camels
09-23-2007, 06:57 PM
Friday I took my camel on a mile and a half walk. As usual he was very energetic and bouncing all over the place when we originally got out of the gate. After a few moments of that paired with cushing and generally being stubborn, he was perfect for the entire walk.
On the way back, I didn't even need to be holding his lead, he was just following along with me. We cushed in some brush and rested for a while, and the whole time he was calm and responsive.
I took him again tonight with a friend, and he was terrible. He did his usual dance when out the gate, except it was much worse than usual. He even turned and bit me on the neck and then turned to bite my friend. After we got out of the gate he acted up a few more times and then I made him cush and he seemed pretty calm and continued.
I could still tell he was "off" however, and we made it a short walk and came home. He was also grabbing at every type of plant and thorny thing he could find, and basically was not paying any attention to me.
The problem is, I'm not sure how to handle the situations where he acts up. When he was smaller, I used to just grab him and throw him on the ground basically, it always worked really well. But he's almost 10 months old now and well over 300 Ibs, and there's no way I can manage that anymore.
Yelling at him seems to be a bad idea because it just escalates the situation, same with hitting or tapping him. I'm not sure about talking to him smoothly and trying to calm him down, because I want him to know that bouncing around like that is not appropriate at all while in his halter.
I know of a local camel trainer I'm going to call, but I'd like to know how to respond to the problem immediately.
On the way back, I didn't even need to be holding his lead, he was just following along with me. We cushed in some brush and rested for a while, and the whole time he was calm and responsive.
I took him again tonight with a friend, and he was terrible. He did his usual dance when out the gate, except it was much worse than usual. He even turned and bit me on the neck and then turned to bite my friend. After we got out of the gate he acted up a few more times and then I made him cush and he seemed pretty calm and continued.
I could still tell he was "off" however, and we made it a short walk and came home. He was also grabbing at every type of plant and thorny thing he could find, and basically was not paying any attention to me.
The problem is, I'm not sure how to handle the situations where he acts up. When he was smaller, I used to just grab him and throw him on the ground basically, it always worked really well. But he's almost 10 months old now and well over 300 Ibs, and there's no way I can manage that anymore.
Yelling at him seems to be a bad idea because it just escalates the situation, same with hitting or tapping him. I'm not sure about talking to him smoothly and trying to calm him down, because I want him to know that bouncing around like that is not appropriate at all while in his halter.
I know of a local camel trainer I'm going to call, but I'd like to know how to respond to the problem immediately.