What a Dog Needs: Through Sickness and Health

Lt-Rt: Bella, Kris (foster dog), Amyami

Today was the first time I took my dog, Bella on a walk alone.

My other dog, Amyami (the black and white husky in the photo) is older, has thyroid disease, and has been moving slower these days.

Yesterday, she stopped five minutes into the walk and wanted to turn back.

I thought she would be happier staying behind today.

It may seem random, but some of you may know I had major surgery this year. I’ve been getting chemotherapy, and recently had a bad infection that put me in the hospital for two weeks.

I’m not complaining. I’ve been blessed with a body that has adjusted very well to treatment. But I must confess this past week has been my worst, which is probably why I called Bella upstairs to take a walk and left Amyami behind.

I thought I knew her misery.

While Bella and I walked, I began to feel better … and I began to feel guilty.

I realized I just denied Amyami the very things that pulled me thorough this year.

Nothing is more healing than getting outside in the fresh air (rain or shine), being with companions you love, and being productive.

Five minutes of moving forward is better than not moving at all.

I’m sorry Amyami. I owe you a walk.

Along the Cascade

We know wolves help game species thrive, as well as prevent game species from over-browsing young trees and shrubs beaver love, so beaver are booming, but... what so great about Beavers?

I've visited many beaver ponds in all their phases. Beavers are awesome!

And just a little historical note on the wolf wars and beavers ... when beaver became scarce due to pelt pilfering, many trappers made up for the loss by hunting wolves for bounties. Money played a huge role in the rapid extermination of wolves in America.

But.. back to beavers. Here's a short list of benefits from North Carolina State University, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, and
College of Forest Resources

- Benefits of Active Beaver Ponds -

Improve downstream water quality
Provide watering holes for agricultural and wildlife needs

Supply important breeding areas for amphibians and fish

Provide diverse wetland habitats

Furnish feeding, brood rearing and resting areas for waterfowl

Support many reptile, bat, amphibian, fish and bird species by providing micro and macro food sources

- Benefits of Abandoned Beaver Ponds -

Furnish snags for cavity-nesters and insectivores

Fallen logs supply cover for reptiles and amphibians

Provide essential edges and forest openings

Supply diverse moist-soil habitats within bottomland forests

Create productive bottomland forests

Provide foraging and nesting areas for bats, songbirds, owls, and hawks

Wolves, Willows, and Beaver

The loss of wolves caused far-reaching changes in the Yellowstone ecosystem: more elk and fewer willows. With no willows to slow stream flow, creeks flowed faster and faster. Beavers prefer slow-moving waters, so they disappeared with the willows.

'Back in 1968', said Doug Smith, a wildlife biologist in charge of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, ''when the elk population was about a third what it is today, the willow stands along streams were in bad shape. Today, with three times as many elk, willow stands are robust. Why? Because the predatory pressure from wolves keeps elk on the move, so they don’t have time to intensely browse the willow.''

Indeed, a research project headed by the U.S. Geological Survey in Ft. Collins found that the combination of intense elk browsing on willows and simulated beaver cuttings produced stunted willow stands. Conversely, simulated beaver cutting without elk browsing produced verdant, healthy stands of willow. In the three-year experiment, willow stem biomass was 10 times greater on unbrowsed plants than on browsed plants. Unbrowsed plants recovered 84 percent of their pre-cut biomass after only two growing seasons, whereas browsed plants recovered only 6 percent.

With elk on the move during the winter, willow stands recovered from intense browsing, and beaver rediscovered an abundant food source that hadn’t been there earlier.

As the beavers spread and built new dams and ponds, the cascade effect continued, said Smith. Beaver dams have multiple effects on stream hydrology. They even out the seasonal pulses of runoff; store water for recharging the water table; and provide cold, shaded water for fish, while the now robust willow stands provide habitat for songbirds.

Thanks Mary Russell for doing the research!

Wolves and Preservation of Natural Vegetation

Wolves depend on a variety of large ungulates (hoofed animals) for food. Wild ungulate browsing can cause severe damage to forest regeneration. 

Aspen forests in particular have suffered extreme damage. Rocky mountain elk are considered the primary threat to the long-term survivability of aspen, because they impact aspen in so many ways. 

Elk have a height advantage over other ungulates and are able to reach higher in the crowns of saplings, often snapping the main bole and killing it. 

Elk rub antlers on small diameter trees (7 to 15 cm), creating wounds that allow entry for canker and wood decay fungi. Elk also gnaw or strip the bark (a.k.a. barking) of larger trees, allowing the entry of insects such as the bronze poplar borer.

Wolves Aid in Pronghorn Fawn Survival

Habitat loss, fences across mitigatory routes, and coyotes strained pronghorn numbers, but we're finding pronghorns are thriving in the company of wolves.

From wyofile.com:

A Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) three-year research study of pronghorn mortality in the Grand Teton National Park concluded that in sectors where there were no wolves, but a high density of coyotes, pronghorn fawn survival rate was only 10 percent.

In areas of known wolf habitat, however, 34 percent of fawns survived. More than 100 pronghorn fawns were radio-collared and monitored over the summers.

“People tend to think that more wolves always mean fewer prey,” said WCS researcher Dr. Kim Berger, lead author of the study. “But in this case, wolves are so much bigger than coyotes that it doesn’t make sense for them to waste time searching for pronghorn fawns. It would be like trying to feed an entire family on a single Big Mac.”

WCS biologists explained that wolves reduce coyote numbers by killing them outright or by causing them to shift to safer areas of the Park not utilized by wolves. After wolves were reintroduced in 1995, according to the WCS study finished in 2008, Grand Teton’s pronghorn population increased by about 50 percent.

To Find details about the study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303145300.htm

For kids:

Pronghorn Baby Board Book, by Dick Kettlewell

Wolves And Ravens: Perfect Together

Species Who've Learned to Rely on Wolves

L. David Mech, in The Wolves of Isle Royale, described the “peculiar relationship” between a flock of ravens and a large wolf pack, and wrote that wolves and ravens “often seem to play together.”

So as questioned by The Wolf Preservation Blog...
What do Ravens and Wolves have in common you say? The following information comes from “The Wolf Almanac,” a celebration of wolves and their world, 1995/1998 by Robert Busch. He explains the relationship and proves once again one of the many contributions wolves give to the environment.

"One of the most fascinating relationships between animals is the one that seems to exist between wolves and ravens. The raven, scavenger of food of all types, will often follow wolf packs in hopes of morsels of food. And wolves have learned to watch for circling ravens as a sign of of possible food below. But there seems to be more than just a symbiosis based on food between the two species; many observations have been made that can only be described as a friendship between the big predator and the wily bird.

In Arctic Wild, Lois Crisler states her belief that “ravens and wolves just like eachother’s company.” She described one play session between the two species, with the raven diving at the wolves and jumping around just out of reach. “He played this raven tag for ten minutes at a time. If the wolves ever tired of it, he sat squawking till they came over to him again.”

Picture this... a freshly killed elk is surrounded by ravens and magpies waiting for a wolf to finish its meal. The remains of animals killed by wolves is so important to the scavenger community that they arrive on the scene immediately after a kill is made.

Dog and Wolfdog Training Tips: The Beginings of "Leave It"

This video introduces the basics of "leave it", a redirection command often used to get animals to leave something alone or "walk on by" distractions, like dead birds and excited dogs.

The commands "leave it" and "on by" are not taught here but we are laying the groundwork for these important, sometimes life-saving commands.

For now, we are teaching the concept that coveted objects when dropped will either be given back or were not as important than the impending reward.

I have used correction training on dogs, like my hard-headed husky. However, wolfdogs and wolves will shut down with correction, but they do respond well to positive rewards in this case.

Each animal has a different degree of object guarding. Use caution or get a professional trainer if your dog is aggressive with possessions. I made this video with a Howling Woods Farm animal I was fostering.

This is raw video material, and not practiced with this animal beforehand. I allowed the animal to possess a squeak toy several minutes before the session began. By the forth try, she was able to readily give up her prized possession. After that... the lesson can be reinforced and the leave it command added.

Shy and Fearful Dogs and Wolfdogs: Stress Reducing Trick Drills

Trick drills (TDs) are not only good for obedience practice, they're useful in socializing animals with anxiety, ADD, and OCD tendencies.

Trick drill s help animals maintain focus and reduce anxiety by offering them a distraction. TDs also help the trainer redirect the animal during stressful situations.

It's important to practice TDs often during low stress periods. Doing trick drills a few minutes a day, several times a day make the responses automatic. In the end, the practiced drill are very useful to calm your dog under extremes.

Bella (video 1) has OCD, and will fixate on anxiety producing situations/noises and begins self-calming rituals like pacing between her "safe" areas. In this video Bella and I are working on a trick drill because she is worried about the noises (people walking and screaming pet bird) outside of the room .

We do a few TDs for practice only each day in different places. She's most comfortable doing drills while on walks or in the dog park. She's a bit camera and tripod shy, so inside or out it's hard to get good shots of her doing anything but backing away from the camera.

Maggie is a wolfdog who on arrival at Howling Woods Farm was presenting extreme fear and anxiety, through pacing, panic on approach, and freezing at the touch of handlers. She has come a long way and is learning to use trick drills to calm and redirect anxiety to more acceptable responses, like "settle" down. She has done very well through the process.