Andrew is so excited to finally be in Verden & so we dropped him off at the Horse Showgrounds.
Nick & I decided to explore further afield. I had to put this car in for all you petrol heads out there...this is not a going shopping car with all the speed bumps, in fact I'm not sure where you could drive this thing. Nick & I figured that it must have some sort of suspension lift kit in it...we hope!
This is Wolf World, an educational facility to teach people about the Wolf. Wolves were prevalent in Germany until the mid 1800's when the last German wolf was shot (it was claimed that it was murderous, but the wounds on the animals were too clean to be wolf...human perhaps?). Then in the mid 1900's a breeding pair crossed over from Czechoslovakia. Since then the population has grown to 3 packs with around 135 animals in total.
We learnt that wolves mate for life, do not cross breed, use vocalisations & body language to communicate & do not bark. Wolves have been artificially bred with German Shepherds & are called a Wolfdog. They were supposed to be border protection dogs but were found to be too timid & quite literally a 1 person dog. If they are left alone they will destroy anything & everything, including furniture, car interiors etc. Now that is taking animal devotion to a new kind of needy!
They have also crossed a male Wolf with a female poodle, a Wupoo & a male Poodle with a female Wolf, a Poowu. This was done to study where domestic dogs come from, the Wolf or Coyote family. The result was...Wolf (by the way, the cross bred dogs were really weird looking...no I don't want one)!
I know it blurry, but I was a long way from them. The Wolf Pack has just been given a dead Roe Deer & to watch the interaction between the Wolf hierarchy was very interesting. A female is the alpha dog & she will kill other females over territory & breeding rights. The males protect the Pack & do the housework (just checking that your listening)?!
A nice cold drink after a big steak dinner.
This is the Wolf at the bottom of the Pack...& didn't he have to jump through hoops to get a feed. The girls harassed him & the boys laughed at him...no wonder...he wolfs his food down...ha ha ha!
This dog (I forgot the name & can't look it up at the moment) is bred to live & eat amongst herds of sheep. They are supposed to look a bit similar so that they can blend in with the sheep, but they will defend the flock with their lives. 2 or 3 dogs can tend a flock of up to 500 sheep. Interestingly enough New Zealander's are not fond of the breed?
It is obvious that this woman is of German & not Kiwi decent!
He was actually a beautiful dog & was very keen for a bit of affection.
Now we are in Bremen 40km's from Verden & they have a great shopping mall...so I made a pig of myself. Hey I am just cracking myself up today!
Actually Nick finally decided to do a little bit of retail therapy & that's what friends are for...to spend a besty's dollars for him...right girls!
Nick left his phone in the campervan, but he did bring the Tom Tom! It actually came in very handy navigating around the winding streets, but I'm only putting that news in the blog because I had so much fun picking on him all day about getting lost & not knowing where he was.
So we had a late dinner after picking Andrew up from his big day. He spent the whole day looking at all the fabulous horses & these statues just got the better of him.
Some traditional German cooking...pork for me, lamb for Andrew & the unusual combination of herring, apple, onion & yoghurt for Nick (he said it was fabulous).
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