COMBINATION EXERCISE
..or "the statue game"

THE METHOD I'M USING

(REVISED 2008)

This is a combination exercise involving a selection of the commands: "Walk On", "Stand"  "Back" "Sit Down" "Turn around"...and maybe "Lie" "Play Dead" and "Roll Over".

It is carried out with the llama facing me .Obviously he must understand and have fully grasped the commands and hand signals for all the movements, separately, before any attempt is made to combine them. And he must have progressed to the stage where he no longer needs the click or the reward to obey a signal, because it is impractical to reward an animal that has halted five yards away and then obeyed a signal to take a step back. Besides, my arms aren't long enough.

 

 

 

HOW WE'RE DOING

To date, I have worked at this one with Oscar over several months and am now beginning with Toby. Oscar can combine: standing, rotating, backing, sitting, playing dead, rolling and rising. It is also significant that he can work a long routine without reward. Toby is backing, standing...and generally fidgetting.

August 15th 2008

RECENT NOTES ON PROGRESS

Oscar is mastering the "shuffle"! The shuffle is a movement done in the kushed position, involving the knees and elbows. Only to be done on soft ground! It is the forward movement done with the front leg joint, as the llama kushes and rearranges himself. It would be good to icorporate the shuffle into a sequence of movements. WATCH THIS SPACE!!