Wolf Hollw Pups: Week IV

by Michael M. Sweeney
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All photos taken by author.

In 1954, author William Golding released the now famous Lord of the Flies. The story chronicles a group of British schoolboys who are marooned on a tropical island after their plane crashes, with nobody over the age of thirteen surviving the accident. Throughout the story, Golding verbally illustrates the self-governance of youth, spinning a tale of preteen boys dictating their own collective morality and regulating their own society.

As the story unfolds, the boys gradually shed their civilized skins, and any notions of behavioral law instilled in them by adults is almost entirely lost. Nearing the end of the novel, the boys have completely designed their own society; they are the propagators of their own rule and law, they are their own judge and jury deciding what is right and what is wrong.

However, in the final chapter of the novel, the group has fractured into two tribes and the blindness of youth has allowed chaos to descend upon the island. Just as the climax of this dominance-establishing in-fighting between the boys is reached, they very abruptly encounter a British naval officer on the beach who had spotted fires on the island from his ship. Immediately the boys are reduced back into children, submissively falling to their knees before the gaze of this adult stranger, a symbolic gesture of the false and impermanent nature of their hierarchy.

Argus, the leading candidate for alpha-male
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This coming Sunday, the five puppies at Wolf Hollow will soon learn that their weeks of self-governance is only temporary, and that the ancient rule and law of nature will soon dictate every moment of their lives. Just as the schoolboys in Lord of the Flies realized their hierarchical inferiority and falsehood once in the presence of an adult, the pups will for the first time have the powerful yellow eyes of two adult alpha wolves fixated upon them.

Argus, Lineaa, Grendel, Niveah, and Arrow will all come to realize just how temporary their little society in the puppy nest of Wolf Hollow actually is. While this first meeting is only preliminary, and will be conducted with a fence between them and their soon-to-be surrogate parents, Weeble and Nina will both be revealing to the puppies the same arcane message their own parents once showed them:

“Hey kids, we know you've been having a lot of fun deciding who's king and queen amongst each other, but don't get too used to it. You may believe you've sorted out who's in charge and calling the shots, but mommy and daddy are going to show you pretty damn quick why humility is a very important trait for a puppy to possess... so you just keep on living in your little fantasy world, and we'll be waiting...”

LEFT: Two of the Wolf Hollow pups enjoying some milk and kibble. | RIGHT: Wolf Hollow volunteer Jessica Novak holding Grendel (Lion King, anyone?).
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 It likely won't take very long for Weeble and Nina to enforce upon our little boys and girls the rule and law of the pack, and it is fully expected that the delusional bravado that the puppies see in themselves will quickly be exposed as a very immature sense of superiority. Argus and Lineaa have been strutting around and beating their chests for the past two weeks, but they'll soon be in for a rude awakening when they're lying on their backs and offering up their necks in submissive disbelief.

With this procedure of introducing the five puppies to their surrogate parents, the coming weeks promise to be a very compelling time at Wolf Hollow. Weeble and Nina have been witnessed exhibiting rearing behaviors for weeks now, as their brains are autogenetically reorganizing their thought processes for parenting. Simultaneously, the puppies have been learning how to conduct themselves amongst one another through their playful power struggles.

Now these separate paths being traveled will meet in a harmonious confluence of eons-old wild law, and our wolves will together follow in the timeless paw prints of their ancestors. Before our human eyes, through a perspective that civilization has blinded with a detachment from nature, Weeble and Nina, along with the five puppies, in the flames of unaltered primal DNA, will begin to forge their pack.

LEFT: Niveah enjoying some lunch. | RIGHT: Argus protecting Wolf Hollow owner Joni Soffron.
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What comes next for our wolves will be decided on Sunday. So make sure to tune in next week to see a video of this introduction, and don't forget to friend Wolf Hollow on Facebook to keep up with announcements! On behalf of the staff at the Hollow, we're very grateful everyone is joining us during this wonderful time. Until next week...