Heard bound camel/Kicking

[CamelPA]

I have this 3 yr old camel that just loves to be with his buddy. We put on theatre shows and I have to have a person lead this guy down through the audience and he wants to hurry up the whole time to catch up to his buddy. They are housed next to each other all the time. Should I seperate them? He will listen to me when I walk him, he's antsy but he will listen. It's the people that don't have as much experience that are having trouble. He also has a problem with things around his back legs, he wants to kick at them. I have been working on that and I am starting to be able to pick his back feet up with a rope. Any suggestions on what to do? I have trained about 9 or 10 camels in my life and have had success, but I just thought I'd throw these questions out to see if there is a better way then the way I am training. Thanks for your help.

[camel_guardian]

haha souns almost exactly like the camel Im working with now.
first of all yes camels are herd lovers and i think you should separate them. your camel is looking for the other camel rather than listening to you. not only is this annoying for you, it makes the camel feel as though the only thing that matters is his friend. he needs to look to you as the leader.
I would practice walking him away from your barn/stalls whatever and then work on leading him back slowly.

As for the kicking. I have the same problem. If there's anything behind him or he walks by something he kicks out at it. VERY dangerous and a pain in the ass!
Set him up.
Either tie him up or have some one hold him while you run tarps, bags, ANYTHING . The moment he goes to pick his leg up to kick, whip him.
Sounds harsh but trust me it works.
He'll associate him going to kick with the pain and will be less likely to kick out.
This also helps sensitize him.
Now once he gets better with that. Try walking him passed different things. Have things go behind him. and if he goes to kick give him a whip.
Soon, and with much practice in all different situations, he'll get passed kicking out.

Well try it out and good luck.
Kicking is dangerous and very annoying for me. I don't put up with it.
If my camel get out of line I jerk him down to cush, if he goes to bite he gets punches, if he goes to kick i whip him with the end of the line.

safety SAFETY SAFETY! IS NUMBER ONE!
YOU don't want him to be full size and kicking or acting stupid!

Where are you located?

[CamelPA]

Thanks for your help camel guardian, It sounds like I'm on the right track. What you said is pretty much what I am doing. I agree with you, a camel that kicks needs to learn right away that he can't do that, it is very dangerous and a pain in the butt!!! thanks again. I'm located in Lancaster Pennsylvania.

[camel_guardian]

dang if you were closer I would have said we could have met up and talked about different training tips. i'm in AZ, it seems like everyone with camels is never close!! We need our own camel state :)

[CamelPA]

Yea, Camelsylvania sounds good. Maybe if I ever get to AZ I'll look ya up. I have an uncle that lives in the Lake Havasua area.

[camel2]

You can go about it that way but sometimes that leads to more problems. You're basically telling the camel he SHOULD defend himself cuz something bad is coming. I've had the most luck by thoroughly desensitizing him to things brushing his legs. In fact, if possible eliminate the human equation. You can hang milk jugs off the saddle so they bump his legs.. he can kick but they aren't going away. Walk him over bunched up bags or tarps that will brush his legs or even just get a thin pvc pole that's long enough that you can rub down his legs from a safe distance. If he starts kicking at pole try to keep it pressed just above his hock til he stops. The catch is to try to maintain contact despite his desire to remove the annoying object. The object only 'goes away' when he stops kicking. Just my opinioin. I know there are always several ways of going about training.

[camel2]

Or <evil grin> you can do what one person jokingly told me to do...but him in a small pen with LOTS of goats or sheep. In his words, the sheep/ goats bounce and they keep coming back...specially if you throw grain under the camel.

[CamelPA]

Hey Camel 2 thanks for your imput. The first suggestion that you gave me I have tried and I do get some success with it, I have used that method on a few other camels and they settled right in, but this camel that I am working with now has a little more spirit then most. I did have a pack on him yesterday that had all theses bags hanging down and he picked his back leg up but he didn't kick at it. I think he just may be learning something. Your other suggestion.....well that just cracked me up. :rofl Thanks again