Photo used with permission. |
The poop on this page was
last scooped on: 11/5/08
Page design, photos, and written content by Gail Berk. Wallpaper: Tawny's fleece. Materials credit: Mandy Steward. © Gail Berk 2008. All rights reserved. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Chapter 11: Join Us In A Walkabout (Answers To "What's It Like To Own A Llama?") This looks like it's gonna be a long chapter. You might wanna go fix yourself a nice tawny cuppa double chai latte and curl up in a chair and join me on a virtual walkabout. You're excited aren't you? On this particular day, Bucky had an unfortunate and dire incident. One of the farms on our walkabout route acquired three new, but older, calves. Bucky's presence stirred their curiosity and they scuttled to the fence to check him out. Frightful for Bucky. The few cows he's seen never mooved like this. (Typo intentional. I amuse myself.) Later, I talked husband Bob, the photographer, into joining me for the a repeat walkabout. I was hoping he could capture an inevitable hissy fit or two so you would have a better understanding than via my story-telling. I plan to repeat this route several more times until we get past his fear. But with the Buckster, if it's not one thing it's another. This was really scarey for him. This second trip wasn't nearly as bad as the intial one earlier this morning but I'm quite sure the calves weren't as curious about him as the first time. Consequently, they didn't do anything scarey. It was all about Bucky's anticipation this time. |
Dance, Catch, Halter. So we begin with the dance, the catch, and the halter. Not everyone has a llama that puts his handler through hoops but Bucky is one that just doesn't like to be caught so he makes me participate in the catch-me dance until he's ready. Unlike a dog, I can't scold him into knocking this stuff off. And it really isn't abnormal, just understandably undesirable to me. I've never quit without winning which is why it doesn't last but 2-3 minutes so I'll put up with it. Once he's caught he's totally resigned. At least until we get outside the gate. As I've mentioned before, in haltering him all I have to do his hold open the halter and he dunks his head right in. So there are enough good behaviors to outweight his quirky problem behaviors. |
The Walkabout Adventure Begins. So we begin the walkabout. It starts out pretty easygoing. But with Bucky, it's always something. You can see this little buh-dump-BAH in the center photo (reason for the blue monkey drummer). It's what I call it when he does a quick little hop, skip, and jump, then totally regains his composure. It's also what I've described as squirrely. A Buckyism I guess. Most of the time I can't identify the cause. Maybe it's about the blue monkeys on his back. Or maybe it's the wind. Or maybe it's a fly up his nose. In the last photo he starts to anticipate another "BOO!" like he got from the calves earlier this morning and is looking for anything that might be inclined to trick or treat him at the fence line. Nothing here. Not close enough to panic anyway. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Gearing Up Bucky. And lucky you, this isn't half the pictures Bob took of the gearing up. I did include bunches so you could feel like an intimate part of the process though. Too bad, Bob only got one of the reach-unders I'm so proud of. As you can see, there's a lot of back-and-forthing. Bear in mind, if these aren't even half the pictures, you're not seeing even half the back-and-forthings. We'll tack that workout onto the one-mile journey ahead. I do this almost daily, why am I not losing weight? |
Overcoming Cow Fear. We turn the corner and with anticipation of a repeat of the frightful cow experience earlier this morning Bucky tenses up. However, surprisingly, there was not another hissy fit as I expected but rather only caution and concern. The cows weren't as curious this time. Bucky is old news. And I got Bucky back home in once piece. Surely I must be his hero. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Hissy Fit. Look out ahead! There they are! Cows! Not the same cows. Not any cow that was ever curious enough to moove in for a closer view. But they look the same. Therefore, surely they will act the same. Enter hissy fit. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
The Impostors. Here we come to the end of our cow-desensitizing walkabout. I know, this is a familiar picture isn't it? It was quite by accident. Bob was just snapping away with the camera and it struck me giddy when I was reviewing them for posting. |
As I mentioned in The Story of Bucky, I acquired my packing gear from Barb Brady, owner/manufacturer of Llama Hardware. Below is a photo from her website. Barb is "my new best friend" and my llama mentor. I think by now she must be considering Bucky and me a serious pack-team competitor. |
Photo used with permission. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Chapter 12: Smoochies This is what I've been talking about, the smoochies. I'll share some with you. Tawny is the sweetest thing you'd ever wanna meet. Different in every way than Bucky. I'm grateful for the learning experience with the two extremes. I am working on Stand right now. Hopefully she will learn to stand still when I approach her for haltering because the catch-me dance with Bucky is getting old. I worry what she's thinking as she watches so intently while Bucky and I do these dances in preparation for our walkabouts. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Chapter 13: Farm Happenings This morning I walked into the pen, no llamas. I walk out to the pasture, the next logical place they'd be. Here comes Bucky. Tawny usually comes to greet me as well, where is she today? Mild as it was, my first panic thought was, "Did she jump the fence?" This is good because my first thought could have been, "Dead llama?" It's still too soon for panic, there are still some bends to check out. I walked back to the pen and here's what I found. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Click the picture for a larger view. |
Tawny's lead training is going well and I began to focus on the halter. At first, every day I was putting Bucky's halter on over hers. Since I didn't get much resistence to this, I felt confident it was now time to remove her halter from full-time wear. (And finally I can wash the scuzzy looking thing--the halter, we're talking.) She catches without much trouble (nice change). I didn't want to undo the work I've done with Stand by making her compliance end with something she doesn't like so now's not the time to use it for catching purposes. She digs treats and doesn't resist too much when I use the treat-trick for catching. Bucky's onto that one and I half think he enjoys the dance. Or perhaps he thinks he's pulling my chain. Doesn't matter much as long as I win in the end. She accepts the halter easily, though she doesn't dunk her head voluntarily as does Bucky. (See? He's got some perks.) It would be nice, though, because she's much taller than my reach. Tawny and I have been haltering and lead walking for over a week...in the pasture. We are ready for her walkabout debut. Tammie and I have made a date. She's not sure yet who she will bring along but certainly we're looking for a much more stable example to walk with than the Buckster for Tawny's first time out. Stay tuned for this exciting event in the next chapter. |
Chapter 14: Tawny's Walkabout Debut Hiking shoes on and hot to trot, I'm looking forward to a successful first walkabout. Tammie had her girl geared up and waiting for a comrade so off I go to get Tawny. Did my usual Bucky-first greet-n-treat. Tawny was out in left field so I went to greet-n-treat and catch me a walkabout companion. Lovin' the treat, not so much the catch. She tried pulling out of my grip before I haltered her. I hung on. Another attempt, I kept on hangin', and........SPIT. Ackkkkkkk!! What the hay???? (Again I amuse myself with typos.) Somebody snunk into the pen last night and left a stand-in. This ain't my smoochie princess. But then, um, perhaps it's another case of, be careful what you call your critters. Still, I hung on because she wasn't very effective from that angle, I was too close. Or.....perhaps I just didn't realize how much protection I was getting from a visor and sunglasses. She was shootin' straight up in the air. Mindful that Tammie is waiting elsewhere for the walk, I had to surrender this battle. Didn't wanna, but the war is not over kiddo. Looking for pictures? You ain't getting any today so don't ask. I went to tell Tammie that the princess and I were having an altercation and suggested it might be a good idea I walk the Buckster instead and strut by Tawny along the farm perimeter--sort of a spit in the face if you will. Not sure how effective it would be since she doesn't really give a whip when I take Bucky on walkabouts. In fact, she probably appreciates the quiet time. By this time Tammie was having her own not-willing-to-budge problems with Abby so nobody's going anywhere today. I'll just go back in and and see about finishing what Tawny started. I can do this. She was no better upon the re-entry and I was getting mad. Time to withdraw and regroup. I took the rest of the day off to think this through and counsel with the ones-in-the-know. Are you wondering about the spit? It's brought up from the bowels of the stomach so, yes, it's nasty. You wouldn't wanna go anywhere till you showered and changed. But stepping in fresh dog poop, in comparison, is a lot worse. |
Chapter 15: Thoughts And Transgressions Of A Novice Llama Trainer First of all, if you know me at all you know that I believe it is unnecessary to use physical discipline when it comes to animals. But I am SO all about consequences. It's much more effective to outwit, outplay, and outlast. (Okay, that right there was just blatant plagiarism.) So I take a look at what might have brought out the ugly demon so I know what I'm working with and what I'm going to counter-attack. Analyze. 1) Bad hair day? Most times I respect this of an animal and do not persue training this day. I get some kind of win but don't drag out the training as I might otherwise. But at some point, say when it's a day to go on a real pack trip, bad hair days shouldn't mean flip. 2) She's very sensitive? Perhaps my dragging her around the pasture was not a good approach with her in particular. I should clarify that. By draging I mean, we take a few steps (I may or may not have to drag but we take a few steps) and then stop for praise, pets, and smoochies. When I suggested this one to Barb she had a nice label for it. Spoiled. Again with the nickname. Be careful. Learn from my mistakes. 3) Open and hormones are flying high? I'm throwing this word around like I know what it means, like a dog in heat, ready for breeding. To this my mentor Barb tells me about the birds and bees of llamadom. They don't ovulate in a cyclical way. Something the male does triggers it. Could be the ogle sound they make when breeding I'm told. Go figure. So now I have to consider Bucky may have had a successful breeding while he was still within his 30-60 viable days following his castration. Ah,yes, pregnant bitchiness. 4) In pain? Barb says not likely. Tammie says if so she'd be humming. She was not. 5) Adolescent testing? Then I have to get on top of this. 6) And finally, Tammie reports that Bucky kicked the feeder this morning when she walked past with her Abby. (I think she makes this stuff up about Bucky.) Maybe Abby (part of Tawny's original herd) is having an influence on everybody this morning, walking about with her person on a rope. One thing that is certain, she treating me like a llama. It's apparent from this behavior that she has no respect for humans. We will have to go head to head in the pen while Bucky is moved to the pasture and eliminated from the equation. Strategy A. Remove the reinforcement. Continue going about catching and haltering and ignore the spit (I have my visor/sunglasses protective armor). Certainly this will be easier to do when I go in expecting it and don't plan on errands immediately afterwards. Maybe she'll think spitting has no affect on me and give it up (removing the reinforcement). It's a long shot but worth a try. I see several days of this but it's a good strategy. Strategy B: Provide negative consequences. Technique 1: When she spits, I spit back....with something besides spit cuz I can't spit spit that far. Perhaps a mouthfull of unshelled sunflower seeds, something she's not likely to want to eat. A squirt bottle of vinegar water has been suggested. As long as it takes until she stops spitting. End of session. Repeat as many session days as it takes. What I see with this is, I'm acting like a llama and this is precisely why we have this problem, she thinks of me as a llama. Technique 2: Quickly press on the llama's nose so they can't breath for a split second (I'm learning this is a common technique in llama training). Technique 3: Bonk her in the nose with a stick, something like a riding crop which has a leather flap on the end and doesn't carry the risk a stick might. Technique 4: Throw something, such as a rolled up and rubberbanded towel. Animals don't like projectile things. Sure I have a problem with some of these techniques. Especially those in Strategy B. I don't really have so much a problem with the principle of Technique 2 but I wonder how one goes about pressing on a spitting llama nose. If I'm close enough to her to touch her nose, I can't reach it when she's in head-in-the-air, taller-than-you-ha-ha spitting posture. If I'm not that close, how can I reach for her nose without causing her to turn away (missing my timely application). But look, I'm facing a llama that is acting aggresively toward me, a human. I liken the spit to a dog growl. The kick will be the dog bite if it escalates. And that's what acting aggressively towards an aggressive llama just might do. You've heard me say it, aggression feeds aggression. I'm still thinking on this. |
