Training Llamas

Llamas, especially male llamas, are both easy and difficult to train. It is very easy to train llamas to do things that they were developed to do. It can be tricky to train them to do something that "doesn't make sense" to them.

People often express interest in getting a female llama, as they assume that this will be the easier animal to get along with (compared to a male llama). In fact, it is just the opposite. This may be because the South Americans traditionally have used males for work; those that weren't suitable, were eaten sooner (that is, there was a powerful selection for smart, willing animals). Female llamas have been left pregnant and in the field. Female llamas just haven't got much of an interest in going along with human plans. It's not that they are nasty about it; they just don't care. We were very surprised by this attitude about llamas (and were sure that is was in error -- that was before we spent a couple of weeks training young male llamas and several months attempting to train some young female llamas to anything approaching the same level).

All llamas should be halter trained, regardless of sex or disposition. This is both for your comfort and for theirs. If a llama is injured or ill, you should be able to put a halter on it and lead it from the field, without frightening it and stressing it further by trying to put a halter on it for the first time.

How do llamas learn?

Quickly.

They seem to have a weird body-to-brain relationship to training. That is, if I can physically push a llama through an obstacle three or four times, the llama seems to say "oh, so that is what you want me to do -- no problem!" However, if you aren't physically strong enough, or you are uncomfortable with being that forceful, there are definitely other methods.

Books, video tapes, and clinics are all available from these llama trainers:

  • John Mallon (Mallon Method)
  • Marty McGee (CAMELIDynamics, evolved from TTEAM training)
  • Bobra Goldsmith (videos only)
  • Jim Logan (Click and Reward for llamas) (videos, private clinics, Washington area only)

To "kush" or not to "kush"

Tom and I train many of our male llamas to "kush", or lie down on command. There is some controversy in the llama community about this, as some people think that this should not be trained, as it would encourage the llama to "refuse" to do things by lying down. In fact, this has not been our experience. (Furthermore, it seems silly to us. Llamas already know how to lie down -- they do it voluntarily many times a day.)

What "kushing" allows us to do is:

  • When we had a short break while hiking, we would ask all of our llamas to kush. If a llama was tired, it would remain lying down until we started again. If it wasn't tired, it would stand up again, which was fine. It just makes sure that they get a chance to rest. Before doing this, we found that, just about the time we were ready to start, the tired llamas would have just laid down. Thus they wouldn't get enough time to rest.
  • If a young llama is a bit on the excitable side, if you can ask it to kush and stay lying down for just a few minutes, it seems to have a tranquilizing effect.
  • If you have a very dominant (and domineering) male llama, teaching him to kush will induce a more respectful attitude.
  • If I am in a PR situation with lots of toddlers, I will ask my llama to kush. Then the kids can rush the llama without grabbing him on the legs and knees.
  • If a llama needs to be tranquilized, having the llama kush first prevents the collapse of the llama to the ground. Vets tend to be very impressed with this aspect of llama training.
  • And best of all: if you are packing, it is wonderful to have the llama kush -- either to load or unload. It means that you aren't slinging up a heavy pack, somehow balancing it while you attach it to the pack (which will usually start shifting if it's the first part of the load). So it is easier on both llama and handler.