I have been using an adaptation of Karen Overalls relaxation protocol in playing with my llamas. It is a systematic desensitization/ counterconditioning protocol which teaches them that they are rewarded for being calm and standing still. It also is a great way to help them learn to be ok with your approach and with the various ways that humans move. It allows me to work with them in a pen that is larger than ideal (12x12) and to be able to work with mom and cria at the same time and at a pace that they choose. Karen's protocol is a 15 day sequence. In the beginning the dog stays sitting or lying down while the person takes a step to the side and then back and gives a food reward. There are many different activities for each day. At the last one the person can run circles around the dog while clapping, leave the room, answer the door and talk to a stranger (etc.) all with the dog lying calmly and quietly. For the llamas I am using llama and alfalfa pellets in a shallow pan. Mama Grace is of the sort that dissociates when overwhelmed (she had to be carried or dragged into a trailer twice and was an unhandled rescue from an overcrowded herd. She has been here for 5 months). Baby Elizabeth (now 8-9 months old) is the volatile sort that gets explosive when stressed (she had some frightening experiences with being used to try to get her mother to get up, was run down and grabbed in a large field and also a bad experience going bonkers with a rope around her neck--flooding). Here's how it looks at this time: mama is in a halter with the rope coiled up resting on her withers. Elizabeth is standing near by. I Move about 4 feet away and walk back to mama, give her one bite, I walk a couple of steps along her side, walk back and give her a bite, do it again, again. Elizabeth is orienting to the food so I give her a turn. I stand next to her and give her a bite. I put a hand on her back and give her a bite. I stroke her neck once and give her a bite. Grace has been standing waiting. I approach her and give a bite, move to the corner and spin in a circle, go back, give her a bite, move away and wave my arms, come back and give her a bite, run away and run in circles, give her a bite. Elizabeth is orienting again to us so I give her a turn by approaching and giving her a bite. Then putting a short rope across her withers and giving her a bite, stroking her neck twice, and a bite. Touching underneath her neck she snakes her head back and makes a breathy gurgle sound when sniffing the food. She sniffs the food but is not able to eat any. I either wait and breathe until she is able to pick up a pellet and then switch to her mother or I let her sniff the food a moment and go back to working with her mother with steps along side of her. When Elizabeth orients again I go back and do something easier like just standing next to her and giving her a bite. When I began about 2 weeks ago Grace could not eat with the halter on. She would get pointy nosed and her lower eyelid would pull down if I moved away and moved my arm. Now she is eating with the halter on and occasionally takes a step to follow me as i move erratically away. I can walk a circle around her. Elizabeth had settled some after being ignored for the winter and with my behavior being consistently safe around her. With the relaxation protocol she is improving inch by inch in being calm when I touch her and in relaxing about the rope doing different things. She now comes running in the morning when I call them into the paddock for their beet pulp mash. My basic concepts with them are: one llama at a time in the feed pan. Very gradually adding in new levels of difficulty in one area at a time (ie. if I'm moving the rope to a new place I don't try to touch her in a new place at the same time.) if one or the other becomes distracted or is unable to eat I do something else like work with the other one or back up and make it easier. And I encourage them to stand still and in their own space (my criteria is relaxed on this). I'm not sure how many minutes I've been doing but I probably start with about 2/3 of a quart of pellets and we end when we run out.
