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Article By: RosanaHart
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Llama Training: What is Involved?
Llamas are very intelligent animals who can learn many things, and it is easy to train them. Every llama should know some basics:
1. To be haltered.
2. To hike with you on a leash that they don't pull taut.
3. To jump into a van, pickup, or trailer for transporting.
4. To accept handling all over its body.
In addition, you can train a llama to do many other things. Sitting down (called "kushing") and getting back up can be taught. Some llamas have been taught to drive to cart, and they are quite a sight in parades. A good number of llamas do what their Andean ancestors did and become pack animals. They are trained in carrying a pack.
Bobra Goldsmith, a pioneering llama trainer, observes, "You can teach a llama to do something after several repetitions. It often surprises people how quickly llamas learn."
After hearing her say that, I decided to see how many times I would have to load my llama Whiskers into the side door of our VW van before he would just jump in. It only took me five times. After that, he always knew exactly what to do, even if some months had gone by without an expedition that called for him to get into the van. Try teaching a dog something in just five repetitions! It will rarely work.
Speaking of dogs, llamas learn much more quickly than dogs to walk easily when on a leash. Where a typical dog will be pulling this way and that at first, llamas are far more likely to keep the leash quite loose. So it's great fun to hike with them. By the way, if you are out hiking with a llama and you see one or more horses coming along the trail towards you, do give way to them. Horses can be rather afraid of llamas when they first meet.
Bobra has developed a series of methods for training llamas. For example, for getting a llama to accept the halter easily, she uses a slow motion technique. Llamas like the calm and steady approach, and they learn to be haltered very easily with this method. Her training routines are also used, by herself and by many others, with alpacas.
While llamas are perhaps best trained while they are rather young (but not babies), Bobra has demonstrated that you can train a green adult llama as well. While in a perfect world every llama you acquire would be well trained, in fact many people just don't get around to much llama training. You can learn Bobra Goldsmith's training methods from a DVD which is available on the internet. People buy the DVD for this purpose, of course, but they also buy it when they are thinking about getting llamas and want to know what is involved. In any case, llama training can turn out to be a very enjoyable activity.
Article Source: ArticleZones.com
About the Author
For more about well-known llama trainer Bobra Goldsmith and her techniques, visit this llama training page. Rosana Hart is the author of two books on llamas and worked with Bobra to produce the DVD.
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