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Thanks for the very nice words I am glad that you
are an advocate and are having some success. As far
as your young alpaca goes.... my antennae always go
up when I hear someone describe an animal as being
really easy and LIKES to be touched and handled.
These animals are usually what I call Camelid
Control Freaks. These animals quite often start out
as very obliging "friendly" youngsters they are very
clever and fun but are often very difficult
adolescents. They basically like things their way
and as they get older and you want to do things with
them that they don't want to do they can be very
quick to act out- my guess is that she is probably
beginning to feel her hormones. It is not unusual
for camelid control freaks to be difficult herd
mates too because they expect all the other animals
in the herd to defer to their wishes. So what can
you do? All of the techniques in my book and those
you learned at a seminar would be appropriate I am
going to highlight a few things below that I hope
will help.
Remember that what you are calling friendliness is
really more like boundary testing so be aware that
encouraging a lot of petting and approach behavior
may be sending the wrong message. With animals like
this it is really important to ask for some
discipline and by this I don't mean punishment— I
mean that she hangs in there when you are asking her
cooperate even if she doesn't want to. Working over
her obstacles and taking her for walks, away from
the group, are two things that might teach her a bit
of tolerance.
In terms of the kicking, short of tying her legs
together there is nothing you can do to MAKE her not
kick. You can only behave in a way that makes it
not necessary to kick. Animals kick for several
reasons: they are startled, they are defending
themselves from something, they have done it a lot
for a real reason and it has now become a habit that
is no longer related to anything it is just a habit.
How you catch your alpacas really impacts their need
to kick. I am assuming that you are using a catch
pen and that you are approaching from behind the eye
if not this is the place to start. Using a corner
to catch an alpaca really encourages kicking as a
defense. Alpacas that kick reflexively because
they are nervous and have over active nerves can be
helped by giving them lots of room, placing feeders
really far apart so that your alpacas are not
crowding you and each other when you are feeding.
Talking while you are moving around so that these
animals always know where you are may help too.
Another thing to look closely at is her wool and
whether or not she can see well. Many youngsters
may begin kicking as they come into full fleece
because their peripheral vision gets compromised as
their fleece grows.
So bottom line is that the best approach in my
opinion is to have another look at her personality
and perhaps re-evaluate her basic nature is she
really sweet or is she working you... what could be
causing her to kick and see if you can't take away
the reason for the behavior— rather than thinking of
doing something to her to make her not kick...no can
do in my opinion.
Good luck,
Marty
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