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Richard Galloway
Do you have a llama in your pack string who not only jumps a puny trickle of water, but launches like he has retro rockets under his packs? One of my llamas, McCloud, used to be a jumper, but I found a way to ground him. I had already tried several different methods to break him from jumping-walking up shallow, fast moving creeks for what seemed like miles; holding the lead short; crossing wide creeks that took more than one leap and various other methods-all with little or no change. I was at wit's end as how to stop the jumping.
That was when I was told of yet another sure-fire method. I was to find a river or other body of water that was at least deep enough to be halfway up the llama's side and too wide for him to jump.
I chose a local river that I knew was about waist deep and warm enough to be comfortable so I could stay in for as long as I would need to make the llama understand what I wanted of him.
The first
trip into the water brought on the usual reaction from McCloud: brace all feet
and refuse to enter the water. When it again became apparent that was not going
to work, he came forward-under protest and with a final, high-footed dance-into
the water. (On smaller streams, he usually does the launch-style jump for the
far side.) Once in the water, he was unhappy about being there and showed his
mood by putting his ears down and threatening to spit at me. Fortunately, all
my llamas seem to understand the warning, "Don't you even think about it!"
After
he spent only a few minutes in the water, McCloud's ears started to come up
and he walked up the stream with me with only a little resistance on the rope.
At this point, I led him out of the water and let him have a few bites of grass
on the bank as a reward for what he had accomplished. The next trip into the
water was done with a light pull on the rope from my end and a few high steps
from his. Once in the water, he calmed down and seemed to be enjoying the cool
water on his belly. We walked up the river for fifty or sixty yards before coming
back out to the bank for more grass.
The third
trip into the water was done with only slight pressure on the lead rope. He
just walked right behind me like he does on the trail. No laid back ears, no
high stepping, and no threats to spit-he just walked right in like he had never
had a problem with water crossings. This time I searched for and found a deeper
hole that put water most of the way up his side. His only reaction was to stand
and watch my kids wade by, upstream from us. The ears were up, and he seemed
to have his normal, happy disposition back.
We were on the bank, drip drying before loading up for the trip home, when my nine-year-old son came along to ask me about something. I gave him the rope and had him lead McCloud into the river. There was no hesitating at all when they came to the water, but then my llamas usually do things for my kids that they won't do for me.
As a follow-up
to this training, we made a trip to a local creek that is both shallow and narrow
enough to be jumped to test how much McCloud had retained from the first session.
The method seems to have done its job with excellent results. McCloud walked
into the water with no problems at all as long as the banks were rocky or grassy.
I did have a minor problem when we came to a small crossing where the banks
were flat but muddy. At this point, he did jump, although just enough to get
to the dry ground on the far side. In the past when he jumped a stream, it was
as far and as high as he could go with the load he had on. I believe that he
jumped this time because he shares all llamas' dislike of soft ground, and not
because his old habit of jumping all streams had returned. We even found a few
deeper channels where he was up to his belly in the water. His only reaction
was to sample the weeds hanging down from the bank.
On the return trip up the stream, my wife, Lynn, hooked McCloud's lead rope to my male Springer Spaniel, Remington, and both animals walked back and forth across the water for a hundred yards or so to the llama trailer with no problems at all. They even both went the same way around the bushes. Not at all what I expected to happen!
Even though I have had llamas for several years now, I am still amazed at how easily they learn new things and the way they seem to be willing to give up on old ideas, unlike most humans I know.
I just wish all animals were as easy to train as my llamas have been. They seem to live up to a theory I was told at the Western Idaho Llama Association meeting: "You have only to show a llama something three times, and he will know how to do it." So if you have a "jumper" in your string, try this method-you may be pleasantly surprised.