How often to work on halter training?

[MrsCountryChick]

How often & what length do you work on halter training? When dealing with an adult how long & often should the training be? How long for a cria or older young alpaca? When halter trained how often should they be worked with, so they continue to readily accept a halter & leading?

 

[ksalvagno]

You could work with them daily or every couple days. The length of time depends on how well the training is going. When first starting out, I only do about 5 minutes and then gradually lengthen the time. I have always let the animal give me the cues as to how long to do the training. Make sure you always end it on a good note. CameliDynamics is a really great training technique.

 

[MrsCountryChick]

I Definately want any & all training to be positive. I was just wondering if there was a time period for camelids that even if training is going good that they 'tune out'. Meaning I was wondering if there was a 'golden time period' that was good to stick by. Mine are halter broke, but I wouldn't say mine are fluently halter trained. When we got any of our camelids the previous owners say they're halter trained.... but to me that means you can walk them fluently, not just from pasture to pasture or barn to stall, etc. Even if I'm not needing to lead them anywhere I want them to readily accept a halter to be led when needed. I'm not trying to over train them, I just want them "fully" managable. Isn't that what you other people want with your alpacas? Or am I just wanting to over-manage mine? I mean unless you have a huge herd & individial traning isn't possible. Oh how often is a good time for a refresher training needed? Say once a week giving them some halter time walking, etc okay to keep them used to the level of handling when I have them to the level that I like? Thank Goodness for you Uber Experienced Camelid owners!

Edited: cuz I can't spell, lol.

 

[ksalvagno]

It really depends on what you have the alpacas for. Plus it also depends on how many alpacas you have. Large farms don't have time to train every alpaca to easily accept the halter. Also people who just have breeding females probably aren't going to have them trained to easily accept the halter. But if you have a show animal, then you are going to have them very well trained. It also depends on your definition of easily accepts the halter. I can tell you that that varies widely.

It really doesn't matter how "well trained" you want your animal. It depends on your needs and wants. No wrong answers here.