Alpacas are all individuals. They don't all act the same way and it is not useful to treat them all the same as we work with them. One technique might offer the perfect solution for one animal and be totally ineffective on another. The best of all possible worlds is to have lots of tools and techniques available to you. On the other hand as a person who teaches people how to handle and train alpacas I do find it helpful to categorize animals so that I can help their owners cope with them. There are distinct classes of difficulties and one of the most common is the problem import. These animals develop a myriad of behavioral patterns as they deal with the challenges inherent in making their way around the world.
Imported animals must cope with confinement for up to months at a time. They are taken away from a familiar environment and faced with total change of everything from their pasture mates to the food they eat. They must live in close quarters with very little to do. They are poked and prodded and tested by people that may very well be short on experience with camelids and that have a schedule to maintain. Since most if not all of these animals don't know how to lead and have been in a herd their whole lives they are often dragged from around the head when it is necessary to move them. Having said that, not every import comes out the end of the tunnel a screaming mee-mee. In my experience difficult animals are usually born difficult. Difficult animals are usually very bright or very not so bright. They may have trouble figuring out what is wanted or they may use their extra intelligence to subvert what they know is expected.
Camelids are proud, dramatic and oppositional and like their kindred spirit -cats- they hate to be restrained. They don't like to be controlled and don't feel safe unless they can get away. The process of importation is for many their worst nightmare. They develop coping mechanisms to help with their situation. These coping strategies may include screaming, spitting, kushing, or all of the above. These behaviors may accompanied by involuntary loosening of the bowels and or bladder.Often these difficult imports appear so distressed by any handling that owners will decide that the best course of action is to leave them alone. But can we leave an animal in our care alone? Alpacas must be wormed and vaccinated. Toenails must be trimmed and we must help them if they are wounded or in the case of pregnant females if they have a difficult birth. We simply cannot leave them alone. Alpacas do not distinguish between halter training sessions and a rectal exam or shots. Every time we are with our animals our behavior forms their attitude about us. Well intentioned owners feel they are giving their difficult imported animals a big break by leaving them alone as much as possible, only handling them when it is necessary for herd management chores. From our point of view these imported alpacas are getting a 360 day vacation-they should be grateful and like us for that big break! The alpaca doesn't see it that way. From your alpacas point of view -The only time a human has anything to do with me it is unpleasant and stressful. This is just what they experienced from humans in during the importation process the only difference is frequency. In their experience humans never just take you for a walk or rub your neck or scratch your back they always do annoying unpleasant things.
In my opinion it is even more important to spend time with imports doing things that ease the fear and create a different kind of expectation. It is also very important to do your very best to accomplish herd management tasks in the easiest, least invasive way possible and to minimize restraint when ever you can.
My whole training and handling program is designed to meet these needs. It is not possible in this column to go over all the methods and techniques I use to accomplish herd management tasks with a minimum of hassle for you and your alpacas imports included. I have covered other aspects of handling and management in other columns and will continue to do so. In addition, this information is available in many formats - books, videos, my website and best of all clinics. My techniques benefit all alpacas but are especially useful when rehabilitating difficult imports.What I will address in this column are problem solving techniques for the most common behavioral problems associated with imports as they do have some unique issues.
Imagine as you look at your alpaca that he or she has a control panel just like the dashboard of your car. There are certain buttons you can choose to push or NOT. When you push these buttons you will get very predictable results, just as you do when you turn your windshield wipers on or toot your horn. Difficult imports come equipped with a scream button, a kush button and a spit button. Most people want to avoid these behaviors but do not understand what they are doing to push the buttons. If you push buttons the behaviors happen just as surely as if you had tooted the horn.
CATCHING THE IMPORT: Changing the way you catch your import is the first best way to avoid all the unpleasant buttons. Your import is expecting to be cornered grabbed held and perhaps dragged and responds by screaming, spitting or kushing. By catching your alpaca differently you avoid pushing these buttons as well as the unwanted behaviors.
Herd your import and another calm alpaca friend into a catch pen (10 x10 or 9X 9 feet square is ideal) Get yourself a wand, or pole or light weight herding tool (about 4 feet long) and tie a lightweight rope (about 10 feet long) to it. You are going fishing for alpacas. Maintain your body position behind the eye of the animal and in the center of the pen. Raise your rope up and over the alpaca you intend to catch and simply guide the rope over the head.
Catching your nervous import with a rope tied to a wand is a great way of making catching less frightening.
Once you have both ends of the rope you untie the wand and you have caught your alpaca. I know this might seem cumbersome but so it taking a shower every time you catch your alpaca. It has been my experience that if you use this technique for catching difficult alpacas, they will very quickly begin to stand quietly and allow you to simply walk up and slip a rope around their neck. With this method you need not corner them (very scary) and you can simply help them stand still with the rope as you walk up to them.
How you respond with the rope once you have it around the neck is your next opportunity to avoid the dreaded buttons. Use your rope to help keep the alpaca in balance over all four legs particularly the front legs.
 Notice that in the first photo the alpaca is not using the rope for balance in the second photo the alpaca is using the rope for balance. The secret to working with difficult alpacas is to teach the alpaca to stand in balance without leaning on the rope.
An animal standing in balance feels more in control and safer particularly the difficult imported animal. Use the rope to give a series of signals each with a distinct release until your alpaca is standing next to you with slack in the rope.
It is now appropriate to proceed to haltering. As you halter give the alpaca more room than you normally do. Most people are in the habit of pulling their alpacas up close as they put the halter on. Try giving your alpaca almost the full length of your arms instead. In this way you will be able to see your alpacas feet and can tell if the animals is standing in balance.
SPITTING: To be sure it is unpleasant to be spat on. On the other hand the imported alpaca has developed the spitting habit probably for good reason. Yelling, hitting, spraying with water, or spitting back may temporarily suppress the behavior but is probably not the best way to change your alpacas mind about people over long haul.
The catching method outlined above in my experience eliminates most of the problem as spitting is usually a response to being cornered. This method will also allow you to control the head early on in the catching and haltering process and turn the head away from you if the spitting persists. I think turning the head is all that is appropriate in terms of a direct response to the behavior. If you engage in very intermittent eye contact and remember to breathe it will help greatly. Let go of thoughts like "Don't you dare!" Thoughts like this will be reflected in your body language and your alpaca will react negatively.
SCREAMING: It is my theory that alpacas learn to scream as a way of coping with extreme unpleasantness. When an alpaca is screaming it is the most immediate and only thing that is going on. The screaming literally drowns out every thing else. As with any behavior it begins for a reason but once it becomes habit the behavior may no longer have relevancy to a new situation. We must find a way to change the habit. Using the catching techniques outlined above you should see a lot of the screaming disappear. However if your alpaca still screams as you proceed to the halter you may find it helpful to gently but firmly close the mouth. Be sure if you do try closing the mouth that you use your thumb up very high on the bridge of the nose - close to the eye.
Gently closing the mouth of a "screamer" will allow the animal to find out that it is possible to accept handling without the distraction of screaming.
In this way you will not compromise the animal's airway. Once the alpaca has settled down a bit gradually loosen the pressure and see what happens. Speak soothingly as you work. Closing the mouth will stop the screaming enough to allow the alpaca to realize that you aren't hurting her. Don't expect this technique to work if you are doing something unpleasant -however it still may help during a rectal exam or other unpleasant procedure to close the mouth periodically.
KUSHING: Perhaps the most frustrating and difficult problem import to deal with is the one who refuses to remain standing. These animals will kush at the proverbial drop of a hat. The catching advice above may help with this problem as well... but how in the world do you get them to lead when they drop like a pole axed mule every time you ask them to take a step?
The key to solving this problem is to change the picture that your alpaca sees. In this case the KUSH button is a human within six feet and a little constant pressure on the head. BOOM down we go. In order to change this picture for your alpaca use a much longer lead. I like a lead about 17-20 feet long and make sure to use the whole thing. Practice initial leading sessions in a small paddock ideally an aisle way that is longer than it is wide.
Leading with a long lead will transform a kusher to a leader in a very short time. Make sure to use the full length of the rope, work in a long narrow pen and use very light signals.
This helps you avoid the human within six feet down I go button. As your import realizes that it is possible to remain standing with a lead rope on you can gradually move closer and lead at a more convenient distance. MAKE ABSOLUTELY sure that the halter you are using fits. Most alpacas halters are prone to slip down the nose bone. Tighten the crown piece of the halter more than you would normally even at the risk of feeling it might be a bit too snug. The halter should fit right up by the eye.
 Compare the way the halter fits in these two photos. A well fitting halter is crucial in creating a feeling of safety and trust.
This is the safest place and your alpaca knows it. If your alpaca feels like the halter is going to slip this will also push the KUSH button. If you have one, use a halter with rings on the nose band and attach the lead to the side instead of under the chin. Pressure under the chin raising the nose and dropping the back and encourages resistance ...you got it pushes the kush button. Leading from the side ring feels different and different is good.
The second half of the answer is to use very VERY VERY LIGHT NON CONSTANT signals on the lead. Pretend you have balloons under your arms and eggs in your hands. If your alpaca does kush resist the urge to pull on his or her head. Make sure you are using the full length of the the lead and put total slack in the lead rope. Don't stare. Stand at an angle to the alpaca not directly in front and count to thirty potatoes! That's right one potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, it will take all of a whole minute and I bet that your alpaca will be up before you get to fifteen. Your import has been rushed and dragged and pushed and pulled you are not going to fix this problem with more of the same. Have some patience. A minute is not really very long. As you work with your imports remember that TRUE INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECTING TO GET DIFFERENT RESULTS. If you keep pushing those buttons you will keep getting the behaviors that go with them. Time spent with these animals is not a waste of time and will benefit both you and your alpaca. Working this way with your difficult animal will make you a better handler and trainer and your effort will change the mind of a troubled animal.
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