Learnt From My Own Mistakes!

I dont want anyone training llamas to take this list as advice; I would hesitate to give the latter. In training, we all have different animals and different physical surroundings. In training llamas we bring along our individual human personalities. But, in the hope that some of this might be relevant to other trainers in certain situations, I set forth a random, hotpotch, "trivial-and-basic-mix" of things that I have learned about my particular seven llamas in their relation to me, their surroundings and to each other, from mistakes I have made. New entries are at the TOP:

...that in clicker training, you can lose a whole afternoon's work by getting that bridge ("click") sounded, a fraction of a second too late. What you click is what you get.If you're using a clicker, you really, really have to concentrate hard!

...that it takes just one member of a herd to reach puberty, with hormones kicking in, and the entire dynamics of the herd is disrupted. This can lead to all sorts of probs in training.

....I suspect I've said it before, but I'll say it again: it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to train in high wind. Just like horses, llamas get ultra wary in windy weather. I am sure it is because, as prey animals, all their sounds and their sense of smell, are distorted. They need to be extra wary for survival, hence little time to expend on non-essential training.

....(oh dear, this has been a real hard lesson for me)..that it is extremely difficult to display in public, the training that I am demonstrating in videos, here on this website. Because llamas are animals of prey, when put in unfamiliar settings such as a Show or a Village Fete, they can become very wary. It is this wariness that has ensured their survival afterall.The surrounding unfamiliar sounds, sights and smells have all to be checked out before they can relax. Add a nearby dog show, a marching band, the ice-cream vendor, the fire brigade, horses and what have you and all this adds up to a situation fraught with potential dangers for the poor llama. So much more relaxed on his own farm!

....that a series of short, intense, training sessions are of more value than one long one.It is easy to get so enthusiastic about a piece of training going well, that the attention span of the learning llama gets overstretched.Ten minutes seems to be the optimum time for my boys...and then a ten minute break.

...that boys are far easier to train than girls !!! No, I need to qualify this. I should say " In my experience..." because I've really only tried to train two girls and mostly in work connected to driving. I havent made any progress with clicker work with either; they seem to be very different animals from the male llama.

..that some llamas are far more difficult to train than others. And I suspect that some are virtually impossible.Why, oh why, are so few so-called expert trainers (of all species of animal,) so reluctant to admit that there are impossible animals. Afterall...we all know impossible people!

...that it is one thing to train a llama to perform in a certain way in their familiar, quiet, home surroundings, ...but it is QUITE ANOTHER ballgame altogether to repeat the same thing in public.Was the failure to realise this, behind the disappearance of the performance classes for llamas from out British shows??

...that it's counter-productive to attempt training if I'm in a bad mood or if, during the course of a training session, I've got impatient.Llamas, like all animals, pick up on mood. Also,it is impossible to think rationally if one has lost one's cool.

...that it is usually counter-productive to try to train my boys when it's very windy.Like horses,my llama-students get very nervous in wind and concentration is very impaired.

...that if I am using food training treats, I should wait a few minutes after a spitting session. Llamas need to drop their jaws after a spit and seem disinterested in eating for up to 25 mins.Frustrating!

...that herd dynamics can play a huge part if I am working with my student in close proximity to other llamas. My Dillon will instantly fold down to the command "Sit down" if he's alone with me. But ask him to do it when the other boys are around and it's another story. Clearly he feels vulnerable..or undignified.

...that if I'm using a method dependent on food reward, I am also dependent on the llama being hungry.Sometimes they aint!

......that if I have my back to the sun, I might well be getting a good view of the student llama facing me.... but HE might well be dazzled!

....that the sense of smell (olfactory) in a llama is far, far greater than a human's. If I offer a food reward with a hand that also smells of horse, cat, llama dung,handcream..or, far worse, llama spit, my reward will be rejected and, in some instances, act as negative reinforcement.

...(this is something I keep overlooking in my work on colour recognition)...that, unlike us, the llama has a large blind spot under, and on each side of, his chin. The field of vision in a camelid is very strange and something I'm hoping to find out more about.

....that if I reward behaviour that is offered off-cue, then I will get off-cue behaviour. It is EXTREMELY tempting to reward a llama that has just performed an unrequested piece of training, such as retrieving, with enormous effort and accuracy. One has to be firm and hard!

.....that there are times when, for no reason I can ever understand, the llama is simply not interested in training.Is it a distraction that he,

rather than a human,can see/smell/hear/sense? Is he feeling off-colour? What is it?

......that if my student llama is being trained in something involving his mouth (eg retrieving), he needs to finish munching his reward before I ask him to use his mouth again! Small treats are the best and quickest!

MORE TO FOLLOW !!... I'M LEARNING ALL THE TIME !