I have placed 3 of my alpaca patients with our local vocational school animal science program & am donating my veterinary time this year to teach the instructor & students how to care for the animals. It would be terrific to get some supplies & practitioner/apprentice time donated to help them get past their initial negative beliefs & impressions (like they spit for no reason & they don't like people). The school is located in Milford, OH, near Cincinnati (Live Oaks--Part of the Great Oaks Vocational system). These are high school juniors now (about 20 of them) who will be a captive audience until May of 2008; most have no prior exposure to livestock, tho the program also has a few sheep, goats & a mini horse. The instructor has lots of dog/cat knowledge but the livestock were new to her til she started this job 2 years ago--we worked together at a small animal vet clinic so she knew who to call for help. The 3 boys are already halter-trained, pretty easy-going, aged 2 (intact), 8 (intact) & 4 (gelded), but have not had true Camelidynamics work yet. They have Zephyr halters, a walk-on scale that they use for the dogs inside the school, a nice barn with an indoor pen that is too big for catching (2 panels would fix that problem), and a small paddock-large pasture set-up. They also have a dog obedience trainer who is a horse client of mine who uses Pat Parelli's horse methods & has expressed interest in learning about the pacas. I would love to get her more involved with them & even get her to become a practitioner. Anyone interested in helping out please e-mail me at doctor@eastforkmobilevet.com or call the instructor Lisa Erhart directly at the school at 513-612-4970. Helpful supplies right now would be catch ropes & leads, Halter Helpers, hoof trimmers (the metalwork school can keep them sharpened), 2-4 panels for making the 9 x 9 catch pen, Marty's books, CD's & videos, & handling support. Thanks. Dr. Brenda Specht, DVM
