Thursday, November 21, 2013

Little Scary

I never thought I would be apprehensive around a llama, but Allbus was a bit scary. I had never seen a llama kick before. Allbus definitely knew how to kick and he was fast. On the plus side, he was pretty small and llamas have soft feet (like the bottom of a dog’s foot). On the other hand, it still hurt to be kicked. He only nailed me once, but that was enough.

I can only suppose that this is the result of never being handled before.

Allbus the day after arrival

While he let me halter him, Allbus did not like to have the rest of his body touched. If I wanted to use him as a packer, then I would have to be able to touch him all over without worry about anything… It did not look like I would be able to use Allbus for packing.

My thoughts were, “I have more llamas than I wanted anyway, so I could just sell him…”

Allbus

…Maybe someone with more experience or someone more interested in his (really soft and silky!) wool would buy him.

Then I thought, “I could probably get more money for him if he was just a bit better trained…”  Thinking

 Allbus

So I worked with him as best as I could. He learned how to enter and exit the trailer easily. He can stay out on a picket line with no problem. I set up an obstacle course for the Boys and he goes over, under and through obstacles without too much trouble. He wouldn’t stand still when it came time to shear him – he obstinately laid down… but he didn’t know that he made things a whole lot easier for me Laughing I worked (cautiously) on getting him used to be touched all over his body. He is still a little touchy about his legs, but the kicking has pretty much stopped. I can pick up and trim the nails on his front feet but he still won’t let me pick up his back feet - but he let me trim his nails while they were on the ground… I’m fine with that for now!

I worked on all this with the goal of being able to sell him and make a little profit.

The more I worked with him, the more he seemed eager to learn new things…

He is now one of my favorites out the bunch and would never consider selling him!

Allbus needs a haircut!

When he went on his first hike off the property, I went with a couple of friends and took Indiana and Dalai with us. He did great.  He did great on a solo hike (just the two of us) along the canal, too.  We’ve gone a few other hikes since - I really think he loves it. I think when he is old enough, he will be a great packer  Happy

Allbus along the canal