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Why won't my alpacas come to me and let me pet
them?
Here is the short answer… Alpacas run from things that they are
afraid of.
When
you feed them, take care of them and love them like crazy why do
they insist in putting you in the category of things that they are
afraid of?
Ahhhh now that takes a bit more time to answer.
Most alpacas have been cornered and grabbed around the
neck.
This method of catching is expedient, popularly accepted by
many in the breeding business and is very tempting.
After all, that neck is just sticking up there like a
handle for goodness sakes.
That alpaca neck fairly screams to the handler, “USE ME
TO CATCH THE REST OF THE BODY PLEASE!
I did my share of cornering and grabbing in the early days of my
camelid career which now spans, gad-zooks, over 22 years! The day
my llamas were delivered my camelid coach puffed himself up and
gave me the facts of life with llamas, “Well little missy,
llamas don’t like to be touched on the head.
These animals will never get close to you. When you want to
catch ‘em, wave your arms around and haze them into a corner,
cut ‘em off don’t let ‘em run by you, show ‘em who’s
boss and grab them around the neck. And don’t you let go no
matter what! “
That is the way you catch camelid and that is that.
I did this more or less successfully (a few wild trips around the
pasture hanging on for dear life and a few unceremonious landings
in the dung pile) for about five years until I happened to meet a
remarkable horse trainer Linda Tellington –Jones (inventor of
TTEAM and the TTouch).
I
attended one of Linda’s clinics to learn how to train my huge
and crazy thoroughbred stallion- that I did not- (thank you very
much) grab around the neck!
The llamas were only an excuse to get Linda to my farm.
Back then llamas were very unusual and worthy of a private
visit from a world renown horse trainer - my mere horse would
never have helped me pull that off.
Ironically, I didn’t really expect much from Linda’s work with
my llamas she was a horse trainer and I already knew all there was
to know about llamas.
Linda
did some very simple things with my llamas… massaged their heads
and mouths and wait…they liked it!
My wildest llama closed his eyes and almost went to sleep
as Linda gently worked with his lips and gums.
“No this can’t be true” I gasped,
“these animals hate to be touched on the head and you
certainly can’t touch their mouths!”
Linda and I didn’t talk about how I caught my llamas that day
but what I began to understand was that I
was the one limiting my relationship with my animals.
Of course my llamas didn’t come up to me.
I was forever cornering them and grabbing them. Any sane
llama would steer clear of my
arms. I began to see that my llamas behavior was a reflection of
the way I behaved instead of a fact of nature.
I began my studies with Linda Tellington-Jones that day and my
life was forever changed.
I attached myself to Linda like velcro and a few years
later co-authored my first book about training llamas with Linda.
How
you catch your alpacas is the key to their heart.
Learn how to approach them, get your hands on them and
touch them in a way that they can enjoy and you are on your way.
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