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Llamas are very intelligent animals who can learn many things, and it is easy to train them. Every llama should know some basics:

1. To allow you to halter him quickly and easily.

2. To walk on a loose leash.

3. To jump into a van, pickup, or trailer for transporting.

4. To allow you to touch him all over his body, as you might do when combing out his wool, putting on a pack, or examining a wound.

In addition, you can train a llama to do many other things. Sitting down (called “kushing”) and getting back up can be taught. Some llamas have been taught to drive to cart, and they are quite a sight in parades. A good number of llamas do what their Andean ancestors did and become pack animals. They are trained in carrying a pack.

“Llamas are very fast learners,” says Bobra Goldsmith, a well-known llama trainer. “When you are teaching a llama something, don’t be surprised if he gets it after just a few trials.”

After I heard Bobra say that once, I thought I would test out her assertion by counting how many repetitions it did take before my llama Whiskers would willingly enter my VW van through the side door. I didn’t have to count very far, just to five! Afterwards, he would always jump right in the van when we wanted to take him somewhere. Sometimes it was many months between outings, but he never forgot. In contrast, I have never succeeded in teaching any of my dogs something in only five trials.

While we’re on the subject of dogs, something that llamas learn much more quickly than dogs is to walk on a loose leash. This makes hiking with them a pleasure, as you can just amble along a trail with them. Do be aware that if horses come along, you should step a good ways off the trail, and on the downhill side if there is one. Horses spook far more easily than llamas, and many have not encountered llamas before.

Bobra teaches her llama training methods. Take haltering, for example — she has developed a slow motion method that llamas seem to like. With the gradual approach of the halter to the llama’s face, the animal comes to trust the process more easily than if you just waved the halter around faster. You can also do this with alpacas, for that matter. These methods have been used on both animals.

While llamas are perhaps best trained while they are rather young (but not babies), Bobra has demonstrated that you can train a green adult llama as well. While in a perfect world every llama you acquire would be well trained, in fact many people just don’t get around to much llama training. You can learn Bobra Goldsmith’s training methods from a DVD which is available on the internet. People buy the DVD for this purpose, of course, but they also buy it when they are thinking about getting llamas and want to know what is involved. In any case, llama training can turn out to be a very enjoyable activity.

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