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Our goal, here at Pudgey Paw Acres, is to make the good llama better & to understand the missunderstood llama. Here's
more on my method.
My method of training is quite different from others. It strikes some not so resounding cords with some, but with most
it is just common sence.
My view of llamas is: they are quite like people. Each one has his own personality, his own point of veiw, his own fetishes
& his own peeves.
The way I go about training a llama is not run them through the same training method I used on the last one. Something
about the method I used with llama A may irratated llama B. Before I ever train a cria I take time to get to know him.
I let him show me what he likes, what he doesn't like. I gain his trust. The same method, in my opinion, doesn't always work
on all llamas. They may be trained but they won't be trained in the exact same way as the next llama trained with X Method.
Some llamas don't like to be hugged, they may not be extremely affectionate. You must work around this & discover
a new way of rewarding him.
I don't agree with rewarding with food. I have seen the click and reward in action & it may work for some people
but I just don't think it sends the right message. I also don't agree with disaplining with pain. Sometimes, in a diar situation
some pain may occurr to the llama if you are pinned under something and you can't get out, you may have to cause a little
disconfort to the llama to free yourself. I always put my well being berfore the llama, if I'm gonna get hurt I won't do it.
But, in general, llamas don't respond well to pain. They are mental animals. You must "out think them". That's my modo. When
a llama is doing an undesirable behavior I try to think of why he is doing this. It could be a bad memory or a "fight spot"
on a stud. I always try to get to the root of the problem and understand the llama before I try to fix the problem.
When I find the reason for the problem I try to work around it, gain the llamas trust and make it known that I am alowed
to do things (like clip around the tail) other llamas aren't. In a sence, I try to make them feel that I'm special & worth
trusting.
So, all in all I just don't think that llamas are all the same and can be trained with the exact same method everytime.
They are individuals, just like people. They're highly intelligent and need you to do more than just be an authoritarian.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that certain methods don't work on llamas, I just think they may need to be altered
a little bit to fit the individual llama. Care needs to be taken not to make carbon copies.
My veiw of breeding llamas & the handling of crias is quite different from the main stream, as well. Many breeders
will tell you that only people who know what they're doing, know what a well conformed llama looks like should be breeding
these animals. Not me, I don't agree with this point of veiw. God told man he had dominion over the animals. He also told
all the organism of the earth to go and multiply and be fruitful. This puts us, as man, in control letting us decide which
animals to breed.
First off, I think you should decide what you want the baby for. If you just want a baby for a pet or just to have the
experience of raising a cria, I don't really think it matters how good looking your llamas are. If you want them for show
or selling, that's another thing entirely.
I don't suggest just breeding anything, mind you. It wouldn't be a good idea to breed a stud or dam who has a very bad
swayed back, bad pasturns or exstensively crooked leggs. I just think that if you have a stud and a dam that look healthy,
breed them if you want! You don't have to be an expert & it's not rocket science for a llama to get pregnant and have
a baby...they do it all the time in the wild!LOL
I don't suggest breeding a thousand llamas before you know what a well conformed llama looks like but, chances are if
you "just want a baby" your only gonna have 1 or 2. Like I said, if you have an obviously healthy dam & stud and
you want a baby....BREED THEM!LOL (when I say obviously healthy I mean one that has apparently good leggs, a relatively streight
back & doesn't have any other MAJOR problems with their skeleton)
Secondly. My veiw of training a cria is to have it in a halter at about 3 days....and once you have it halter trained,
the rest is pretty easy to play by ear.
Finally, I think llamas are easy animals to own, they are just like owning a horse-if you are ready for the comitment
and are prepared for what emergencies and issues may come up, there is no reason for you not to own a llama.
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