This is our second session with Monty and the first thing we needed to do was
to assess how it is that we're going to be working
with him. It becomes quite clear that Monty is
quite asleep most of the time so just getting present with him
may not have the same effect as if we actually decided to do something first.
So the idea is we will see if he will come down for his food
and his treats.
And the same as last time, we'll have the very long spoon
I think with the condensed milk on it and
just invite Monty to come down. First we're going to really observe what he's
doing and then after the session when he is
awake, we can then start introducing the
present moment. Now this is very effective especially
with damaged animals. It doesn't always have to happen
beforehand, it can happen after and there is a great value in being able
to get present with an animal after an event. You see
if we get present after an event, everything that's happened
during that time will be seen in a peaceful light
so for Monty's case that would mean that it's okay to come down and receive
treats and if he does get frightened by
anything afterwards, what we are literally saying in feeling
terms is, it's okay, it's okay if you were
frightened there and here's a little bit of peace of mind.
When an animal feels peaceful they will see
things in a different way. So for example if you are working with a
dog who is afraid of other dogs it is often
much better that you let the reaction happen in a safe and controlled way
and after the event you bring their mind down so that they are peaceful.
What this does is it changes the memory of the event and it helps the animal to
see it in a peaceful light, which means that the next time the
reaction will be a lot less. So Monty today has come down,
which is wonderful because with both Shelley, myself there
and Kelly, it's quite a crowd for Monty.
So for him to come down and start to receive his
reward then I think we feel quite privileged.
It's very important in the care of the bears that they can be confident with
people. It's important for a number of different
reasons. For example the bears have health checks
every three years, this is a vital part and for them to
have a health check they need to be able to respond to
reward training to be able to be moved in a container
that can take them to the veterinary unit.
Monty needs to have his confidence with reward, movement
and also just the sheer fact of reward means that every time Monty comes down
and receives a reward from a human, in his mind he has
to start looking at humans in a different way.
In a severe case like Monty, he's had some
really nasty trauma at the beginning of his life.
I can only just imagine what it would be like to be caught in a snare that did
that much damage to your leg and the noise of that snare
and the noise of the people around that were trying to catch you when you were
in a huge amount of pain would be something that is carved into
Monty's consciousness so it is no surprise that he would
react the way that he does now. Here is a really
interesting moment and it gave us a big insight into what Monty
is like. You see Monty does really, really well
as he's doing now but then we'll suddenly have a freeze moment and this
is one now. He doesn't know where to go and he
doesn't know if to come back and then suddenly
he moves away. Now it wasn't so obvious on the video
but when we were watching, it was very clear to see
that this was a huge panic moment. Monty retreated back to his safe spot
but he's awake now and his attention is towards us
so it was the perfect time to bring his mind down
using the Trust Technique.
This is the perfect moment. We have Monty's full attention and we can really
help him with mindful regard
and as we watch his mind going down, there's even twitches around his nose.
This is wonderful it feels like he's gone into a
zero healing state and these little twitches
are just the deeper releases.
These are the moments that we wait for with any very abused animals, we
can get to a sleep state because they wake up and see us
and it was really interesting to, I know it was
a bit disappointing because we had him next door and he wanted to,
but actually it was really good to see his freeze moment
because it was fine, it was fine and then
it's almost like that past comes up and he has to freeze
and he doesn't know what to do and then he's got a panic you know so
really interesting to feel that but it will also be really interesting
to see what it's like with us next time after going to sleep now.
Between our first and this our second session, Kelly had a
session with Monty on her own and describes what happens when
she used the Trust Technique. There was a lot of noise happening
behind the trees that way so he got scared. So I got peaceful and present.
And every time you do that you're helping him with
something because you're literally saying you can be peaceful when it's
really noisy and windy outside and our relationship is truer than that,
which is really lovely.
Well done. Well, I know he's had little slitty eyes but I
don't think he's gonna wake up. No I think the slit now is just, I think
he's out. Yeah he's out for the count. He looks
peaceful huh? Yeah.