@AskTheDevil @YouInMyEye Now I want to know the other feral stories hiding in your shrine.
@tippitiwichet @YouInMyEye I've given most of the artifacts I have accumulated away, along with their stories, to those who will keep them when I am moved on.
: )
Any chance that was a wolf dog?
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye No, he was a wolf.
Interesting.
Never saw the behavior you describe in wolves. I worked in a federally licensed wolf sanctuary with 50+ rescued wolves over the years. Even wolves who had been badly abused by man.
This is Shaman who was 7’ on his hind legs.
I like that picture.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye So handsome!
@LnzyHou
Not the central part of the thread but I think that the fact that you got to work with wolves is awesome and I am jealous. When visiting one wolf sanctuary in TX, we got to meet some of the ambassador animals. We had a lot of coaching on how we were only to sit motionless on the benches at the edge of this patio where they brought out a couple of them. Tracker was one quarter dog and three quarters wolf. He chose to come up to me.
1/2
@LnzyHou
The carer said I was allowed to touch him. He was on a rope as thick as my wrists. I held out a hand, he laid he face in it, nudged it with his snout. Everyone was dead silent. I slid off the bench, knelt in front of him and waited to see what he would do. He put his beautiful head on my shoulder and licked my cheek. My apotheosis. But I was already a licensed evaluator of therapy animals and could read canine body language.
@publickovacs @AskTheDevil @YouInMyEye
Pure wolves were less aggressive than wolf dogs. I avoided going in their enclosures especially if they had been abused.
Shaman grabbed my camera & destroyed it. Protocol was earrings off, fingers closed into fists. No eye contact. Never turn your back to them. They were amazing gifts in my life.
The ultimate act of acceptance was letting them lick your mouth.
@LnzyHou @publickovacs @YouInMyEye Was Shaman a large, fluffy white wolf from Colorado?
He ate my bandage, and some of my hair!
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye To be fair, it is very unusual behavior, and it is why I took note enough of it to retain a piece of him as a lesson.
And that looks very much like the Shaman I knew, from W.O.L.F. sanctuary in Colorado!
I miss him.
Even if he did like to pull my hair.
Exactly W.O.L.F in Rist Canyon north of LaPorte CO where I lived.
Remember the alpha male of the sanctuary?
This is Spirit.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye Yes!
Did you know Isabeau? Or Nanook-of-the-tushy-pinching? : )
She was rescued just before I left. All black.
Nanook bit my ass so many times I quit counting. He was the boss of the house pack. Shaman was in that pack too. It was amazing to sleep over with Pat & Frank with the house pack.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye We've almost certainly met, you realize.
: )
I am lucky in that I've been among wolves enough to know the hiney-pinching trick. When the house pack first greeted me, I could see Nanook grinning naughtily, and slowly slipping out of my field of vision, and I knew he was gonna try it! He still tried every time, but as soon as he realized the jig was up, it was "Ha ha! Ya got me! Now let's do the love part!"
You know my name. I don’t know yours.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye Yes, it is occasionally inconvenient that I promised the housemates I would try not attract people who want to shoot at the Devil. Normally I use my official ID name in all communication.
If we ever decide to socialize in person, I promise to trust you with knowing which Clark Kent I am.
: )
You can DM me
This is not Nanook but reminds me of him. Don’t recall who’s took this image.
@AskTheDevil @LnzyHou @YouInMyEye
I didn't realize there was a secret CoSo Colorado Canine (Lupine) Cabal!
I am (very mildly) jealous. I've only been to Colorado once, quite briefly, and did not get to see any wolves while I was there. Saw quite a few marmots though.
@DavidSalo @AskTheDevil @YouInMyEye
Lived Colorado for 30+ yrs before moving to the Caribbean. My heart is in the Rockies.
@LnzyHou @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye I've lived all over, and I keep coming back here. There's other places I've liked living enough to go back, but I always come back here again and again.
@AskTheDevil @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye
You’re still in CO?
My oldest son lives in Parker.
Weather too severe for me there. I’m in Asheville NC
@LnzyHou @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye Yes! I live in Centennial, not too far from there.
: )
@AskTheDevil @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye
Have friends in Centennial that also have a house in Leadville. My son told me today there is a fire near Leadville.,
@LnzyHou @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye Leadville probably doesn't need any extra fire!
@AskTheDevil @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye
I worked at Swedish Medical Center for 6 yrs
@LnzyHou @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye That is the hospital we try to go to if something bad happens! : )
As opposed to some of the ones that seem to think they get extra points for eliminating patients.
; )
@AskTheDevil @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye
Was there during Columbine. Horrific.
@AskTheDevil We've resorted going over the border to Nova Scotia and the Amherst Hospital. Excellent care and the same distance as our local hospital. @LnzyHou @DavidSalo @YouInMyEye
@DavidSalo @LnzyHou @YouInMyEye Ha ha! I love being part of the _cool_ cabals!
@DavidSalo @AskTheDevil @YouInMyEye
Screeching marmots on the ascent to Trail Ridge road.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye During the years I volunteered, the wolf who made me cry the most was a little she we called Sarah. She almost lost her muzzle from being chained around her face, and had a terrible scar all around.
When she first saw me, she was so terrified she peed her whole bladder, while interposing herself protectively between me and the other animals. She was terrified because I looked like the guy who did it. But she was ready to put herself in harm's way to protect the others.
Absolutely.
They are moving the sanctuary to Red Feather Lakes. I’m sad they are leaving all the wolves buried around the pond.
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye I don't know. It's so beautiful there. I used to wish I could be buried there!
@LnzyHou @YouInMyEye The only place I have personally witnessed similar behavior in wolves that are not in captivity was some wolves up in the Arctic, where habitat loss and prey loss created extreme pressures. It was like there weren't enough healthy, stable individuals to maintain the culture and lessons that normally keep that from happening, and people shooting at them and breaking up families didn't help.
@YouInMyEye Can confirm. Downstairs, in my personal shrine, I have a clump of fur that used to belong to a wolf named Coulombe.
Coulombe was a bully, took all the food, bit puppies, and forced everyone to do things his way - even hoarding food until it was bad and nobody got to eat it.
One day his daughters and sons and nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters overcame their love and fear and killed him, and then one of the proper wolves became the patriarch instead.
The end.