Llama Fearful of Being Touched on Side

[Lisa Armstrong]

I bought my llamas when they were 17 months old. Josh initially was extremely headshy and after an enormous amount of work is now much better. However, he has always been frightened of anyone touching or approaching him on his right side.

The vet had a quick look at him a few years ago and said that there is nothing physically wrong with him and we believe his sight is fine. By his reactions, we have both come to the conclusion that he has been given a good wallop at some point - not by me, I hasten to add!

He is now 6 and it is still an issue. When out walking, even the other llama will not approach him from his right side. If we have to change direction or pull in whilst out and about, if we accidently stand on his right side he hyperventilates. As soon as we change sides he is fine. We have always accepted that this is one of the many Josh querks and haven't done anything about it. Is there anything we can do?

[Marty McGee Bennett]

You can try a few of the following suggestions. AND congratulations on doing so well with a really tough problem. Head shy llamas can be very hard to rehab so well done! also it may or may not be true that he was hit on the head I have met many llamas and alpacas that are absolutely determined not to have a person on one side or another and the owners have known with a fair amount of certainty that the animal had never been hit. So go figure... When you try these make sure to make the lessons very short and sweet and follow up with a walk. In general I suggest working in the catch pen for 5-7 minutes and no more.
So with that in mind here are some suggestions:
1. Catch with a wand from the left if you haven't already and then try it from the right. Catching with the wand helps with head shyness puts you in charge in a comfortable way and will introduce the idea of you being on the right in a safe way. You can then move to the left and continue as before.
2. Once your llama is more comfortable with the catching on the right side you could also try getting a second chance halter (one that buckles on the right) and try doing the rest of the halter process from the right. Remember to do a bit of body work during these sessions on the right too... working the mouth and ears from that side.
3. Try leading him with two people and two leads one on the right and one on the left (the homing pigeon)
4. Try a body wrap. You can try this idea with all of the above. Put the body wrap on from the left but then move over to the right.
Good luck and congratulations on the good work you have already done.