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last scooped on: 11/9/08
Page design, photos, and written content by Gail Berk. Wallpaper: Tawny's fleece. Materials credit: Mandy Steward. © Gail Berk 2008. All rights reserved. |
Chapter 27: Spit War, Day 10 I went ahead and worked with Bucky first today. Just so he could have his treats out of a non-stinky hand. I threw the lead and missed his shoulders. It landed in front of him and he stopped anyway. This training stuff never ceases to amaze me. So his session was very quick today. Quickly caught, haltered, and led out to pasture so we could strut this in front of Tawny. Then he's set free and given some treats. For Tawny-work I came with additional armor. Large wraparound sunglasses to go over my own. Don't want this nasty stuff getting in around the edges, now that I know she's taking better aim. Tawny has moseyed herself into the pen, so locking Bucky out I'm set for another spitting match. I threw the lead over her shoulder and she danced around the pen a bit. She finally settling in a corner and I approached. I heard her cock it but she didn't fire and she didn't turn away. I hooked on the lead and we walked around the pen three times, 3 or for 4 paces at a time with rewards each time we stop. LOTS of rewards. I want to make it worth her while to cooperate. I'm still hoping for the walkabout this week with Tammie. So I'm happy to say, today there was no spitting. If I had to say why this didn't happen today I'd make a guess and say it was because she didn't like the taste. That is one good training asset to know. |
Chapter 26: Spit War, Day 9 With Visual Lucky you, I brought Cameraman Bob. Now you don't have to use your imagination. You just go on and get your kicks at my expense this time. Both my kiddos greet me for their treats today. I think Tawny is just curious about having the cameraman. Bucky always gets greet-n-treat first because he is the alpha. By the way, we all have noticed in the same recent proximity that the Buckster has done some growing. |
Up next is my work with Bucky. I was anxious for Bob to see how Bucky had progressed with his stopping. And I'm grateful Bob hasn't pooped out on the photo shoot yet. All went well and Bob was impressed with Bucky's improvement. Here you see the first throw was a miss and I had to throw again. The blue monkey tail has to be upon him for this to work. Leading him out to the pasture, setting him free, and then offering a reward treat was how we ended the work for today. Uh, little hangup with the treats though. Bucky refuses. Hmm, must be that llama spit smell where Tawny had noshed her rewards out of same hand. Switching hands for Bucky's treats resolved the problem. Sometimes I have to be reminded that they are very sensitive to smells. Interesting, eh? |
Next I want to work with Tawny before the cameraman poops out. Man was this a spitting match. I discovered two things from reviewing the photos later. 1) She isn't just firing warnings in the air, she is aiming at me. 2) They can SO spit with their head down, much to my dismay. In the center photo you can see her neck cranked around just trying to shoot me in the face. Understandably I react. It's good for me to have an observer coaching me. A reaction is just that and one isn't always aware of it. But once I viewed the photos I see I have a lot of work to do on my own behavior if I'm going to convince her that spitting has no effect. A few times around the pen and lots of incognizant dodging and I finally was able to attach the lead. Listen to me when I say it is very |
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very stressful. And I have to wonder why I let this be so. The spit isn't all that. Spectating his first llama spitting match, Cameraman Bob said she was hardly spitting anything. You coulda fooled me. Can't help reacting. I hear the stuff hacked up and I know she's taking aim. Guess it doesn't help all that much to avoid eye contact. However, once I got the lead attached to the halter the work ahead was as easy as I'd anticipated. Three times around the pen, 3 or 4 steps at a time with rewards at each stop...when I say we stop. |
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Chapter 28: Tawny's First Walkabout and Spit War, Day 11 First of all, I'm not sure if there even is a spit war anymore. I've now worked with her two days in a row without any spit happenings. I know, it's probably premature but I think I'll put this issue to bed unless there's any recurrences. My plan was to get Tawny out on a walkabout as soon as possible. This, I hope, is what will change her attitude about being haltered and led. That's, of course, assuming she enjoys the adventure. Recall Bucky did not. And since Tammie and I are so hit and miss I conned my husband into accompanying Tawny and I by walking Bucky so that Tawny would |
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Chapter 29: Walkabout Alone and Spit War, Day 12 Oh yeah, you heard me. The war continues. But one little spit and it was over. It was a little too soon for her to make the halter/lead association with a walkabout. And honestly, the spitting is not a big deal to me anymore. It was a bigger deal in my mind than it was in reality. I can let her work through this herself ... unless it accelerates. After Bucky's treats he went about his biz in the pasture while I did the spit-and-halter dance with Tawny. As I was walking Tawny out of the gate for the walkabout Bucky came hauling in from left-field. I had to laugh out loud. Did he want to go too? Funny, he's never been noticeably excited about a walkabout before. Did he object that his subordinate was going instead of him? Or did he just not want to be left alone? What does a llama think? Tawny was more cautious today than yesterday on the walkabout. I can't say it surprises me but at least her first experience made her think this is what llamas do. I'd still say she's stable. I wasn't ready to try the route past our familiar farm animals. If she got yippee-kiyay on me like Bucky did yesterday I'm not sure yet if I have the strength to keep her under control. She's a big'un. We're all gaining confidence with each experience together. |
feel like this is what llamas do. Mind you, he's leading Bucky for the first time so it was quite difficult for him to feel comfortable taking pictures. Everything is unpredictable. This is Bucky's first time being led by someone other than me, and of course everything altogether is new to Tawny. The report on Bucky is: he sounded off a couple of alarms at the cows, did a bahdap-bah, and a couple of yippee-kiyay bucks complete with kicks when he walked past his farm buddies back home. Bob did a fine job of restraining him. We had, however, determined it was not the best idea on Tawny's first walkabout to go by the cows, the other ones, the young ones that really cause Bucky some concern. We took a short cut. |
I had no idea what to expect from Tawny but was prepared she'd act like Bucky did his first time out. Well she did fine. Not one fa-reak out like Bucky occasionally does. Bucky ignored my shhhes but Tawny didn't seem to react to his alarms about the cows. She was very alert and curious about everything around her but not at all skiddish like Bucky. At first we followed Bob and Bucky but I can see she's going to be a leader. In fact, I have to put a lid on it when she tries to walk out in front of me. But it's all learning. In the end she proved to be really quite stable. We'll see how she is on a walkabout alone tomorrow. When we returned the true girly-girl came out in her. First thing she had to do was run and tell all the neighbors about her trip. |
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Chapter 30: Spit War, Day 13 I took Tawny out for her third walkabout...but not without mighty spit. Oh she was saving up for today I tell you. But as usual, once she's got the lead attached the fight is over and she is compliant. The photo here I took myself. The camera is pointing at me with Tawny behind me. I could not see the viewing screen so I just did a point and shoot. Not half bad, even though I didn't get myself in the photo so you could see she was actually lurking. We are still taking it easy with the walkabouts. Only walking down the one road and back again. She has concern about a neighboring dog each |
Chapter 31: Spit War, Day 14, New Approach I believe I've given the ignore-the-spit technique a fair trial and have made no significant dent to resign Tawny to playing the game my way. So it was time to regroup and come up with a different plan of action. I bought a gun. A SQUIRT GUN you ninny! I thought it high time I stoop (so to speak) to her level and spit back. And by this I mean squirting vinegar water in her face. This was another suggested technique from tried and true llamafolk I'd added to my list. I decided it had to be a squirt gun I could put in my pocket. Easy access but no a visual cue to tip her off. A visual would only have kept her in check when she knew I was armed. I was anxious to try this technique because I have a good feeling about this one. Well today, at least, it worked. She cocked (I consider that intent) and I fired. She was not expecting this. Gotta laugh outloud about this one. She, in fact, stood still and begged me to hook the lead to her halter. We went on a perfectly good walkabout and had a heart to heart about this. I'm hoping this was a breakthrough. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. It may require another session or two of hidden consequences (squirt) but I do believe this one is the cure. She's not a bad llama you know. She's just a drama queen. And Bucky got a walkabout as well. I got side tracked with the princess this summer so we never made it to the day hike I'd hoped would come about before summer's end. But that's okay, it gives us more time to shop for a trailer. We're going nowhere without a trailer. |
Chapter 32: Spit War, Day 15 Ding, ding, ding, ding. Give that trainer a prize. My friends I do believe we've got ourselves an effective spit-training technique for theTawny spitting fiasco. We'll hold off the prize a little longer but my report after today's session is this. I could tell, ooh did she want to spit. But, too, I could see she was trying hard to restrained herself. What to do, what to do? Spit and get spat upon or wait and test this again another time? She chose the latter and resigned herself to the lead. Certainly I'll give this awhile longer before I say she's over herself but I'm a happy camper for now. There's a chance that while no visual cue that I'm armed *, there is a distinct possibility she could smell the presence of my ammunition *. If I catch on that this is the case I will just switch to |
Chapter 33: Spit War, Day 16 Today I had a very similar day to the last. Tawny wanted to spit at me but, as in the last episode, she thought twice and decided against it. The walkabout had another new barking dog, further reinforcing her fear. She fought harder to get free today than before, giving me a better idea of what I'm up against in restraining her. A lot! I think this one maxed out my strength so I sure hope she doesn't pull any more of these hissyfits. |
Chapter 34: Spit War, Day 17 Aw geez, today Tawny thought twice about spitting but ending up with the wrong decision. I'm sure it was a test to see if I still had my firearms. And I did. She didn't really spit at me, rather she spit in the air and she missed. I hope the miss is significant. Still, I spit back and she immediately kowtowed to letting me do whatever. I guess I should expect the testing to go on the same amount of time it ineffectively took to reach this point. It's a matter of modifying her habitual reaction. |
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time we approach that house. The dog came out and barked at her...once. Bucky knows he can whip the snot out of a dog so he's not too worried. By the way, I also took Bucky for his usual cow-country walkabout following Tawny's. I had an errand to run following the sessions and thought I might slip by without a shower first. So once inside the store I headed straight for the room fresheners and Fabreezed myself. Of course then I had to buy the product. But it saved me a trip home and then back out again. I won't do that again because when I got home to wash my hair as soon as water touched it, it stunk to high heaven. Just thought you'd like to know. |
Chapter 35: Birthday Buckaroo (Also Spit War, Day 18) Today is Bucky's birthday. He's 3 years old now. I was hoping I'd be able to put a hat on him but at the very least I figured I could add it digitally to a photo. Luck was on my side and he was shockingly tolerant of the hat. We even went on a short walkabout around the farm to parade it for Tammie and all the critters. We call him Birthday Buckaroo today. Tawny was exceptional today as well. No spitting. She and I also went on a short walkbout. |
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plain water which should have a similar effect but without the tipoff. And her walkabouts are getting longer and better. Today she met up with the scarey calves and all I got was a little bahdap-bah (this word is not in spell check, nor the dictionary for that matter). And she's much less of a drag on the lead than Bucky. * If you're not following along chapter by chapter, please reference the previous chapter at least. I'm no llama killer. |
Posting birthday photos of Birthday Buckaroo today gave me cause to reflect on the year I've had with him. First he had to endure the trauma of riding in a trailer for the first (and so far only) time for the move to our new home. Till then he'd had very little human contact and no training whatsoever so I had to earn his trust. It took him 5 months before he'd trust eating anything out of my hand. Then I had him gelded. We did towel training, lead training, halter training, and pack training. He went on his first walkabout where we discovered he had some quirky fears. He got a new step-sister. And at the end of our first year journey together I think we have become pretty close comrades. |
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