| On the Wild Side - Working
with Wolves
By Toni Shelbourne - TTouch Practitioner 2
and TTEAM Practitioner
As a Tellington Touch Practitioner I have the privilege to
work with many different species, all of whom are unique in their own way. Out of all the
canines I've worked with, to me, wolves are the ultimate. I first started working with
wolves in 2001. An Assistant Senior handler contacted me to ask if I would be interested
in working with a pack of 7 socialised wolves using the Tellington TTouch Method. Like
many people, wolves hold a special place in my heart and I readily agreed. Three years on
and I am heavily involved with the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, (UKWTC), and its wolves,
having myself become an Assistant Senior Wolf Handler, a member of the council and the
organiser of the Trust's seminars.
Wolves are by nature a timid, nervous animal. It is said by
Native American Indians that if you see a wolf once it has seen you a thousand times. All
the fairy tales and legends are misleading. They are incredibly clever, very resourceful
and the ultimate team player.
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Being socialised means the wolves have been
raised with humans. Don't mistake the word socialised for domesticated or tame. The wolves
at the Trust are wild animals that have learned to trust and tolerate the presence of
humans as long as the humans obey the rules. Our wolves interact with many different
people from children to adults. They walk with members of the UKWCT in the woods and
attend many shows and schools each year. In return, when they are not being ambassadors
for their wild cousins, helping to raise awareness and funds for projects in Europe, they
live in large enriched enclosures back at our base near Reading in Berkshire. We feel it
is a big responsibility looking after captive animals and ensure that their health and
welfare is paramount. This means they get the best care we can provide them and when not
working they live in an environment which is the closest to their natural habitat as
possible. Some of us at the Trust have had the privilege to observe wild wolves and our 7
socialised wolves show the same characteristics and routines as the wild ones, often
playing tag with each other at dawn and dusk and displaying hunting skills and strategies
toward any pheasants or small rodents who are unfortunate enough to stray into their
enclosure. So where does TTouch come in to all this?
The wolves display no behavioural problems, they don't suffer from many illnesses or
injuries and they don't need their performance enhanced. They do however react very
instinctively, at times they can be shy or nervous in new situations or to some stimuli.
TTouch is a tool at help them act beyond instinct. It can calm, reassure and help them to
cope with the limited demands we put them under.
For example we often do meet and greets. This is where a
member |
| of the public can, (if the wolf
is willing), stroke them. This is controlled by the wolf handler and assistant handler.
Occasionally someone doesn't listen to our instruction and touches the wolf in a
dominating manner, this can unsettle the wolf and make it nervous and unwilling to be
touched again by anyone it doesn't know or trust. In these situations I have used TTouch
to help calm and reassure them. Once settled they generally allow other people to come and
meet them. This is also true of objects in the environment which might spook them. One
wolf is fearful of hot air balloons and all are suspicious of anything new around the farm
or building and maintenance work being carried out. By using the TTouches I've managed to
stop them bolting or been able to calm them enough to walk past a scary object without
using force. |
| TTouch was very useful when I first came to
work with the wolves. Wolves stop forming strong bonds with other wolves and people after
3 months of age. This is to enable a tight family unit to form. As the wolves were all
mature when I first started to work with them it meant I had a lot of spade work to do to
form any kind of relationship with them. It can take months to build a bond with an adult
wolf and even then it will never be as strong as it is with a person who has known them
since birth. Using TTouch tools like the TTouches enabled me to form a bond with them very
quickly. TTouch also gave me the observational skills to read their body language and
calming signals. I can tell who the wolves are happy with and who they are not before
those people touch them. Occasionally a manner, or scent of a person, un-nerves them and
I'm able to intercept these people and redirect them to another wolf who will accept them.
This in turn keeps me safe because if the wolves are unsettled, ultimately it's the
handlers who are in danger not the member of the public who didn't follow the wolf
etiquette. Wolves are a very hardy species. The
injuries and illnesses they sustain often tend to be minor and usually heal on their own
without intervention from humans. |
© Tigress Productions 2003
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A wound or injury that looks very serious to
us will often heal with in days. Where possible we let nature do its job and only step in
if the situation looks to be getting worse. Treating a wild animal, even a socialised one
is never easy. They revert to instinct and can often guard an area of pain. At the UKWTC
we have an experienced Wolf Welfare Officer whose job it is to ensure the wolves are happy
and healthy. It's his job to make decisions and liase with vets etc. Ultimately it's the
welfare officer who will go in to treat the wolf. Over the last 3 years I have helped him
apply medications and devise ways of getting wolves to take meds orally. We have found
that a calm, efficient approach that includes TTouches works the best. The wolf is less
stressed and we can always reapply the medication the next time we come to do it - a good
test of how the animal felt about the experience.
Having captive animals is never ideal. In a perfect world
all wild animals would be free to live their lives as nature intended. If we do have the
responsibility of caring for captive animals I feel it is our duty to make their life as
enriched and as stress free as possible. We have so much to learn from them and if I can
give back a little of what I get from these beautiful creatures then I will. Tellington
TTouch seems a great way to do that. I enjoy working with the wolves and they seem to love
it too!
For more information about the UK Wolf Conservation Trust,
please visit their *website.
*Tilley Farm is not
responsible for the content of external websites
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