EPISODE NOTES
What is normal ?
Everything has a cause
When you first start with alpacas, it takes you a while to recognise what is normal. This is a learning opportunity – are youdoing the best for your alpacas in the best way? It is what we all aim for and learning what is normal is a key part of achieving this.
Everything your alpacas do has a reason behind it. In this episode, we go on to consider spitting and moving away from us as we move towards them. How can we encourage good expected behaviour and not create bad behaviours?
Putting it to work:
When about to do something with your alpacas –
- PAUSE – read the temperature of the group; look for the unusual and unexpected. Will it land OK? Will it produce an understandable reaction of expected behaviour?
- PLAN – what is the expected behaviour likely to be? How can your anticipation of this help to smooth the process? Is everything in place?
- PATTERN – what routines can you establish, so that you develop a collection of good expected behaviour?
Takeaways
- There is a normal – for alpacas in general and each alpaca individually.
- Expected behaviour has a cause, as does unexpected behaviour.
- You can help or hinder developing good expected behaviour.
