Although this photo may not look like much, it is actually a major alpaca training success! Please read on for the back story ... When Hawkeye (the black and white Huacaya on the right) came to the our family at the Decatur Alpaca Cottage, we were told that we would never get him to walk on a lead. For years our experience with him proved this out ~ when asked to walk on a lead, with even the slightest and most gentle of pulls on the lead, Hawkeye would cush to the ground in a most dramatic way. It was so dramatic, that the first time he did this alpaca-collapse I was terrified and thought we needed to rush him to the veterinarian! Come to find out, he was totally fine but just didn't know how to walk on a lead. At. All. Enter Marty McGee Bennett, her trust-based training approach of Camelidynamics, and my local training mentor, Tracy Munroe and everything changed! For the very first time in his life, Hawkeye walked on a lead!!! Continuing his training takes a lot of patience, a good bit of trust building, and time, but Hawkeye is now making steady progress ... all based on trust and love.
