THE METHOD I'M USING

Targeting, or getting the llama target-wise, is the key to much other training, including useful things like loading into trailers, walking towards and around objects that cause alarm , etc..... besides "fun" activities like hurdling, weaving, spinning etc.
For my target, I copied Jim Logan of Snowdridge Llamas, well known for his work on training llamas. Like Jim, I use a lollipop-style target where the stick is a three foot piece of quarter-inch bamboo cane and the end is a red, eight-inches-across, knitted circle, stiffened by backing card.

I begin stimulating interest in the circle-end of the target simply by holding it in front of the llama's nose and clicking and rewarding the moment he approaches and touches it. Often I have to wait quite a while for the first touch but after that it doesn't take two minutes for the llama to learn how to get that inviting grain! Gradually, inch by inch maybe, I begin to move the target further away, so the llama has to move to touch it. From there I progress to a slow-moving target which the llama readily follows. I practise with moving the target high and low, to the left and to the right. It has been a learning process that the boys really loved .                                     

If you can add anything to my work or have any questions or comments, please e-mail me.