I was awakened early this morning by the sound of a wolf howling right outside my back door. His name is Warrior, and he is 12 months old. Mr. McPhail is going to have him neutered soon in an attempt to keep him from getting aggressive.
I rented Snakes on a Plane this afternoon. It is almost hilarious in its ridiculousness. The only reason I mention it is because I decided Onyx needed to watch it with me. We were watching all these snakes attacking people, and suddenly Onyx turned around and bit me! He hasn't done that since he was 6 months old.
"OK, that's enough Snakes on a Plane for you," I said. "It's giving you ideas."
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5 comments:
That's hilarious about Onyx!! Was he watching from the couch with you?? did you have Snakes on a Couch? If I had snakes, I would be the biggest dork -- "Snakes in a Cage!", "Snakes on a Table!" -- I would probably just go on and on constantly. The world would be sick to death of me.
Our neighbor in NM had about 7 wolf/dogs. Apparently, people think it is really cool to have them, but when they become aggressive they want to be rid of them. My neighbor would take them in. He had a big fence - I never saw the wolf/dogs out, but I loved to hear them howl. It was like a chorus - each wolf/dog had a unique voice. I read an article years ago in Smithsonian magazine about wolf/dogs. It basically said that wolves had their own instincts (ways). They would eventually challenge the leader of the pack (you) - maybe not to kill, but they could mame. Pure bred wolves were not bad (debatable). But when you cross a wolf with a dog who has other instincts (possibly killer instincts) the wolf/dogs were unpredictable.
They are beautiful creatures - I understand the fascination.
Sus, actually it was more like Snakes In The Recliner!
Lou, I've heard that about wolf/dog crosses as well. You would think that crossing wolves with dogs would make them more gentle, but it doesn't always work that way. Strange, considering dogs are nothing more than domesticated wolves.
Taxonomically, dogs are a subspecies of wolf. Wolves are Canis lupus, and dogs are Canis lupus familiaris.
The article in Smithsonian said that some dog are bred to be attack dogs or killers causing them to be dangersous when crossed with a wolf. I guess some dogs are more dangerous than others making a wolf/dog cross more dangerous. The article had much to do with instincts born into an animal. Go figure!
My preacher, who is also a government trapper, kept two coyote pups that he found and raised them. One became overly aggressive, and he killed it hoping to prevent its making the other pup agressive. A neighbor killed the other pup when it follwed his wife on a walk not knowing that it was a pet. It would have been interesting to see how the coyote would have turned out.
Lou, you make a valid point. Some dogs are bred for aggressiveness. I was reading up last night, and I think a big part of the problem with wolf crosses is that we spoil our dogs so much. Most people let the dogs run the home. This "I treat my dogs the same as my children" phenomenon. This may be ok with breeds that have been domesticated for thousands of years, but it doesn't work with wolf crosses.
I found a website which listed some rules on how to establish and maintain that YOU, not the dog, are the leader of the pack. Funny thing is, I already do most of them with Katie. The only ones I don't follow is that I let her go into the house first (in case somebody broke in while we were gone and is hiding in there) and I let her sleep on the furniture (she's getting old and gimpy).
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