Written April 2010
I am getting an increasing number of people e-mailing for advice on basic training of llamas.There is so little written about it afterall.
I am always happy to help, but I have to point out that, whilst my experience of one or two llamas is deep, in that I have been privileged to work with them individually for hundreds of hours, my experience of llamas in general is very narrow. I have only ever owned seven, plus a new alpaca, and the experience of the few that have come to me for training has been of but a few weeks' duration. Neither have I any experience of training older llama from scratch. I have corresponded with llama owners about training around the world to a great degree, and read a lot - but all this hardly compares with hands-on experience.
I should also point out that my real passion is off-lead training. Call it "tricks" if you like, I hate the word but can see why some folk see it as such. I am not an expert in either types of training, but particularly not in basic training. I have many problems with hands-on work and if you read my blog, you will find that I struggle with many of the problems most owners have.Those of you who have followed my blog on haltering recently will appreciate this ! !
BUT I CAN ALSO SAY THIS ....
I am not a breeder. I do not sell camelids or any camelid-related product. I do not link to any website that does. I do not sell training skills. I have no financial/vested interest in anything camelid-related..and so I feel I can be honest about their trainability ....
The llama is often advertised as an "easy to train" animal. This is true of some, but by no means all llamas. Some are a right challenge. Some are impossible. In my experience, they are not as easy as horses as regards basic training (haltering, grooming, foot-lifting, leading etc.).But their trainability, using operant conditioning techniques, eg clicker work, is far greater.
So..use me if you like, but appreciate my limitations ! !