![]() With that arms folded, slightly protective tone of voice any mother with a cute teenage daughter would use, she said, “There’s that Romeo wolf again.” The name caught on because it fit. My wife, who did not exactly approve of this “miscegenation” because of the potential danger, was looking out the window one frosty morning and there was the wolf curled up out on the lake ice, waiting for Dakotah to come out. And that was very typical of how Romeo interacted with dogs. They’re both very relaxed there’s not the least hint of aggression. Dakotah is very confident but giving a neutral signal with her tail straight out. He’s standing very tall, with his ears narrow and his tail slightly up, his neck ruff raised a little bit. If you look at that photo, you see the wolf is very much being a boy. That first meeting, when Dakotah-our “Juliet”-and Romeo stood nose to nose, is recorded on the cover of the book. We were keeping our dog under control and she just slipped out from under my fingers, which were hooked around her collar. The Gambinis do not accept the Genoveses in their midst. ![]() This wolf was downright relaxed and tolerant from the start, as if he had dropped out of the sky.Ī pack of wolves is typically a family group. It’s a pretty common thing, as any good wolf biologist will tell you, that any wolf’s job in his righteous social behavior is to investigate and assault strange canines. The first thing is that wolves have a tendency to attack strange canines and at least beat them down, if not eat them. How did you accept this odd pairing? And how did Romeo challenge your own preconceptions of wolfish behavior? Romeo was a bit of a flirt, and like Shakespeare’s Romeo seemed to fall in love with your Juliet of a yellow Labrador. The wolf would come trotting over to say hi, and give a little bow and a relaxed yawn, and go trotting after us when we went skiing. If you wanted to be scientifically correct, it would be “social mutual tolerance.” But it was more than that. And he got to know us and our dogs.įor want of a better word, the only thing I can say from a human perspective is that it amounted to friendship. But this went on for six years, so we got to know this wolf, whom we came to call Romeo, as an individual. It’s one thing to have a tolerant meeting with a wild wolf that goes on for a matter of minutes. But this wolf was downright relaxed and tolerant from the start, as if he had dropped out of the sky like a unicorn. Some are more cautious or fearful than others. Certain wolves are like dogs, and they all have different personalities. That’s not out of the question for wolves. The amazing thing about this animal was how relatively relaxed and tolerant he was. ![]() I’d had 20 years of experience around wolves up in the Arctic and immediately knew it was a wolf, not a dog. A few days later, I looked out from my house and there was this wolf out on the ice. The first thing I saw was tracks out on the lake in front of our house on the outskirts of Juneau. How did you first meet the wolf called Romeo? This is a wonderful book full of surprises that challenge cultural stereotypes of wolves, human beings, and dogs. ![]()
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