Welcome to my website.

Though I am writing this piece in August 2011, this site was infact started in 2005 and the Training Section which is, in part, run as a blog, has been updated continually since then ....sometimes several times a month. It is exclusively about llama training and tracks the progress that I am making working with my herd of just seven llamas and now an alpaca. All eight are receiving basic training, whilst two of the llamas plus the alpaca, also receive off-lead training in behaviours that are purely for fun... theirs and mine too. I have to confess that off-lead (or hands-off) training is my main interest.The methods used here are largely, but by no means exclusively, operant conditioning. Here you will read about both success and failure as I daily learn more about my animals, their capabilities and their limitations. This is not an online instruction manual: indeed I consider my hands-on skills (haltering, footwork, leading,etc.) leave room for much improvement, but for both on- and off-lead work, I here set out the methods that have worked for me. I must stress however that these methods are constantly evolving as I gain more experience. So do please check back from time to time!