Aggressive Llama

[Lisa Armstrong]

I have 3 castrated males. Oscar, who is 10 years old and impeccably behaved and Ollie and Diego who are 4 year old half brothers. Ollie and Diego came from a petting zoo and while Diego is very calm, Ollie can be a handful. He is is fine in the field and the children can hand feed him. He can be led - but will tend to barge into the others - and will behave for the vet. He also has a tendency to nip. However, we don't seem to be able to take him for a walk into the forest next to us. Oscar is a seasoned walker and Diego seems very keen but Ollie goes nuts. Before we get out of the gate, he starts spitting and launching into Diego. Once out of the gate, he gets very panicy and starts dribbling. We don't usually get very far as I am concerned that he will launch off and knock someone over or hurt himself. I am not sure whether to carrying on trying with them all or attempt to take Ollie out on his own. It would be great to take them out but have a feeling that as the only place Ollie can behave is his field, they will all be stuck there. I did hope that walking Ollie may give him more to think about and calm him down a bit. Any suggestions would be gratefully received as we are at our wits end.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I would suggest creating an obstacle course and working over creative obstacles to give Ollie something to focus on. You could set the obstacle course up near the pasture to begin with and then move it further way if your property and set up allows for that. But it seems like there are more steps you could add in so that Ollie could be successful with easier incremental steps.
There are a number of other things I would suggest... have you been to a clinic? The things on my list would be halter fit, are you leading from the side ring with a halter that fits well up on the nose bone and still allows for room in the nose band? Do you have someone else to lead with or are you leading these boys by yourself. If you are leading with someone else keeping more distance between the animal as you walk would help.
More info from you and I will add some more ideas. Don't give up.

[Lisa Armstrong]

That's great, thanks very much Marty. I did attend a clinic a few years ago and am an avid fan of your training manual. My husband helps with walking the llamas. He tends to take the other two llamas and I take Ollie. I have tried taking Ollie first as he is quite a dominant llama but, would welcome advice about changing the order. The most worrying part is that he has a tendency to panic and become aggressive when he is asked to do anything out of the ordinary. He completely freaks out. To be fair, he has come on a huge amount as initially, if anyone went into his field he would run over and attack them and bite. He is respectful now and is even perfectly behaved for the vet. I will definitely give the obstacle course a go. Should I take him out of his field on his own and put him in a neighbouring field where he can see still his friends? He seems to have a 'panic attack' and then once it is over, he is fairly calm. Should I try and work him through his panic attack or let him get on with it and then carry on? He seems more agitated and upset than angry.
Many thanks,