Earleville, Maryland, USA
sweetbriar@dol.net
410-275-2094
www.alpacateacher.com/alpacateacher.com.html
Soon after my husband Bob and I decided to purchase our first alpacas, I read a book which would eventually change my life.
Enchanted as we were by the animals themselves, we were uncomfortable with the handling methods we encountered at some of the farms we visited. I had trained dogs and horses for most of my life; these timid creatures, however, obviously required a different set of skills, and I determined to find it.
And there it was, in The Camelid Companion, just released and making absolute, beautiful sense. By the time our first girls arrived a week later I had committed much of the book to memory and Bob had built a catch pen. The techniques did, indeed, work! In addition, I had discovered that the author, Marty McGee Bennett, taught clinics at which one could learn them.
Since then I've attended clinic after clinic, year after year. Marty is constantly polishing the methodology, and I have been determined not to miss anything. At the same time I've been spreading the word among my llama and alpaca-owning friends. Eventually Marty announced that she was developing a practitioner program. The four-day advanced trainings in Bend have been incredible: watching and learning from Marty, sharing ideas with other students, refining my skills. Teaching my own Camelidynamics workshops, moreover, being able to share with others the training I've been lucky enough to acquire, is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Thank you, Marty.
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