Part II
Photos by Bill Woodall, West Branch of the Ausable River, 01/28/07
Marble Mountain behind Cree
 Hybrids, like wolves, express their curiosity by chewing on things, for example, your dining room table. The minute you stop stroking them, they're off to explore and wreak rascally havoc. They also mark their territories methodically and continuously, whether they are outside or in your living room. This means that while your home may survive supervised visits by the hybrid indoors, they must live outside, and they're going to require a large, escape-proof pen, and a companion to hang out with. Cree lives with a couple of pound-hound brothers named Sammie and Roscoe. By the way, escape-proof means high enough so that they can't leap over the fence, deep enough so they can't dig under it, and sturdy enough so that they can't chew through it, because they will definitely try all three. If you're thinking a six foot high anchor chain fence, think again. Hybrids, like wolves and crows, are incorrigible thieves. When I was constructing an insulated, heated dog house for Cree in his pen, he was keeping me company, and I noticed that my tools were never where I had last put them down. Not only did I spend an hour or so searching for my tools in the woods, Cree disdained the completed dog house, preferring to sleep either on top of it, or in a small den he had dug in the corner of the pen. Anyway, if you leave your favorite hiking boots outside to dry in the sun, by the time you locate them, you'll find your hybrid has incorporated a new air conditioning system into their design. Continued below..... |
Click on Photos to Enlarge
| Hybrids
make terrible watch dogs, because wolves don't bark, are wary
of strangers, and their survival instincts tell them to flee unfamiliar
people. Our "watchdog" is a pug, named Rosie. She's the only dog we
have who barks to announce a visitor's arrival. Wolves survive by
staying hidden. We learned during a Summer in Alaska that you can live
surrounded by
wolves, hear their howling every night, and never see more than an
occasional fleeting glimpse of one. You'd better have understanding neighbors, or better still no neighbors, because your hybrid will want to howl, when the mood strikes him, and your neighbors may not find the experience as haunting and melodic, not to mention convenient at 2:00 AM, as you might. In addition, we run our business out of our home, so we are basically always around to investigate whatever gets Cree's attention, whether it's the howling of the local coyote pack, the raucous squawk of a raven, or the piercing scream of a bobcat. You'll need time to exercise your hybrid. Cree hikes with us at least three miles every day, rain, shine, warm weather or sub-zero. This is not only healthy and fun for all involved, but it helps build both trust and dependency in your pet. Our first hybrid, "Chino" hiked all over these Adirondack High Peaks, and was an ongoing good-will ambassador for wolf-dogs, because people saw how calm and good-natured he was. Continued below.... |
| It
may seem absurdly obvious, but it's important that you (or someone
in your "pack") be stronger than your hybrid. Cree, for example, is 115
pounds at 10 months old, and like all wolf pups, he can be willfull and
uncompromising, particularly around food. There are occasions when you
must simultaneously demonstrate gentleness and superiority in physical
strength, so that you have an understanding with your pet. Refusing to
be pulled, for example, when Cree is on a leader, reminds him who is
stronger, and therefore who has control. At the same time, requiring
him to sit when he receives a
reward, not only teaches him to practice dexterity, consideration and
restraint while taking food from your fingers, but it reminds him who
takes care of him. We've all read horror stories about wolf-hybrids who turn on their masters, or injure a neighbor, but here as in all other topics, we find the news media selling the news, rather than reporting it. Dogs (and wolf hybrids) are like people in this respect: who they turn out to be depends on how they are raised, and how much guidance and consideration they've been shown. With the two hybrids we have kept, we have never seen the slightest aggressive gesture towards people, their general reactions ranging from friendliness to indifference to wariness and departure. Actually, over 30 years, we've had many large dogs from malamutes to mutts, and have yet to have an aggressive dog, so we have to conclude that unwarranted aggressiveness is taught to dogs by masters, circumstances or both. Consider the wildlife lover who procures a wolf hybrid, then discovers they can't keep him in the house, and they don't have room outside for a large pen, never mind a suitable environment in which to exercise the animal. What you won't read in the sensationalized stories about hybrids, which occasionally run in the media, is that the hybrid ends up in the backyard on a chain, which frustrates the dog and teaches him to be defensive. The owner has a typically busy life, with tons of responsibility, which doesn't permit much time for the hybrid, who grows lonely, despondent, bored and finally, like any chained dog, aggressive. Then one day, the chain breaks, or a stranger wanders into the yard. While this doesn't happen often, and while attacks by wolf-hybrids represent an insignificant percentage of attacks by domestic dogs generally, the media never fails to pick up on these instances, since an attack by a dog which is part wolf is much more sensational than an attack by, say, a german shepherd or a lab. What happens much more frequently, and which you will never read about, is that many owners realize too late their mistake in procuring and failing to control a hybrid, and the animal ends up being quietly euthenized, a tragedy for everyone involved. If all this this sounds like a situation for which you won't have enough free time, get a husky or a malamute. They're a lot like wolves, and they can live inside! |
|
o m e |
|
Mountain View Loj |
Deep
Woods Cabin |
Pine
Hill Cabin |
Brook- side Cottage |
Ausable Loj |
Olympic Dreams Chalet |
|
ADK Real Estate |
|||||
