My Oldest Canids, Angus & Brianna



Angus and Brianna are 10 now. I traded the engine out of a 2-ton bread van for them when they were 5 weeks old. They ran free until they were 6 months old. At that time they decided my chickens looked tasty and ate 5 out of 10 of them. The only evidence was a foot and a few feathers. At that point I had to put up an electric fence to contain them. Angus and Brianna In 9 years they've become so accustomed to their boundaries that even though trees occasionally fall across the fence, opening their compound, they won't wander far. They've been healthy all of their lives, with Angus seeing a vet twice and Brianna once. Angus is confident, aggressive and has never met a human he didn't like. Brianna is shy, sweet and wary of all humans she doesn't know.
I bring them inside the house sometimes but they prefer being outside and start dancing at the door within minutes of coming in. They're both extremely intelligent animals but their independence could easily be mistaken for stupidity by those not in the know. Wolves are only as trainable as they choose to be. I feel very fortunate in that my pair care very much for me (Ginger) and usually like to please me. *G* Angus has been neutered, but they made wonderful parents, though I had a bit of a problem at first with Angus's game of picking the babies up and tossing them in the air. I freaked out until I realized they weren't being hurt (amazing to watch). They are the best "watchdogs" we've ever had. Their hearing and sense of smell seems to be better than a dog's. They have different "songs" for different occasions and know the difference between the sounds of trucks and cars that have been here before and those that haven't and are good enough to tell us which is coming before we even see it. They are noisy, lovable and a bit rough and I wouldn't trade the experience of being their "Mom" for anything.

I'd like to point out that unless these animals are domesticated from birth (or very soon after), they will likely be skittish and human-shy all their lives. It's prob'ly a survival thing. Don't ever get a wolf and expect them to adapt to your lifestyle. You'll be disappointed and your wolf will be miserable, misunderstood and lonely. They aren't the drooling, snarling stalkers Hollywood (and Disney) makes them out to be. They're very loving, sensitive individuals with a myriad of emotions and should be treated as such.

Angus and Brianna have never known fear, hunger or the weight of a chain and have had very little physical distress in their ever-lengthening lives. They get their shots and are worm and flea free. All they've traded for these positive things is a more limited amount of space to move in and they still have more space than they utilize usually because they aren't forced to hunt for their food. They're respected and loved members of our pack.

If some ranchers have their way, this will be the only way people will see wolves in the future... in captivity. Sign the petition to save the wolves in the wild. Another current concern is the mass murder of wolves for their pelts in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Click on this sentence to read about it.