Re: [AlpacaTalk] halter training cria
Oh definitely put the halter on and keep her in a stall or at least
an area where she can be caught again to remove it. Leave the alter
on for 15-20 minutes and just let her get used to the feel of it.
Repeat this every day for a few days. Next, put a lead on the halter
and actually start halter training as you'd train a dog to walk. Be
very gentle. I've found that being nice and not reprimanding unwanted
behavior, only rewarding wanted behavior (Skinner training?) really
works better than trying to "break" an alpaca. In fact, a heavy
handed approach only makes some of them more wild, like my Kallista.
I started halter training the young crias exactly because my
Kallista, who spent her first week at OSU, needed to be weighed daily
after she came home. When she reached 30 lbs, it became rather
difficult to carry her and her wildly kicking legs to the barn where
the scale is, going through 2 gates. SO I said, alright little girl,
you're coming with me on your own 4 feet! And that's all there was to
it. She had no choice except to walk with me to the barn, and she
learned how to "load" into the chute where we keep the scale.
When I say halter train, I mean halter train! :)
The wild crias will calm down with early halter training, and the
friendly crias will be even easier to handle with early halter
training. When babies are babies, they are learning 100% of the time.
If they learn that haltering and walking on a lead is part of life
early on, training is much easier and takes far less time than older
weanlings who have already learned most of what they need,m to be an
alpaca. Then halter training is this awful new thing that isn't right
and they need to escape at all costs!
Heather
On Jan 9, 2009, at 6:37 AM, houckj@aol.com wrote:
> <<I'd start halter training right away, though. Once she's trained a
> bit, she'll be much easier to handle and won't be fearful of you.
> And, quite often, after they trained when young, they're quite
> friendly and don't mind physical contact. We use dot be completely
> hands-off the babies except for vitamins and only really necessary
> things. Then when we tried halter training at 4-6 months, they were
> wild animals! And if you wait longer than that, forget it!
>
> Heather>>>>
>
> Can you be more specific about what you mean by halter "training"?
> After I put a halter on her (oh boy I can't wait) then what?
>
> I am wiping her eye with a very diluted golden seal and it is looking
> much better today, not so crusty, but still weepy.
>
> Speaking of white spots, this baby is solid black black black with one
> tiny little tuft of white (dad is a blue) on her neck. I don't care -
> its a GIRL and she's still alive on Day 11 - WOOHOO.
>
> Warmly, Janice
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posted by Chaddo at 10:04 AM
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