Alpaca Training – Why bother?
February 1st 2008 01:13
It is not absolutely essential for an alpaca to be halter trained and many people have alpacas who are never halter trained. I have several alpacas here who I purchased as adults and haven’t got round to doing any training with.
They’re still personable, easy to handle and happy alpacas, they’re just not used to walking around on the end of a lead.
If you want to enter your alpacas in shows, then you will need to halter train them, because you’ll be leading them around the show ring. How they walk and present in the ring is part and parcel of the showing process.
There are some other reasons why halter training is a good idea.
Say you want to take your alpacas to display at a fair. You’ll want to be able to lead them from your vehicle, to their pen, or around the fairgrounds.
If your alpaca gets injured or sick and you need to rush him to a vet, it is much easier if your alpaca is used to walking on a lead. Adult alpacas are pretty heavy, you don’t want to be carrying him, if he’s capable of walking. He’ll probably be quite anxious and flighty as well, being in pain and in a strange place.
If your females go off farm for mating, then being able to lead them makes life much simpler for everyone.
There are a billion ways (ok, many ways) to train an alpaca and many books on different training methods and techniques. I’ve read a heap of them and use the parts which work for me.
I find the most important part of the training is what happens in the months from birth until you introduce a halter. If you get that right, the rest is usually pretty simple.
I get the youngster used to having me walking around in close proximity. Once I can walk past him without him running away, then I get him a tiny touch on the back (almost as though it was unintentional) and keep walking.
Once I can touch them without having them jump or run away, I start thinking about halter training.
Different ways work for different people though, so it’s a matter of finding the method which you’re most comfortable with. The alpacas always take their cue from you. If you don’t know what you’re doing, they’ll pick that up (possibly before you do).
Some alpacas catch on pretty fast and others have a stronger flight instinct and will take much longer. But, as long as you’re calm and consistent, they’ll get there.
They’re still personable, easy to handle and happy alpacas, they’re just not used to walking around on the end of a lead.
If you want to enter your alpacas in shows, then you will need to halter train them, because you’ll be leading them around the show ring. How they walk and present in the ring is part and parcel of the showing process.
There are some other reasons why halter training is a good idea.
Say you want to take your alpacas to display at a fair. You’ll want to be able to lead them from your vehicle, to their pen, or around the fairgrounds.
If your alpaca gets injured or sick and you need to rush him to a vet, it is much easier if your alpaca is used to walking on a lead. Adult alpacas are pretty heavy, you don’t want to be carrying him, if he’s capable of walking. He’ll probably be quite anxious and flighty as well, being in pain and in a strange place.
If your females go off farm for mating, then being able to lead them makes life much simpler for everyone.
Alpaca on lead
There are a billion ways (ok, many ways) to train an alpaca and many books on different training methods and techniques. I’ve read a heap of them and use the parts which work for me.
I find the most important part of the training is what happens in the months from birth until you introduce a halter. If you get that right, the rest is usually pretty simple.
I get the youngster used to having me walking around in close proximity. Once I can walk past him without him running away, then I get him a tiny touch on the back (almost as though it was unintentional) and keep walking.
Alpaca - a quick touch
Once I can touch them without having them jump or run away, I start thinking about halter training.
Different ways work for different people though, so it’s a matter of finding the method which you’re most comfortable with. The alpacas always take their cue from you. If you don’t know what you’re doing, they’ll pick that up (possibly before you do).
Some alpacas catch on pretty fast and others have a stronger flight instinct and will take much longer. But, as long as you’re calm and consistent, they’ll get there.
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