Re: [AlpacaTalk] halter training cria

Would you say the same advice would go for adult rescues?

My 2 boys probably have never had halters. I hate chasing them into
the stall and locking them
in and then trying to get halters on as I figure the act of getting
them locked in the stall is
trauma enough, yet I really need to get them friendly.

Currently they are free to roam day and night in barn and around
pasture.
They eat well and are stand offish but not too frightened.

Lysa
jim thorpe, PA

On Jan 9, 2009, at 1:04 PM, Heather Zeleny wrote:

> 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
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

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