Llama Training: What Every Llama Should Know
Llamas are very intelligent animals who can learn many things, and it is easy to train them. Every llama should know some basics:
1. To accept the halter.
2. To hike with you on a leash that they don’t pull taut.
3. To load into a vehicle.
4. To accept handling all over its body.
Beyond that, what a llama will be doing will determine what you train it to do. If a llama is destined to be a pack animal going into the mountains with you, then a series of lessons in carrying a pack will be called for. Llamas can be trained to drive to cart, to sit down and get up on command, and much more.
“Llamas are very fast learners,” says Bobra Goldsmith, a well-known llama trainer. “When you are teaching a llama something, don’t be surprised if he gets it after just a few trials.”
As a result of hearing Bobra’s comment, I counted the number of repetitions it took to accustom my llama Whiskers to the process of entering our VW van. It took five times, and then he had it. From then on, no matter how many months had passed between outings, as soon the van door opened, Whiskers was ready to go. I was impressed; I’ve never taught a dog any command in just five repeats.
Speaking of dogs, llamas learn much more quickly than dogs to walk easily when on a leash. Where a typical dog will be pulling this way and that at first, llamas are far more likely to keep the leash quite loose. So it’s great fun to hike with them. By the way, if you are out hiking with a llama and you see one or more horses coming along the trail towards you, do give way to them. Horses can be rather afraid of llamas when they first meet.
Bobra has had many llamas herself and out of her experience she has developed many ways to train them. For instance, she teaches llamas to allow themselves to be haltered by using a slow movement in approaching their faces with the halter. The animals seem to appreciate the calmness, and it’s really quite easy for anyone to learn to halter llamas this way. Her methods are also widely used with alpacas.
She works with young llamas, typically several months old, and she also works with adult llamas who may never have been trained or may have been trained minimally. While ideally every llama would be trained, the reality is that many owners don’t know how to do it or just don’t take the time. Bobra’s methods can be learned from a DVD, and you can get the DVD online. So if you have some llamas out in your pasture to train or if you are just wondering about what it would be like to have llamas, you can find out everything you need to know about training llamas.
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