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Stephanie Williams
- Female
- East Haven, CT
- United States
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Stephanie Williams's Discussions
Finding the right treat for clicker training
1 Reply
Started this discussion. Last reply by Nina Faust Jun. 4, 2009.
Introductions
Replied Mar. 29, 2009
Introductions
3 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Stephanie Williams Mar. 29, 2009.
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Hi Stephanie,
It took a while for Canela to accept the chopped up carrots. Gypsy liked them right away. I offered them to him several times but he turned them down. I give them zinc in the morning in their individual frisbees with a little bit of ni…
What kinds of treats do you give your alpacas, and how did you get them to try it the first time? I have a companion female that I want to clicker train, and she loves grain, but isn't interested in carrots. I'm going to try apples, but I'd like som…
Hi Nina,
Actually one of those animals is mine. I board my alpacas. Those animals are are all on her natal farm. I just moved her to my boarding farm two weeks ago. That's why I haven't worked much more with her on haltering with the stress of the m…
Hi Stephanie,
I see you have all shades of brown! How is it going with the haltering? My fawn colored one, Canela, is being a big help with haltering by going into the training pen on command. I am so loving that! We did it last summer and he rememb…
You are my alpaca training hero! I would love to know more about how you got your boys to accept the halter so calmly, and how you taught Gypsy to pick the halter up. You have the kind of relationship with your animals that I would love to cultivate…
Profile Information
- How many alpacas do you own?
- 1-5
- What is your farm name?
- Charter Oak Alpacas
- What is your name?
- Stephanie
- Where is your farm located?
- I board with Olde Spring Alpacas in Killingworth, CT
- How long have you been raising alpacas?
- 6 months
- What kind of alpacas do you raise?
- Huacayas
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Comment Wall (6 comments)
- At 1:30am on June 4, 2009,
Nina Faust said…
- Let me know if that works finally. Alpacas are sure fussy about their food, but once they catch on, you have to make sure they don't turn into greedy little beasts. I am always willing to take a step back if something does not work. Since I really believe in the positive approach, I am always thinking about what I may be doing wrong in not communicating to the animal. The other thing is, animals are somewhat like people in that they too have good and bad days. Sometimes I can go out with the intention of putting on the halters to take them out to walk and graze and despite all the training, they will want no part of it. I will get the run around, every avoidance trick in the book. This does not happen often, but I chalk it up to something bothering them. If I look closely at their behavior, I sometimes will see their noses flaring and their ears alert. That is when I think--oops, predator, maybe a bear in the area. If they are that upset about things, I can wait a bit or take them into the barn where they feel more secure and will let me put the halters on. Because of living in Alaska with bears, I do pay attention to what the boys may have to tell me. Twice last summer, we avoided two bears because I listened when they balked and got upset about going forward down the field. In my book, they have the last word in where we go.
Nina
- At 1:03am on June 2, 2009,
Nina Faust said…
- Hi Stephanie,
It took a while for Canela to accept the chopped up carrots. Gypsy liked them right away. I offered them to him several times but he turned them down. I give them zinc in the morning in their individual frisbees with a little bit of nice hay, so I started slipping the carrots in there. Then I tried them again as treats. He finally started eating them from the frisbee. Once he crunched one and learned they tasted good, he became an eager carrot lover.
By the way, I had an interesting glich in Canela's haltering acceptance. He started turning his head away when I offered the halter and learned he could avoid haltering altogether. After he did that to me twice, I thought, this is interesting, now what? I got my lead rope out, draped it over his back, and did the quick catch so I could hold him with the rope. We went back to the earlier training with this. What I actually learned is that after we did this a few times, I tried a slightly different approach and now he is very accepting. I stroke his neck with the back of my hand now, put the halter in front of his face and he now puts his nose in it willingly and I can reach around to the other end and then fasten it. So the one step back brought us to a better place!
Nina
- At 2:07pm on April 18, 2009,
Nina Faust said…
- Hi Stephanie,
I got my two fellows as pets, no other reason. So, they get a lot of attention and training. I have had Gypsy 5 years, Canela 2. I started out the haltering process in a small training pen or in the barn using the Camelidynamics approach with a wand to catch them easily around the neck, then using that catch rope to make a simulated halter so they could get the feel of the halter over their noses. I then did the suggested conditioning to the halter by making it really big and easy to put over their noses and used some grain as an reward in a frisbee on the other side of the halter. But one of the most important things I have done over time is made it a bit of a game with clicker training of just holding the halter up and letting them put their nose in it, then clicking that behavior. Now I just hold the halter up and say, "Put your nose in it," and when they do, I say, "Good boy," and give them a little piece of cut up carrot. Canela is still not at Gypsy's level. He was doing really well for a while when we had lots of snow and he had no where to go, but now he is back to playing hard to get. I don't play his game though. I have two options--one take him in the barn and soon, tell him to go in his little outdoor pen (snow is almost gone). Once in the pen or barn, I work on standing still. Once he stands still for me, I can run the back of my hand down the side of his neck, tell him what a great fellow he is, then use a V-hold on the back of his neck, making sure not to take my hand over the center line of the back of his neck, and slip his halter on, no fuss, no muss. He is really nose sensitive though, so I have to make sure his halter is properly adjusted and snug so there is no chance it will slip down his nose.
Gypsy learned to pick up the halter, like most of his tricks or agility abilities, with clicker training, which relies on you breaking down the task you want done into small steps. Check out the discussions on clicker training and pen enrichment at these two addresses to find out more:
Clicker Training: http://www.camelidynamicsguild.com/guildForum/showthread.php?t=1039&highlight=Clicker+training
Pen Enrichment:
http://www.camelidynamicsguild.com/guildForum/showthread.php?t=372&highlight=Pen+enrichment
Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, let me know. I think alpacas are really cool pets!
Nina
- At 8:38pm on March 11, 2009,
Nikki Brown said… - HI there! Welcome to the Club! Nice to meet you!
- At 11:18pm on March 3, 2009,
Maryann Marsh said… - Welcome to alpaca social!!! Nice to see a farm from Conn.! Born and raised and still have family up your way!
- At 10:13pm on March 3, 2009,
Tracey Koehler said… - Hi Stephanie, I want to be the first to welcome you to the site. Looking forward to getting to know you better. This is a super group of people.
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