Gone to the Wolves............

Sunday May 23rd, I went to the Ernest Thompson Seton's exhibit opening at the Santa Fe History Museum. Seton is reputably the father of the American Scouting Movement, author, conservationist, and artist. Beginning as a hunter and killer of Wolves, he came to New Mexico from his Canadian home to kill wolves just outside of Clayton New Mexico. Having killed five wolves and the mate of a Wolf latter dubbed Loba, Loba came to find his mate and became trapped in a bear trap that Seton had laid for him.. As the story goes, Seton was so moved by this creatures concern for his mate, he found he could not kill Loba, and so began the transformation of hunter into environmentalist. Seton's rendering of a portrait of Loba can be seen as part of the Museums fabulous exhibit.

To celebrate Seton's penchant for Wolves, the nearby Palace of the Governors Courtyard held a four year old Timber wolf named Forrest. I approached Forrest and a cluster of Wolf gazers in the center of the courtyard with a white tent erected to provide Forrest with a shaded area as well as for the staff of Wild Spirt Wolf Sanctuary located in Rama, New Mexico just outside of Grants. My reason for visiting on Sunday aside from the draw of Seton's fabulous personal transformation, I was compelled to go and see the live wolf.

There has been a great deal of misinformation spewing from the lips, video cameras, and keyboards of a lot of so called "dog experts" regarding dog behavior likened to wolf behavior. Some of the true animal scientists and behaviorists ( such as Temple Grandin and Aleandra Horowitz among others) have taken this information to task and I thought it prudent to go and learn from the experts in person just what do dogs and wolves have in common and where do they part company?

According to the Angel Bennett of the Wild Spirit Sanctuary, who presented Forrest to the crowd, Wolves are 90 percent hunters, and 10% scavengers whereas dogs are 90% scavengers and 10 % hunters. What's more Wolves have no human loyalty (where as dogs have major human loyalty), and paradoxically mate for life, whereas dogs are indiscriminate. The wolf's brain is thirty percent larger than dog's brains and they have advanced cognitive abilities Wolves also have a high fear threshold, they don't adapt well to changes once they are over one year of age and they simply don't generalize as well as dogs to. In layman's terms, if I were to train a dog to jump into my car (which he could learn and perform only out of the knowledge that a steak or some coveted treat was promised and not because it pleased me as the neighborhood Border Collie would) and then I asked the dog to perform the same behavior into another car that may lead to confusion. A car is not a car to a Wolf! Dogs took the evolutionary fork in the road roughly 175,000 years ago, dogs evolving to become the ultimate experts on people. What shoes we wear tells them whether we are staying at home, going out to run, or headed to work. They have become the most observant of all to our movements, our body language, our moods, our sugar levels, or even whether we have an oncoming seizure! Wolves do not and are not concerned with us in this way.

Forrest was the antithesis of most captivity raised Wolf's in that he is quite social. His litter mates, also timber wolfs raised like he in captivity are not nearly as tolerant of humans. When I crouched in the circle around Forrest, he actually came up to met and licked me on the face. Angel announced to the crowd that this behavior was indicative that he trusted me and that this is common pup behavior when seeking feeding from an elder.

The Wild Spirit Sanctuary was established to rescue wolves and wolf-dogs from well meaning and uninformed members of the public who adopted wolves and who can cope with them in their homes. Tales of padlocked refrigerators, turkeys being removed from ovens as well as the contents of cooking crock pots and sofas being torn apart and dry wall being ripped to shreds impressed upon us onlookers with the challenges of Wolf ownership. Best leave them to the wild, or if not able to survive in the wild, let them live in Sanctuary!

Wild Spirit Sanctuary conducts tours where you can see nearly the 52 wolves they support. Visit their website at http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/ or call them at (505 775 3304, open Tuesday Through Sunday Tours 11 am, 12:30, 2:00, and 3:30pm.

I was grateful for my wolf meeting and for my quick tour through Ernest Seton's exhibit at the Museum, an exhibit I plan to revisit before it closes down in 2011. (reach the museum at (505) 476-5200.) I think I'll take my dog out now, for a walk on the Wild Side!

May is all about Graduating!

May proved a celebratory month with a series of dog related graduations. In chronological order is my own dog graduation of sorts. After a year of study and performance I was awarded dog Training Certification from the esteemed Animal Behavior College of Santa Rosa, California. Book study, 35 essays, and 80 non give away multiple choice questions were the components of my final exam. In my years at Smith College I do not recall any such vigor in exams. Graduating with an A average in the some 11 tests I completed along with an externship program in which I volunteered at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter, observed, partook in, and taught six week "obedience" classes, I felt more than prepared for the rigours of real life training!

The second graduation in May came a day later, my first six week private obedience class client, Bodhi graduated! Bodhi is an enchanting black Black Chow and German Shepherd just shy of five months. Bodhi, can watch me, sit, come, down, wait, stay, jump in and out of a car, go to his bed, walk and heel and be gentle when directed to do so as he laps up his treats. Bodhi was recently adopted by and Ann Filemyr and Onde Chymes featured in the photo and she and Bodhi have attained an impressive bond. During his education, Onde was immersed in a tree house design and construction project, which given Bodhi's name (Buddha sat under a Bodhi Tree), I feel he will mature into a serene dog despite his exuberant puppy personality.

The last in my May series of Canine related graduations came by way of Santa Fe's very special Fifteenth Annual Assistance Dogs of the West Graduation. Held in the brand spanking New Convention Center, I found the ballroom by following the trail of women and men connected to sporty black and white spiraled leashes attached to vest wearing golden retrievers/labs/labradoodles and a few other breeds into the large ballroom where on the stage the ceremony began.

The ever effervescent Executive Director Carolyn Beedle took the stage as master of ceremonies introducing Founder Jill Felice and a series of videos outlining the Assistance Dog of the West programs narrated by the distinctive vocals of Ali McGraw. There were other videos as well outlining the lives of specific dogs graduating. We learned about the students who had helped to train the dogs as well as meeting the recipients of the graduating dogs. The story I found most compelling was that of a young autistic girl, who slept through the night for the first time in in her entire life the night her puppy was presented to her. Reportedly that night the two slumbered side by side in her bed.

The players in my spring semester with Assistance Dogs played out on stage and in the audience as I saw my instructors (Sue Barns and Jody Backensto), Assistant Kyle Lephart, Puppy Trainer Classmates Kimberley and Peggy McDowell who have all made my puppy raising experience a positive one. Seeing all of the volunteers, students, teachers seated in this enormous ballroom made it clear that it truly takes a village............to graduate a golden! (or a lab or whatever breed you wish).

As spring slips into summer, I hope my dog education continues to mature and deepen. This spring has been a gradual progression into all types of canine graduations!

Gabriel the Great Pyrenees Goes to Gonzales Grade School

On Wednesday April 28th, Gabriel, my totally gregarious Great Pyrenees escorted me to Gonzales Community School in the heart of Santa Fe, for this grade's school annual Careers and Curiosity program. As the clock struck Nine AM Gabriel and I were in the throws of presenting ourselves. Every half hour a new grade would appear. We started with Kindergartners who swarmed like a school of fish around Gabriel grasping at his fur and asking countless questions and moved on to the 5th graders one time period at a time.

The calvalcade of questions came like this: Did I like being a dog trainer? what kind of Dog was Gabriel? How Old was Gabriel? How much does he weigh? After the initial introduction, I called to the group to form a circle around Gabriel and myself. I demonstrated Gabriel's training acumen. "Sit" I called Gabriel happily sat. "Gabriel, Come" Gabriel jogged several strides toward me with mouth affixed in a wide mouthed smile. I then asked Gabriel to perform the most challenging of all of his basic behaviors, "Gabriel Down," and Gabriel generously mobilized his enormous frame down into a perfect down with haunches and elbows fully resting on the floor. That earned him a few liver treats between his front paws and a few "ahhhhhhhhs" from the school children. Teachers and students alike faces registered sparks of genuine joy and discovery as they met Gabriel, felt his magnificent coat and experienced Gabe's friendly and fearless presence. I was there to present my career, that of Dog Trainer, and yet, through the experience, I was reintroduced to the very reason for my career choice......when I am with Dogs, whether it be simply spending time with them, or teaching them and humans how to communicate with one another, I feel joy. If it had not been for the challenges I faced when I first adopted Gabriel it is doubtful I would have embarked upon becoming a dog trainer. Our communication challenges had lead to my education as to how to best communicate with canines. That was Gabriel's gift to me, which I now gratefully share with other humans and dogs, the gift of communication and refined relationship.