusing the lowest ranking male ( the omega) across the undulating landscape. He was panicking and with good reason as some of the more dominant pack members had surrounded him against the lake. He was no innocent for as the pretender he had tried, some time ago, to depose the Alpha male but failed. He had quickly dropped from second ranking male to Omega (bottom) and was therefore treated as such . However, his brain was in good working order and he avoided being mobbed by quickly slipping into the lake and standing in two feet of icy water about twenty yards from waters edge. The three bully boys put a toe in the water and decided against pursuing him. A fourth male arrived and he was less bothered about the cold. He began pursuing the Omega male who quickly swam a further 200 yards to an island. He climbed out, shook himself and glanced back pretending not to be over bothered about what had just taken place. The pursuer gave up the chase. Many breeders will relate to this scenario when their dogs have had disputes over pack ranking.
And for all you breeders who have water dogs which are good swimmers, think on this. Many a sportsman's day shooting involves the intrepid retriever gliding across a large lake looking for his quarry and so we help reinforce that natural swimming skill. There is documentation to prove that the retrievers cousin, the wolf, has swam in Lake Superior 20 miles out from land at Isle Royal and made it safely back. Now we can understand were all the pedigree breeds get their stamina from.!

Bullying behaviour

Bullying or mobbing are words we use to describe types of domination in dogs. Of course, what we perceive as bullying might be completely be different to what the wolf on the receiving end perceives but that is how it appears in human terms This incident concerning bullying reminded me of a client of mine who complained of their own dog's bullying tactics. These same people had difficulty understanding that you cannot treat two dogs equally. The concept of equality does not exist as far as dogs or wolves are concerned. It is anathema to their survival system. When you own two or more dogs, rank quickly takes precedence and is all important from the dogs' view. We have to adjust our sensibilities to think like a dog or wolf and not in human terms. A current behaviour case concerns my client, Mrs Harvey. She has two male Norfolk terriers which fight frequently but, of course, only when she is about. They see her as top dog and both want to be second ( Beta). Each is an opportunist and when Mrs Harvey gives mixed signals under the pretext of being fair and equal fighting begins. She now treats one with preference, against her natural inclination and consequently peace was restored.

The previously mentioned wolf, pursued at the lake, tried to move up to Alpha (top wolf), failed and is now bottom. That's life and wolves and dogs can cope with what they are designed for. It is not personal, mean, bad or cruel, but simply the evolutionary process in full working order and pedigree dogs carry similar behavioural "baggage" into our homes, dog shows and the like.

The worst scenario for dog owners is when their beloved, beautiful, much spoilt pet dog - often one of the guarding or terrier breeds, decides that it can oust its owner from the natural Alpha position. This is when my office telephone is alive with " My dog won't let me get out of the bed" or " The dog has a toy or bone and keeps growling when I go near it". Yes, our dogs sometimes make a run for leadership because of mixed signals from the owner who is often surprised and confused. The wolf is still alive and well in our little Pekingese's genes.

Hunting at Tescos (Super Stores)

Whenever wolves meet they carry out the ritualised greeting behaviours that are so familiar to us with our pedigree dogs, but with wolves you are quickly reminded of their wild side. Every eye and body movement conveys so much information. The lower ranking wolves correctly show deference to the Alpha Female Altar and Orca the Alpha Male. Their subservient demonstrations can appear exaggerated in the extreme compared with domestic dogs but what one is observing is body language in all its clarity. Few errors are made and pack order is kept, which means the hunting machine is always primed for action.

Now if we imagine a scene in a typical British park, we may see an Old English Sheep Dog racing up to a Cocker Spaniel to check out the opposition. They exhibit investigatory behaviour on each other to assess importance of rank, territory and the like. Their domestication and subsequent psychological inability to signal with clarity is obvious. The Cocker's ears which are heavy and drooped down cannot become erect - or it may not distinguish much in the way of body language at all from the Old English Sheep Dog because of its massive coat, which, like a Tea Cosy, completely covers its ears eyes and tail. It is a bit like us being dropped into a foreign country and being unable to communicate verbally. We would end up relying on other physical indicators but that would inhibit clarity and the message needing to be conveyed might be misunderstood. Hence the British would end up shouting at the foreigner louder and louder in the mistaken belief that it will help them understand English. No doubt many a dog could empathise with the foreigner.

So when you return home from your next shopping trip, and make your way through the front door loaded with bags, watch your dog and notice how he greets you. His olfactory system is on full alert as he sniffs away at your goods. All those lovely smells; hunting has been good so a little begging may elicit some reward. Yes, your dog probably sees you as a success story on the hunting ladder even though Tesco's is not as difficult to find as a running deer.
Howling.

Wolves howl and contrary to the fairy tale image created by Little Red Riding Hood's story is not a predator of man. Wolves can recognize each other's individual vocalisations in the same way that we can pick up the telephone and instantly recognise a familiar voice even though we cannot see the person we are talking to. Wolves use howling to assemble the pack before a hunt and howling helps keep pack members in contact over vast stretches of territory. Wolves rarely bark. Our pet dogs rarely howl but bark a great deal. However given the right circumstances domestic dogs howl well and if they are brought up in kennels or where older dogs habitually howl, the puppies quickly copy that howling behaviour often to the detriment of those of us who wish to sleep! We believe these differences in behaviour is because all domestic dogs stay in a kind of permanent adolescence,
a result of breeding for these traits that in turn make them more manageable, therefore domesticated.

The staff at Wolf Park, Pat Goodwin, Monty Sloan, Jill Moore, Eric Klinghammer are without doubt some of the most committed people I have had the privilege to meet and gain knowledge from. Just one final thought, next time you are relaxing in your living room and your dog is all curled up warm, with a sleepy look, gaze a little deeper into his eyes and mind and you may just see his wild side, as the wolf stares back.