So much to do!

I have been busily crafting away on my soaps and knitted/crocheted products to get ready for the holiday season!! There never seems to be enough time between online updates, listing products at my store and etsy and eBay, not to mention Twitter, and Facebook and not to mention taking care of the animals (feed, poop clean up, herd health) training with Camelidynamics. Whew - I am tired just typing it all!!!

On top of all this - I am now helping even more people train their animals, helping Marty with basic clinics, and showing !

I recently returned from another advanced clinic in Oregon with Marty and have just a few items to go in order to be a full fledged Practitioner. This should be all done by mid-September. I will now be able to host small groups to help them train llamas/alpacas with respect and kindness! I am very excited!

I will be planning a group session at my farm after Open Farm days - so if you are interested - please let me know!!

Thats all for now - I have much crafting to do !

Camelidynamics Advanced Clinic June 2009

I got back from Bend, Oregon about 6 weeks ago after attending another exciting, fun filled learning experience at Marty McGee-Bennett's Ranch. I am going back to Bend on Saturday Aug 8th for another clinic so that I can become a Certified Practitioner of Camelidynamics. Currently I am a Certified Handler/Apprentice Practitioner.

The clinic in June helped me to learn a few key things . . .

1. if you don't practice you don't get better
   
2. each animal needs to be approached anew with no preconceived notions of how he/she will act or react
   

Point number 1 stresses the fact that you have to be working with your animals everyday and with different techniques, not necessarily for them, but for you. I often avoid the rope and wand technique because I like to use the mid-line catch. Typically 95% of my animals allow this, are comfortable with it and it is easy for both the humans and the alpacas/llamas. However, there are a few animals that would really benefit from the rope and wand, so after I left the June advanced clinic, I made it a mission to practice this technique on my farm, more for me to hone my skills as I advance in the practitioners program rather than for the alpacas, although they have also greatly benefited.

Point number 2 stresses that just like humans, camelids are all different, with different experiences and different personalities. While at the June advanced clinic, there was a llama that was labeled as difficult by her owner, and one of the practitioners in the clinic approached the llama with this in mind. She made some errors in judgment and was unable to effectively work with this llama. What that taught me was to approach each animal with a blank slate and bring with you all your "tools" to handle whatever situation arises. Sometimes animals take to a halter immediately and walk like they have been in the show ring a hundred years. Some animals take much more practice before you can even approach them with the halter. This is where you need to be experienced in ALL the Camelidynamics techniques so that you can switch approaches quickly.

Take each lesson as an experience and remember that even though you may have haltered, led and shown hundreds of animals, this may be their first time and they can be reacting out of a place of fear. If they are young, go slow as this is new to them and they may be fearful. If they are older and were not raised on your farm, they could have had bad prior experiences which makes them fearful.

Some tips to remember:

• Remain calm
  
• Do things safely (for both you and the animal)
• If something isn't working, change techniques
• Take a "blank slate" in the pen with you when you are working with a new animal, making no assumptions about how this animal is going to react. Make no assumptions about the animal even if the owner thinks he/she is difficult
  
• Don't make initial sessions long, especially with young animals 5 - 15 minutes is sufficient, if a first lesson with a weanling - keep it short
• Don't start training on animals younger than 5 months of age - they mentally aren't ready, it is a world of difference training a 5 month old versus a 7 month old
  
• End on a positive note - have the animal do something that will allow them to feel like they succeeded. For example - if they have been doing well standing still and allow you to approach them but don't quite have down walking . . . then end with standing still. This will allow your energy of "good boy" to radiate to them and they will know that training isn't so scary!
• Get help - if you are having trouble - get help. Feel free to look on my website about Camelidynamics and reach out to me if you need help, either myself or one of the other practitioners will be more than happy to work with you and your camelid !!

To read more about Camelidynamics and how a handler/practitioner may help you - click here.

To get Marty's book which I highly recommend - look to the top right of my blog and purchase it.

A Camelidynamics Success Story - Jimmy Mac

To the left - Jimmy at the show 11/23/08
To the right - Jimmy as a cria Jan 2007

Alma Park Jimmy Mac was one of the cutest crias we ever had with his heart shaped nose and big personality, but he was a naughty boy. He did not like to get shots or touched or much of anything. I thought for sure he was not a show prospect in attitude alone. He did have all the other hallmarks of doing well at a show (confirmation, head, fiber etc). He is late to mature (small for his age)- but I thought, lets get him out there and see how he does.

We halter trained him as a cria - but he liked to jump around and do this funny thing with his neck that made him look like a camel. So about 4 weeks before the show - Laura and I decided to start sessions with him once a week and this would include taking him and a friend out of the barn for a walkabout on the farm. He looked around alot, stopped at the fence to check out the girls and thought the ducks were going to kill him, but all in all, he was slowly getting better.

I did nothing with him a week prior to the show and did not mess with him at all before his class. I see some folks endlessly walking around their animals before the show and I think it can make them tired and cranky. The morning that we had to load up, I put his halter on and walked him to the trailer. Of course he did not want to jump up, so my husband picked him up and loaded him into the trailer. He and his buddy and several other hummed, but eventually settled down and we were off to the show.

We arrived at the show and walked the boys in, of course Sebastian is easy to handle and stood there regal and distinguished. Jimmy Mac as soon as we stepped foot into the show arena, stood proud, posing with an attitude of "yeah, that's right, look at me !" This was quite a transformation. He was like a little man. He behaved very well in the show ring for both me and Laura and took a fifth place in his class, mostly due to his smaller stature. He made me proud of him and the way he behave the whole weekend. He had his father's attitude of calm confidence and never did the neck thing.

He is now settled in back at the farm and acting like a goofy teenager - but I know he will be a well behaved little gentleman at the spring shows.

So I tell you all - if you have a juvenile or yearling that behaves naughty at home, that is not necessrily the way they will act off the farm. Take a shot - they may just surprise you.

Marty and Me

When I was in Oregon at the advanced clinic, a very talented group of folks attended with me. Not just alpaca talent, but music talent. Here is the clip to the video Jen wrote and performed for us. We were all amazed and loved every second of it.

I learned alot about animals but also feel I made some good friends when I was there . . .

Click here to watch