Camel training in India

[sonheim2]

On this last trip to India I went over there to learn more about how they work with and train their camels.:cool:
I should not use the word beating, although that’s what they were doing to one camel I saw behind a sand dume, and I have photos of it that I won‘t show.:eek: Sometime peoples tempers flare and they should take 5 to settle down and let the animal settle down too.

The other camels that I saw people working with to lay down and get up where being hit with a stick which was not really hurting them, only scaring them. When you don’t have much to work with you make do, and out in the desert you don’t have walls and rings to run ropes through. The way they train works fast, most of the camels are very gentle and extremely obedient.

When leaving one of the camel trainers home's we were taking him along with us into town and a widow woman crossed his driveway as we were heading out. This is considered bad luck when starting a journey so we had to turn around, go back to his home and get out of the jeep, sit around for 15 min before taking off again.
This camel trainer seemed very interested in the photos and info that I showed him on how we train camels over here.

Over all their camels are very well cared for and some of the best that I have seen.
I also learned things like how to train a camel to dance, it was a lot of fun!:D

[Camel_Luf]

wow, sounds very interesting..I really hope to visit india one day.

[sonheim2]

I was talking to someone about the way camels are trained in India where they don’t use rewards like giving the animal a treat, patting them on the neck, or even just saying “good boy” the only reward the animal gets is the pain from pulling on the nose pegs or nose rings (for even more pain) stops.
And it was brought to my attention that around 30 years ago the kind and gentle method of animal training in America was just beginning. Thinking back, things have really changed in the past 30 to 60 years on how we work with animals!

[Camel_Luf]

It's wierd how, in different countries...the way we handle animals..is SO different....You would think we are living in a different year.

[sonheim2]

In a lot of ways we are living in a different time than what these remote villages are in 3rd world countries. A short 15 yeas ago these villages in India had no electricity and were still using animals to draw water up from their wells. Today they are still using camels to till the fields, haul produce and heavy loads on their camel carts and wagons.

Unlike here in America most of us have animals as pets for our enjoyment, whereas in places like India the animals have to work for a living, and when they can no longer work they are either turned loose to fend for themselves or are butchered.

Also here in America we can learn about new training techniques from the internet, books, videos and training clinics. In places like India where the average income is around 2 to 3 dollars a day, they don’t have the time or money for these things.