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Hello Paula, I am so glad that you are working with
the baby with the mother present. I am so
respectful of a mothers right to protect her baby
from anything that she feels could be harmful and do
my very best to help the mother understand that I
mean no harm and that she would be right to place
her trust in me. So, to that end, it is important
to work with your mother alpacas and treat them in a
way that inspires their trust. I have written reams
about that.
As
for specifics about handling babies I have a few
suggestions for you. First and perhaps the most
important, I would encourage you to wait to train an
alpaca to lead until he or she is at least 4 months
old preferably 5-6 months. At this age mothers are
much less protective for the most part and your
youngster has a longer attention span; most
importantly he has a larger head that makes it
possible to properly fit a halter.
I
would spend time in the early months properly
introducing a halter as well as touching the baby
all over the body in a structured way. There is
plenty of time for teaching a baby to lead later
on. Pay very close attention to halter fit when you
are giving early leading lessons; a halter that
slips forward and off the bone will cause your baby
to panic and you will have caused a traumatic
experience you must over come. The crown piece of a
halter must be tight enough to keep the halter in
place even under the most adverse leading
circumstances. This means that in the case of a
young alpaca with a small head, this is pretty dog
gone tight!
When you do teach the youngster to lead mother could
be nearby, but not necessarily in the same pen. I
suggest haltering in a small catch pen that adjoins
a long narrow area for lead training. Don't hold
steadily on the lead line but let the size and shape
of the pen direct the movement and help get your
point across. I have written about lead training in
much more detail in my book and in other articles
that are posted on my website. I hope this short
answer helps.
Good luck.
Marty
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