Wolves as Pets

Wolves, distant cousins of dogs, played a pivotal role in the 1990 film Dances With Wolves.

Delving into the story of a lieutenant who was posted in a remote Civil War outpost, the movie starring and directed by Kevin Costner told the tale of how a lone soldier made friends with the local Native Americans settling within the area, along with how he managed to befriend another group of locals – the wolves.

The movie stands to be one of Costner’s more praised titles, and it generally garnered the appreciation and acceptance of audiences, which is generally opposite to how audiences accepted Costner’s later movies and features.

But Dances With Wolves was popular. In fact, its popularity led many to ask: Is it possible to keep wolves as pets?

Short answer - yes, but not really like how dogs are kept as pets.

Wolves may be related to dogs, but they do not bear the same tractability as dogs. They may look like dogs, but their natural temperament and disposition calls for differences in how they can be ideally kept as pets.

For one, they require a lot of space. By a lot, an area that’s around 10 to 15 square miles would be good for wolves.

Also, as pups or cubs, wolves require more social interaction compared to dog pups. This is because after a certain time, wolf pups are liable not to interact or socialize with human beings well, which could cause problems for wolf pet owners. Care in terms of their interaction with adult wolves will require some monitoring, maximizing human interaction with wolf cubs within the first four months of its life.

Doing away with adult wolf interaction would be difficult, since wolf pups require milk coming from a mother wolf. With wolf milk rich in arginine, milk substitutes won’t suffice for wolf cubs, and the lack of wolf milk is known to lead to the progress of problems such as cataracts.

In terms of their temperament and trainability, both wolf traits are not on equal grounds with domestic dogs, with wolves being more hot headed and more fickle to train. As pack animals, wolf instincts are bound by a feudalistic-like structure of alphas and betas too, and pet owners need to stay on top, or at least on equal grounds with a pack’s alpha.

Given all that, Dances With Wolves may have been popular, but is the movie’s popularity motivation enough to drive you to go out and get your own pet wolf?

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Bruschi bags an eye-popping record

It may not have come as a big surprise for dog owner Victoria Reed, but Bruschi sure looked surprised when he heard about being awarded a world record.

The fact is, Bruschi had always looked surprised most of the time, but just recently, his being awarded for having the world’s largest canine eyes made him all the more wide-eyed thrilled.

Measuring 1.1 inches in diameter, Bruschi, a Boston Terrier, was recently awarded with a world record for having the biggest doggy eyes. Adopted as a pup from a shelter based in Arlington, Texas, Bruschi had spent four years with owner Victoria Reed, who had taken care of Bruschi since the day they met at the shelter.

After visiting a vet, Reed thought about what the vet had commented on about Bruschi, implying that Bruschi had the largest dog eyes in the world. As it turns out, the vet was spot on with his comment, a comment which became a record fact after Reed decided to submit Bruschi’s wide-eyed traits to Guinness.

As a breed, the Boston Terrier is one which hails from the United States, gaining entry into the American Kennel Club in 1893. In terms of breeding, their eyes aren’t really all that the subject of speculation and inquiry, but their coats are, particularly with coat markings and colors.

In fact, the standards of the American Kennel Club are quite strict with a Boston Terrier’s coat colors, requiring them to be either brindle, black or seal-hued. Physically, they are characterized as compact, with stout tails and erect short ears. Their eyes tend to be wide, but not always as wide as to grant them a world record status.

Teased for being wide-eyed most of his life, Bruschi can now proudly stare at the world’s population of dogs, a stare which says a lot about his record and standing among them.

Think your dog’s got bigger eyes to challenge Bruschi’s?

St. Bernard

Unlike Bambi, Beethoven didn’t exactly become a household name for St. Bernards, but the 1992 Beethoven starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt drew attention to the St. Bernard dog breed.

As shown in the film, St. Bernards are big dogs, once kept for their “working dog” capabilities given their size, stamina and overall bulk. Originally, St. Bernards were bred as rescue dogs, hailing from the Swiss and Italian Alps.

Also known as Alpine Mastiff, the St. Bernard’s generally thick and dense fur makes cold weather a breeze for them. This made them perfect for running to rescues in cold climes, in an effort to bring first aid kits or finding trapped mountaineers. Back then, St Bernards were fitted with “brandy collars”, which was meant to keep those in need of rescuing warm while help was on its way.

The St. Bernard got its name from the Great St Bernard Hospice, where travelers on the St Bernard Pass in the Western Alps sought for shelter. Needless to say, there were a lot of St Bernard rescue dogs there, who were then called different names like Barry Dogs or Saint Dogs.

The average adult St Bernard weighs somewhere between 60 to 120 kilograms, or 140 to 264 pounds, which says a lot about how big St Bernards are. As pets they are quite the munchers, a St Bernard trait which the movie Beethoven captured very well.

As pets, St Bernards are not really all that different from other dog breeds, minus perhaps some problems pertaining to their size and bulk. Tales of tables breaking down, or small home fixtures becoming the chew toys of St Bernards are known, but other than their capacity to magnify most annoying doggy traits, they are quite docile, loyal and lovable dogs to have.

The movie also did well in capturing this St Bernard fact.

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Maru turns 5

As an internet celebrity, Maru is famous for his penchant for boxes, rising to fame because of his cute kitty antics and persistence in snuggling into any kind of box, regardless if a box in question is not big enough to accommodate his bulk.

A Scottish fold breed based in Japan, the cat who made a name for himself by being “the cat who never met a box he couldn't fit in” recently celebrated his 5th birthday with a new video entitled “I AM Maru 4”, which collects different clips of Maru doing his “boxy thing”, wearing anything that’d fit over his head, and generally everything else any content kitty would do, only done with Maru’s trademark Maru flair.

Considered by many as the “king of internet cats”, Maru’s rise to fame is one worthy of mention, with one of his featured YouTube videos garnering more than 13,700,000 views.

For an “internet cat”, that is a lot of video views.

Reports indicate that the total number of Maru video views have reached more that 158 million as of May 2012, with the Maru YouTube Channel ranking as the 7th most subscribed in Japan as of December 2011.

Maru’s popularity has gone beyond online posted videos, with the 2009 release of a book entitled “I am Maru” in Japan. A DVD entitled “Maru Desu” also came out in 2010, which was followed by the release of a second Maru book in 2011.

If you’re still reading, its time to stopped and saw for yourself just how adorable Maru is.

Tarantulas

The 1990 thriller Arachnophobia didn’t exactly have Tarantulas in its plot, but the movie did well in raising questions over the feasibility and practicality of keeping tarantulas as pets.

Directed by Frank Marshall, Arachnophobia’s main “actor” was a Venezuelan spider, a new species which spawned a new breed of spiders with highly lethal venom packed in their bites.

Tarantulas, generally speaking, are not known for having bites which are lethal. It’s one of the reasons why they’re often kept as pets, along with their proliferation when bred in captivity.

When talking about tarantulas as pets, pet owners are not all that burdened by their upkeep, but as pets, tarantulas also have certain particulars and specifics in terms of care and maintenance.

For one, they live a long time, as old as 20 to 25 years, which means that keeping tarantulas as pets should be treated as a commitment. Another is that though tarantulas are generally docile, their appearance is threatening to most humans. The tendency to panic is only to be expected from people who encounter them, which could cause problems for tarantula pet owners, especially if a tarantula manages to get out from its enclosure.

Another thing is that most tarantulas prefer to eat live prey. If you’re the type who isn’t all that comfortable in feeding a pet something that’s still alive, a pet tarantula may not be best for you.

In terms of activity, tarantulas tend to be in constant repose. In other words, they don’t really do much, apart from feeding and/or when on the run. If you think that a tarantula does awesome things during “lounge times”, you’ll be disappointed to see a tarantula staying fixed in one spot, in one pose.

They may not be as venomous as Arachnophobia’s spiders, but their bites are also painful, which is one reality prospective pet tarantula owners should consider before getting one.

So? Think you’re up to the role of owning a pet tarantula?

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Deer

The 1942 Disney animated Bambi has done well in equating the Bambi namesake with deer, a classic example of how a proper noun, after being used as a household name in different homes based in different parts of the world, transforms into an accepted common noun proxy.

Originally based on a novel written by Felix Salten, the movie has done more than just give deer a new name, but has also spread the importance of environmental awareness, addressing the risks and dangers involved in unsettling Mother Nature’s ecologic balance.

Doe and deer have also earned significant time on the spotlight though the movie, with its popularity leaving many to wonder how feasible having a deer as a pet is.

The answer, of course, is not as clear cut as aspiring pet deer owners would want, considering that if they were all that easy to have as pets, they’d have been quite popular pet options since the Bambi movie’s release.

Deer as Pets – Not Easy, but Possible

Keeping deer as pets is possible, but their care and maintenance won’t be easy for pet deer owners.

For one, space and enclosures with access to greens should be considered in their keeping, given that keeping them inside homes and domiciles aren’t suitable habitats for deer.

They may be quite sweet and “clingy” when raised from doe to adulthood, but they are also prone to bite people, depending on situations and circumstances, usually when their tempers are put to the test.

The thing about deer is that they are naturally inclined to only prowl within a specified radius, with a defined “home spot” in the middle of that said radius. This means that if one keeps deer in a ranch or fenced space, they’re not all that driven to jump out and never come back, but cases of deer-related injuries and accidents are known to exist in cases when deer-pets do escape from enclosures.

They also have the tendency to dig through enclosures/fences, so ensuring solid fence constructions is essential in keeping deer as pets.

All in all, they can be kept as pets, but with regards the cost, maintenance and upkeep involving their pet-status, having them around won’t be easy as having a dog or cat as a pet.

That said, would you still want one running around at home?

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