Shaun Ellis New Book 'The Man Who Lives With Wolves'

I highly recommend anyone who has a dog to buy and read this book.....

It gives an insight not only to where all dogs came from but what part it still plays today, from Shaun who grow up with working dogs and explains in detail how he managed to survive 2 years living with wild wolves until he realised that if he didnt leave after that time he would die, due mainly to his bodies inability to continue to eat raw food.

He really bears his sole in this book and totally accepts that his 'obsession' with wolves has caused much pain and suffering to his family and people close to him.

It was surprisingly to me, a very emotional read.

Love him or hate him, what Shaun has managed to achieve has been hugely understated in my view and he offers the best chance we have to understand our dogs more.

I'm not really a fan of Shaun as you know but i'd be up for reading his book and discussing it with you.

I do believe he has useful information to pass on and if he's been understated its only because of some of the awful things he's done for media coverage, fame and money.

I know your not a fan....no probs.....

If you read his book you will see that for most part he had no money and a lot he did on a voluntary basis with no pay, which included the years he looked after the wolves at Longleat zoo.

He mentions in his book that in hindsight Mr and Mrs wolf was a big mistake......it cost him dearly trust me.....

You know and trust me, I am not asking you to like him, but when I met him and we chatted for a few hours he is one of the most sincerest people I have ever met in my life.

One of the awful things I think your referring to is the mating of brother and sister wolf for the Mr and Mrs wolf programme, it explains in the book how that came about, it wasn't meant to happen as they gave the female wolf a contraceptive injection, but being a clever wolf she just waited until the injection got weaker to start her season....also matings of brother and sister wolf happen naturally in the wild and there is no scientific evidence that it causes them any problems.....

I know I am defending Shaun here, but I don't want you to miss out the chance to learn from him just coz you dont like him.....

Wolfdog on here knows him far better than I do.

Its not that i don't like him, cant say that as i don't know him but from what i have read and seen i find my opinion of him so far very low.

He's done his reputation no favours by getting involved with CR either, bringing all those semi feral dogs in from France and getting them all knocked up was pretty bad no matter what way you look at it, Shaun then went on t.v to promote the pups on big brother and Alan Ticmarch show. C'mon James if that's not all about money what is?

Hi Liz, I have learnt that talking about Shaun is a no win situation on some internet forums and knowing all the people you mention quite well I will limit what I say about them in public! I also knew almost all those dogs that came in from France.

I will say I was uncomfortable about Saarloos appearing on TV in the UK, especially on BB. I feel strongly that they are not a breed suited to everybody. I am uncertain that Shaun's involvement was about money though. For all his perceived faults he is not really a money orientated man in real life.

Like i said Wolfdog i don't know him but its certainly how he comes across to the public, we can only go by what we see.

I'm in complete agreement with you that Saarloos are not a breed suitable for everybody and that's now becoming obvious to most as the pups mature, pity the main breeders did not take that into consideration before pumping them out. SE supporting that done him no favours.

Its a crying shame for the dogs, a beautiful breed ruined in the u.k in the space of 2 years. Its difficult not to be angry.

liz wrote: a beautiful breed ruined in the u.k in the space of 2 years. Its difficult not to be angry.

What can I say?

I have only seen the National Geo program with Shaun, I missed the Mr and Mrs wolf series due to not having a TV at the time. In a way I think even the reality TV does have something to offer as it makes wolves memorable to the TV watching public.

Personally I like Shaun. When he first told me he was going to live with the pups in a hole in the ground I was insanely jealous as it seemed far more interesting than what I was doing (I know, I must be nuts!). The book is an easy read, so if you find a copy try it- if only to see what you disagree with!

liz wrote:Its not that i don't like him, cant say that as i don't know him but from what i have read and seen i find my opinion of him so far very low.

He's done his reputation no favours by getting involved with CR either, bringing all those semi feral dogs in from France and getting them all knocked up was pretty bad no matter what way you look at it, Shaun then went on t.v to promote the pups on big brother and Alan Ticmarch show. C'mon James if that's not all about money what is?

wolfdog wrote:Hi Liz, I have learnt that talking about Shaun is a no win situation on some internet forums and knowing all the people you mention quite well I will limit what I say about them in public! I also knew almost all those dogs that came in from France.

I will say I was uncomfortable about Saarloos appearing on TV in the UK, especially on BB. I feel strongly that they are not a breed suited to everybody. I am uncertain that Shaun's involvement was about money though. For all his perceived faults he is not really a money orientated man in real life.

liz wrote:Like i said Wolfdog i don't know him but its certainly how he comes across to the public, we can only go by what we see.

I'm in complete agreement with you that Saarloos are not a breed suitable for everybody and that's now becoming obvious to most as the pups mature, pity the main breeders did not take that into consideration before pumping them out. SE supporting that done him no favours.

Its a crying shame for the dogs, a beautiful breed ruined in the u.k in the space of 2 years. Its difficult not to be angry.

Liz,

I know that the interview done on Alan Tichmarsh was just make believe as Shaun mentions in his book that him and Helen had split up by then but had to honour their contract with the TV companies, it was all a falsehood, they also had to do the same interviews in usa, they took separate flights, stayed in separate hotels, took separate cars to the TV studio and just met at the TV studio's and made out they were still together, if you read his book he admits many other mistakes he has made, which to me just makes him more human, its hard to imagine what it is like with sharp characters from TV companies putting you under pressure to 'perform'....

Regarding CR, I fell out with him on his forum, but I do not think he is a bad sort, I don't know anywhere near enough facts to comment about his wolf dogs, all I do know is that I have been communicating in great depth with wolfdog for some time, he cares very deeply about wolfdogs and would have nothing to do with anyone who had bad intentions regarding them.

Wolfdog is one of those rare people that offers a balanced view point and he has helped me a lot in understanding wolfdogs and I would trust his views without question, as you read he had his concerns about some things that have happened.

Shaun put his life on the line to save a wolf in a us Zoo that was a result of a us person trying to domesticate it and gave it beatings in an attempt to get it behave....he spent 3 days in the enclosure with wounds where the wolf attacked (he showed me the scars on his arm) him without food and water until the wolf came and licked him knowing he could not survive without him..the wolf was fine after that he has never mentioned that publicly that I am aware of or in his book, doesn't seem the behaviour of someone just out to make money to me.....

At the same time I think its is right to be suspicious of anyone who craves to be on TV.

wolfdog wrote:I have only seen the National Geo program with Shaun, I missed the Mr and Mrs wolf series due to not having a TV at the time. In a way I think even the reality TV does have something to offer as it makes wolves memorable to the TV watching public.

Personally I like Shaun. When he first told me he was going to live with the pups in a hole in the ground I was insanely jealous as it seemed far more interesting than what I was doing (I know, I must be nuts!). The book is an easy read, so if you find a copy try it- if only to see what you disagree with!

Well i would hope there are things in it i can agree with I will certainly view it with an open mind just as i would if i ever met him. I'm sure i will have many questions.

Like i said its very difficult not to be angry over what has happened to not only the Saarloos but the CSV in the U.K and i fail to see how he has no part in that. I'd actually like the opportunity at some point to meet him and ask questions, perhaps one day i shall.

Well I guess I could take some blame for sparking his interest in Saarloos but I did not introduce him to CR. As far as I know he has never had anything to do with the CSV in the UK; the blame for that breed can be squarely laid elsewhere!

Admin wrote:

Liz,

I know that the interview done on Alan Tichmarsh was just make believe as Shaun mentions in his book that him and Helen had split up by then but had to honour their contract with the TV companies, it was all a falsehood, they also had to do the same interviews in usa, they took separate flights, stayed in separate hotels, took separate cars to the TV studio and just met at the TV studio's and made out they were still together, if you read his book he admits many other mistakes he has made, which to me just makes him more human, its hard to imagine what it is like with sharp characters from TV companies putting you under pressure to 'perform'....

Regarding CR, I fell out with him on his forum, but I do not think he is a bad sort, I don't know anywhere near enough facts to comment about his wolf dogs, all I do know is that I have been communicating in great depth with wolfdog for some time, he cares very deeply about wolfdogs and would have nothing to do with anyone who had bad intentions regarding them.

Wolfdog is one of those rare people that offers a balanced view point and he has helped me a lot in understanding wolfdogs and I would trust his views without question, as you read he had his concerns about some things that have happened.

Shaun put his life on the line to save a wolf in a us Zoo that was a result of a us person trying to domesticate it and gave it beatings in an attempt to get it behave....he spent 3 days in the enclosure with wounds where the wolf attacked (he showed me the scars on his arm) him without food and water until the wolf came and licked him knowing he could not survive without him..the wolf was fine after that he has never mentioned that publicly that I am aware of or in his book, doesn't seem the behaviour of someone just out to make money to me.....

At the same time I think its is right to be suspicious of anyone who craves to be on TV.

Oh dear,
I have even less respect for him now for being dishonest about being together with her just for the sake of t.v. It shows he's happy to lie / decieve the public.

Wolfdog i have always had respect for, we may disagree on some things but it has never once been a problem, its still not.

There is more to it than that Liz, for example Helen collapsed from sheer exhaustion half way through the filming of Mr and Mrs wolf and was very poorly for ages and could not complete the filming and they had to put 'old' shots of her in to finish it.....if they hadn't honoured the contract all that heartache would have been for nothing.....

If he was out to deceive why mention it in his book, he could have just kept it to himself....

James you know what, Helen could have said fine take me to court.
Do you honestly think they would? The newspapers would have loved that story and the public would have totally been on her side. Who would make a woman suffering exhaustion keep filming with wolves?

You say the heartache would have been for nothing but that programme done him no favours at all, everyone's opinion of him dropped so the heartache 'was' for nothing.

He now outs it all in his book but he could have done it back then and been thought better of for it.

I have to agree that if it was me I would have told the TV companies to take a run and jump.....and they could stuff their fee up you know what...

On the other side of the coin Shaun seemed more than happy talking to me about dog behaviour standing in the pouring rain for a few hours and there was no financial gain for him there as he already knew before we met that I am just an enthusiastic amateur with no influence in the dog world, TV world or any world come to think of it...

Yes complex character indeed, must make a point of meeting him, on my to do list but not in that sence

I think you would gain a lot by meeting him, your natural instincts would kick in then I would think.....

One thing that stuck in my mind when meeting him was at the end, I shook his hand and sincerely said it was a great honour to meet him and appreciated so much his time....his reply was..."no, it was an honour to meet you".......

Don't discredit yourself James, he's just a guy like you are, we all have our gifts to bring to the table.

That maybe, but he managed to survive in the wild with wolves for two years....he took nothing with him apart from a knife, string and piece of wire to set snares to hunt small game and eat..to survive before he met the wolves...he never made a fire....which meant he could never sleep properly before he met the wolves as bears where a major threat, he ate raw food only and it was his commando army training survival skills that kept him alive in the very cold winters.....he couldnt see anything at night and had a number of injuries.....he went through a pain staking process when he did meet wolves not knowing if he would be killed at any moment.

I wouldn't have survived more than a night or two if that.

Hi James, hi Liz! It's really nice to be here on your new site James, and many congrats, it looks very professional.

My opinion of SE is that he is a pretty good egg overall. I personally think he is spot on pretty much, with his interpretation of dog body language. He is human, he has made many mistakes and will make many mistakes in the future, but I honestly believe he is sincere. I have heard already about the whole Helen thing with Mr & Mrs Wolf, and I agree with James, he didn't need to fess up. I think he plays with a straight bat ... and I think CR does too. I have never met Charlie, but I have spoken to him on the phone and have had many private communications with him, about matters that were and still are intensely private and confidential on my part. I confided in him about a particular matter, and he has never broken my confidence. My husband and I are very much hoping to meet up with him this summer. I am reserving judgement until I meet him, but so far I have full confidence in my initial gut feelings that he is OK. He may well have made some mistakes, bad judgements, whatever, but haven't we all? I will not judge any man until I have met them and fully formed my own opinion. I might well change my mind once I have met him, but I don't think so.

I detest trial by internet. Or trial by media. I will not judge him until I meet him. Likewise with Shaun Ellis, I kept an open mind and I liked what I saw and what I heard. I think the guy is genuine and extremely interesting and he brings an awful lot to the party. When we met him, with Hal, I had many questions answered and the final pieces of the tangled jigsaw that was Hal put into place to form the complete picture. That's good enough for me.

You'll be pleased to hear ive ordered the book from the library

Good news indeed Liz ! I like your open mindedness.

oooo will have to bribe the other half into buying me the book.

I like Shaun Ellis, I think he puts things across so everyone can relate to it. I have his dvd man among wolves, I think its called. Has been ages since I watched it. He does seem a nice guy, and I think does things towards a better understanding, even if we don't appreciate or understand the whys and where fors.

Tracii order it from the library.

I got my copy from the library today so will let you know how i get on with it.