What have I learned in the first 4 months of the pups lives?

Denali when about 4-6 weeks old, would play with me by chewing my pant legs & would allow me to pet him & give him tummy rubs. That all abruptly stopped around 6 weeks of age & since then he has avoided having any contact with me. In the past week he has gotten as close to me as 6 feet away when he sees me playing with his mother. He will then go about 12 feet away, lie down & watch me. Stqe:ye totally avoids any human contact & will go hide when I enter the enclosure. She is demonstrating natural wolf behavior when they shun human contact.

Both pups have developed distinctive personalities which is true of all wolves. They are more confident being on their own, away from their Mum but both Denali & Stqe:ye seek the approbation of their mother. As mentioned earlier Stqe:ye is very shy towards humans & is crepuscular seeking the tranquility of the night to play with Denali & Mahikan. Denali is more active just before dinner & through the evening. But he wants to associate with wolves not humans.

Stqe:ye is asserting herself more around feeding times. Before she would stay away from when I was giving them food & she would lose out. Now she has learned that she needs to assert herself & get in there & get food. Denali never had that issue as you can see from his size. He is going to be a big boy!

Sally & I have left Mahikan to raise her pups in the manner she wants to. These pups are her world now & Mahikan is doing a fabulous job in training them to be wolves. And Sally & I get to watch this wonderful processBoth Denali & Stqe:ye are 4 months old today (Sept. 5th). We were blessed with them on May 5, 2019 but did not see them till May 23rd. First we were so proud of Mahikan to give birth to these fine pups & then to watch her lovingly care for her young, it was an immense pleasure. She nursed them continually whenever they requested, washed them, kept them close to her for their protection.

Mahikan’s devotion & care for them was outstanding. This is how they are raised in the wild but Mahikan learned this on her own as she never saw how her mother looked after her. Mahikan made it abundantly clear that she was the only caregiver of her pups. Sally & I did not interfere but Mahikan moved her two pups to another den area on June 1st, which was not easy for us to observe. Mahikan let us know very clearly how close we could be to her pups. We clearly respected her wishes.

Mahikan nursed her pups till around the first week in June & it became clear that they were growing quickly & needed solid food. The pups started eating chicken & Mahikan would distribute it to them & she still distributes some food to them even now but they do eat food that I put out for all 3 wolves.

Mahikan still to this day cares for her pups by washing them but for the past 2 months she has given them lots of freedom to roam. She is not concerned about raptors (eagles) coming down & attacking them or seeing the pups as lunch. Denali & Stqe:ye still love to play with their Mum by chasing her & wrestling with her.

Here are pictures of Denali & Stqe:ye at 4 months of age: