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By Cathy Spalding
www.gentlespiritllamas.com
www.gentlespiritalpacas.com

Born "Friendly"

Hi Cathy,

I have a question please. We have a two week old male cria that came out of his mom extremely FRIENDLY. He will bite our clothing and follow us around. He wants to come up to everyone and he will get very close and pull clothing and “talks” all the time. His mom and dad are both very laid back llamas. His mom has lots of milk as he weighed  21 at birth and at two weeks he weighs 35. He will bite on everything, wood, water bucket,  pulls on the blankets we have in the barn.  We have a 5 week old male cria and a one week old female cria. They all play. He is VERY active and jumps on his mom and the male cria all the time to play.

We don’t want to do the wrong thing with him. What advice do you have for us.

Thanks, Judy

Hi Judy,

Regards your little male... unfortunately, these very friendly little ones -- who are just born that way -- can harbor the same potentials as one that has been inappropriately and/or over handled. While it is so tempting to engage him, the best thing to do is to minimize your interactions and set boundaries. Set the boundaries now for his behavior and invasion of your space just as you would for one that was inappropriately handled or who had necessarily needed to be extensively handled due to medical or some other reason. When he gets too close or nibbles on inappropriate things like your clothing, set boundaries. You may initially need to gain his attention by a little flick on the nose and a firm "stay back." He should begin to understand and to respond appropriately in fairly short order. The key is to remain consistent. He cannot nibble on the clothing of one and be told to stay back by another. He is either allowed to nibble on clothing or he is not. As he becomes old enough, training will be a valuable lesson for him. Obstacle work would be helpful in providing him opportunities to listen, problem solve and gain confidence. These little guys may not be actually what we term as friendly but rather, very insecure. Interestingly enough, these personality types can often be more difficult to train. Why? Because they are not truly what we had viewed as easy and friendly but rather are confused, insecure and frightened. When he approaches people, is his tail up over his back? Is he humming? Is his head often lower to the ground or raised higher to look into your face? These behaviors likely indicate he is insecure and he is also asking questions -- all manner of questions around where the boundaries are with you -- with two legged's. As a side note, notice a baby approaching his mother to nurse. Often the posturing and vocal will be quite similar. He is asking mom if he can nurse.

Wishing you the best, Cathy

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