Get help!
We don't pretend to have the magic one-step secret code to change a leopard's spots (which applies not only to your llama, but to you, your spouse, your neighbor, your mother-in-law, etc) ... but chances are, we can help you understand the llama you have and what changes will be required for a successful outcome.
In virtually all cases, in order to change a llama's behavior, change will also be required from the human(s) involved. Nobody can "make" a llama "like" to be haltered in a clumsy way, nor can anybody "make" a llama "just put up with" humans who have decided they are going to keep doing things their way even when something about "their way" sets off the llama. If we detect that a client has unrealistic behavioral expectations from their llama, we will say so.
Also, patience will be required from the human(s). Nobody can "make" a llama behave a certain way or get a new attitude on a timeline. Whenever a client has an unrealistic time frame for their llama to show certain improvements, we will say so.
Last but definitely not least, sometimes people just don't have the situation or resources to provide ALL the necessary elements for a successful outcome. That certainly sucks for their llama, but we recognize that reality includes limitations. We will respect your situational restrictions and your decisions.
Behavior and/or management consultation via email and phone
We offer behavior consultation for problem and pre-problem llama behavior via phone and email, including management tips to maximize the chances that a difficult llama or situation will have a happy ending, or that a potential problem never manifests. Sometimes issues can be resolved entirely via phone or email; for more complex issues, we instead recommend shooting video and booking a Zoom session with us (below).
What's required:
YOU must to be willing and able to safely do the work and implement suggestions and tips
ALL OTHER HUMANS who regularly interact with your llama must also be on board with helping the llama, apply the plan consistently even when it gets tiresome, and be unwaveringly committed to maintaining their own safety
Overwhelmingly, THE most common reason for consultation failure is lack of commitment from other humans in the situation. Most often we hear that Person A (the person requesting the consult) quickly gets results, but Person B either refuses to comply with our recommendations, physically cannot comply with all the recommendations, or tries the recommended steps and it works for them but they get tired of it after a while and refuse to continue doing what works for the llama, escalating the situation. Please honestly assess the abilities and commitment of the other humans involved, for everyone's safety. We can't do that from here.
Phone and email consultations are currently free of charge.
Zoom remote behavioral consultation
We can work with you and your llama via Zoom — whether you are able to send live footage or only pre-recorded video. Our experience is that at least some pre-recorded video will vastly improve the outcome because it gives us the ability to review and dissect in advance, and to slow down that video to point out important nuances to you. When people are listening to us, trying to ensure the video part is recording correctly, AND dealing with a llama, the llama KNOWS the human has split attention, and so things rarely go as expected or desired.
What's required:
You contact us, describe what's going on, your situation, and what outcome you are hoping for. Wait for us to respond.
You shoot the video. You can start on this before we respond, but please understand that we might ask for additional footage.
IMPORTANT! If the llama has an undesirable behavior that you want to address, ALWAYS include plenty of footage showing the llama's entire body, what happened BEFORE the behvior, and include all the other nearby llamas and humans in your video! (We cannot help anyone based on a few-second video of half a llama that merely proves yes, the llama was spitting. We already believe that part!)
HINT: Review the video, especially in slow-motion and/or frame-by-frame. You might find the clues you need, and not have to book a session with us after all. :-)
You book a session and pay the fee.
You upload the video to an internet or cloud platform we can access (Vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox).
We review the video. If we discover the video footage is insufficient, we will contact you by email and let you know what we need to see.
We both participate in a Zoom session with you, reviewing the video and sharing our analysis of what we've seen. We make recommendations how to proceed after discussing any situational limitations. A recording of the session will be made available for you to download.
Once again, YOU must to be willing and able to safely do the work and implement suggestions and tips
And, once again, ALL OTHER HUMANS who will interact with your llama must also be on board with the plan, apply the plan consistently even when it gets tiresome, and be committed to maintaining their own safety
2024 fees:
$75 for the first hour, $40/hour thereafter (time based on the Zoom call)
1 hour minimum paid in advance.
PLEASE NOTE:
We are not offering hands-on instruction or farm visits at this time due to new insurance limitations. This may change in the future, but we cannot be certain. Thank you for understanding.
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