Hi there all I was hoping to glean some wisdom from those with more experience than I... I have two geldings to ease into this new "hobby" of mine...Ancient Andean names Inti and Quilla (say Kia or just Q) which mean sun and moon...they are both 2 years old this month, gelded before purchase 10/31/2012. About a week after arriving, Q started to spit at Inti whenever Inti happened to brush up against him. It has progressed to Q seeming to "wait" for Inti to get close enough, gargling and spitting, leaving many green stains on Inti's blond fleece as proof. Inti's stress lines around the eyes are a bit worse and sometimes he won't take treats from my hands if Q is too close. They came from a farm here in Ecuador with over 700 animals. No human contact except for being chased then grabbed by the ears while procedures were done on them. Q cannot be trained in the catch pen alone, he keeps his head down and hums the whole time. If they are both in the catch pen at the same time, however, Q is constantly spitting at Inti and it's a miserable time for all. (I have been able to sneak in some TTouches to the jaw and top of the head but nothing more and certainly not their ears!!) So, they are not harness trained, either, although they will stick their noses thru the harness to get to the pellets. For the first several weeks, each day showed a tiny bit of trust entering our relationship, but no more progress in the past few weeks since all of this drama seemed to intensify. I've been opting to do less training with them than more, because it seems to cause such stress. I'm not submissive with them, I have 6 dogs and am alpha enough with them to see the evidence it works, it's just that they on our property now, with a house and noises and such, instead of isolated in the wild Andes mountains so I've been very slow in introducing more new things to them. (Lights and glass windows of our sheds really freaked them out at first) It would be very "easy" for me to trade Quilla in for a more submissive alpaca, a potential better match for Inti. I'm just not sure I can expect any different dynamics from a herd of only two. It would be a hassle to trade him, so I'm not pushing for that as the solution, yet I also am responsible for giving BOTH of them a happy, healthy life, right, and if Inti's health suffers from the stress, that is NOT good...HELP! Confused in Cuenca, Ecuador
