More puppies and visitors

Diary entry, 06.02.2010, guest

Pictures of the day (1 image)   

On Monday (1st February) the rest of the dog puppies from Hungary arrived to join to our beloved ones. Our pups are extremely active, and play and jump all day (and night) long! They are even taking walks to have fun in the snow (they love it!). All of them are already taking part in training and testing sessions – all the procedures used with our wolves will be applied to them – so then we will be able to compare data from both species, and contribute to the understanding of the roots of cognition in dogs and wolves!

While our small dogs are being started in the training procedures, the wolves are also busy with their training and testing schedule: they are working on tests of Object Permanence and Natural Attention, and continue to be trained in the use of Touch Screen and the Changing Apparatus.
Some wolves are even busier than others: Shima went on a walk with visitors on Wednesday – which she appreciated a lot: sniffing and digging, rubbing on trees and snow... And today we found out she is in heat! Although this year she will not be allowed to reproduce, this is great news!
On Wednesday, Dr. Buchmayer, the veterinarian of our wolves and dogs, came for a second visit to become closer to the wolves. She was allowed to get in touch with them, each one separately, and the animals were invited to come up and touch her. Everything went fine in this second contact: all of the wolves entered the enclosure where she was in and most of them seemed relaxed in her presence. Good for all!