GRAY WOLF

Munson Creek Falls - Tillamook, Oregon

DID YOU KNOW?

That's one Big Dog!

Wolves are the biggest of the Canid group - out of wolves, jackals, foxes, coyotes, and domestic dogs. They have digitigrade feet, meaning they walk on their toes, which makes for some great running!

Coming Home

During reproduction and taking care of pups, the pack - usually consisting of 2-9 - have a den or rendezvous place to come to after hunting and raising their young. Pups are carried from site to site until they are old enough to do it on their own!

Like a little toddler who's fallen asleep and needs to be carried to bed (or if you were anything like me, pretending to be asleep so you didn't have to walk:)

Deaf and Blind

When pups are born, they are both deaf and blind. This causes a deference and need for their mothers guidance and teachings. Mother wolves are at a disadvantage during their gestation period, causing for a shorter term and not fully formed pups. Wolves have an immensely good sense of smell - 100x better than humans - and rely on that sense until sight and hearing come into play.

Social Creatures

Wolves are social creatures and howling is one of their ways of communicating. These howls can be heard from 5 miles away and are used as a way to assemble a pack and advise others that they are in their territory.

SPIRTUAL MEANING

Strong Community
Strength, Loyalty, and Freedom
Wild Spirit - they are the ancestors the domesticate dog and are a guide to finding our Wild again too

UNIQUE

Wolves are the great, great, great, great - okay you get it - grandparents of the now domesticated dog. This practice began almost 15,000 years ago, when humans began training the Wild out of wolves to have them be tame, well-behaved animals for them to have. This is a practice that's been used towards many other animals and even plants - horses, cows, sheep, corn, wheat, barley, etc.

PONDER

The Wolf is an impeccable example of Innate Wild. They are the ancestors of our loveable and precious doggies - from the striking Beauceron to the endearing Corgi and every dog in-between! This process of domestication took generations to "breed" out the Wildish Spirit of their Original Mother. Wild doesn't mean out of control or unruly, but is your Nature, a remembering, a finding of your True purpose - not the one society has deemed fit for you. The now domesticated dog has been trained, but that doesn't mean they've forgotten completely of their ancestors, since they still run wild through open fields, protect their families (their pack), and play like nobodies watching! You too can come back to Wild and Free!

"'Finding yourself' is actually returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you"

Onward Postcards

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