Positioning is used most every
day in nearly every arena. To
position ourselves means to
place ourselves in the appropriate
and most advantageous place
known to us for the desired
results. Advertising agencies
have conducted extensive research
regarding the most successful
positioning of ads. We position
ourselves for the best views
when attending various events.
We use positioning in building
our homes, in the arrangement
of our furniture, in where we
hang our paintings and in the
location of our gardens. Positioning
is critical in the sports world.
It can mean the difference between
a win and a loss. Without knowledge
of the proper positioning of
the sails, a sailor may stall
or even capsize his sailboat.
Proper positioning by a captain
flying an airliner full of passengers
could literally make the difference
between life and death. We use
positioning when sunbathing,
at parties and when pointing
a telescope to the heavens.
Positioning has long been a
strategy in battle - position
the guns, position the troops...
and, of course, in politics!
Positioning is nothing more
than taking a position. A position
is many things. It can be a
place or location, an arrangement
of objects or an arrangement
of our body parts in the form
of a stance, posture or pose.
It can be mental through our
point of view and beliefs. And,
it can be all of these things
at once.
So what does positioning mean
to each of us in very basic
terms within our daily lives?
Simply that we all "place" ourselves
in the best position we know
for optimum success at whatever
it is we are attempting. Though
we do not normally think in
terms of "Now, I am going
to position myself to..." this
is exactly what we do on an
unconscious level. And so it
is with the herd management
and training of our llamas.
Positioning is the underlying
key for optimum success in understanding
and communication. Where we
physically stand combined with
our mental/emotional stance
and body posture can truly make
the significant difference in
understanding and communicating
with our llamas. In turn, our
llamas are constantly communicating
with us hoping for our understanding
by positioning themselves in
how and where they might stand
in relation to us, each other,
their surroundings and in their
mental/emotional attitudes and
body posture. Without a spoken
language, positioning provides
the cues for communication.
Positioning exists as a constant
in both humans and llamas whether
we are specifically training,
doing routine herd maintenance,
crisis intervention, showing
or just observing and having
fun. And, it exists whether
or not we are conscious of it.
An awareness of
the positioning of other people,
animals or the inanimate objects
around us is a key part of the
positioning equation. For example,
it is obvious when we wish the
llamas to leave the barn that
we do not stand in the doorway.
Not so obvious perhaps, is the
position of the door itself.
Is it slightly open, wide open… is
the wind banging it around?
What awareness do we have of
our positioning while teaching
a llama to jump a low pole?
While concentrating on the act
itself, we often forget where
we are - what is our overall
positioning? Holding the lead
rope and standing in the middle
of the jump on the other side
of the pole is not the optimum
positioning for success. The
llama may feel there is nowhere
to jump as we have severely
compromised the "landing
strip". Yet, I've done
it - we've all done it. We must
position ourselves out of the
way! What about positioning
as it relates to the overall
health and well being of our
llamas? Understanding what might
be the more normal positioning
for the herd as a group or of
a specific llama can serve as
a base line for noting when
something might be different.
One of the more
profound uses of positioning
is in the catch pen. The fastest
way to meet with success in
any training lesson is to understand
and make use of positioning
dynamics. The actual "training
lesson" is built upon our
use of positioning as a base.
A clear example of positioning
as a basis for training can
be seen when teaching our llama
the meaning of the word "stand".
If we position ourselves in
the optimum place to cause our
llama to stand, half the "lesson" has
already taken place. Our body
posture and mental stance combined
with physical location is instrumental
in a successful training lesson.
Body and mental positioning
does well in the form of assertive
confidence. Not aggressive dominance
nor shrinking violet but a calm,
attentive confidence. Stand
upright rather than hunched
or stretched. Move about in
your normal fashion rather than
faster or slowly creeping. If
you normally move a little faster
or a bit slower, do just that.
Move as you, yourself, normally
do. It is you who they have
come to know and as keen observers,
they will not miss changes in
your behavior. Do any talking
in a normal confident tone of
voice. Simply, you should behave
normally with no added drama
either escalated or depressed.
Be yourself. Behave as though
you know what you are doing.
Maintaining these behaviors
which are for the most part,
our natural selves, is important
no matter what the circumstances
- from training to accessing
and assisting a compromised
llama. Physical positioning
shares equal importance. As
a training example, you have
entered the catch pen but not
yet begun. Position yourself
clearly off to one side so the
llama feels he has the opportunity
to move about the majority of
the pen. In this way, you can
do all manner of things before
the actual lesson begins without
seriously escalating the anxiety
level on either side. For a
compromised llama, behaving
in a more normal, calm and confident
manner will help to mitigate
the effects of an already stressful
situation.
The
Awareness Of The Use Of Positioning
The Story Behind It
While teaching
one of my two-day llama behavior
and training clinics at Glenn
and Cyndy Baker's Critter Creek
Ranch in Port Townsend, WA quite
a few Decembers ago, I clearly
discovered the profound use
of positioning. Though positioning
had always been there, I had
no specific awareness of it.
It was a discovery - a newfound
awareness - that would greatly
clarify and simplify training
and herd management no matter
your preferred method or technique.
We were working on catching
and haltering and I was puzzled.
How was it that one participant
could maneuver the llama easily
about the pen in any direction
and others simply could not
do it? This puzzling "phenomena" was
a common occurrence at every
single clinic I had ever attended,
assisted with or taught. What
was one participant doing differently
than the other? There had to
be something I was missing.
What was it? Was it their particular
demeanor? Was it a particular
llama? Though those things obviously
came into play within the total
picture, they were only a part
of the whole. It was a great
puzzle to me and I finally stopped
the clinic asking participants
for any observations or thoughts.
We had a great discussion but
the answer wasn't immediately
clear to any of us. I was absolutely
intent to discover the reason.
A great deal of clinic time
was passing so I decided to
take a vote of the participants
as to whether we should continue
to solve this puzzle or go on
to the next area of leading
exercises. The vote was unanimous
- solve this mystery! Everyone
wanted to know how to control
the action in the catch pen
and those who could already
control it were most curious
to understand why. We spent
most of an entire day in and
out of the catch pen with a
number of different animals
and participants... same person,
different animals... same animal,
different people. We observed
and discussed and replayed again
and again.
A
Day Of Discovery
We soon discovered
many subtle positioning quirks
such as differences in the depth
of personal space for individual
llamas as well as for each participant,
how the size of both the person
and the llama played a role
and the importance of paying
attention to balance. The direction
we faced in relationship to
the llama often had a profound
impact on the success of directional
movement. We discovered our
mental and emotional stance
was part of the overall equation.
Positioning
Ourselves -
The Most Profound Discovery
The most profound
overall discovery, however,
was where to position oneself
to make certain things occur
in the catch pen without exception
in nearly every instance. Though
I did not realize the immense
scope of our work at the time,
specific attention to the art
of positioning was a key element
for optimum success for all
training and herd management.
It would profoundly enhance
my ability to teach by immediately
providing participants with
a much more clear and visible
understanding of human/llama
interaction. The success of
positioning is immediate. Our
ability to apply any training
method/technique or herd management
skill comes much more easily
and quickly if we first position
ourselves for success.
The
Four Positions
Though we had
long missed them, there are
three obvious primary positions
to keep in mind - forward movement,
standing in balance and turning.
A fourth, the stopping point,
is a brief position that cannot
be maintained for long.
Forward
Movement
To move your llama forward,
move to their rear and stand
diagonally out from the hip.
Stopping
To
have your llama stop, move
forward to that small space
between the withers and the
eye. This position halts the
action for a brief moment.
Standing
In Balance
As your llama stops, immediately
drop back a step or two to
position yourself just behind
the withers. If you should
remain in the "stop" position
for too long, the llama will
become uneasy and move. By
immediately stepping back
a few steps the moment the
llama stops, both you and
your llama should find yourselves
in balance and standing in
place until you give the next "signal".
Turning
To have your
llama turn in the opposite
direction, move to the front
just beyond the eye.
Balance
In positioning as in all
things, it is key to be
mindful of balance - both
yours and that of your llama.
As a side note, if you are
using positioning in a catch
pen to get your llama to
stand for haltering and
your llama does not move,
do not insist that they
do. In this instance, the
whole point of positioning
is to understand how to
communicate to get the desired
results. If he is already
standing then you have the
result you were seeking.
It is amazing how quickly
llamas understand positioning.
For some it will take a
couple of times of maneuvering
about the pen while others
will immediately understand
your communication. And,
as we become more skilled
with positioning, our communication
becomes much more clear.
Be
Aware Of Your Body Language
In positioning one’s
self for moving forward
and/or stop and standing,
your body position should
be such that you are facing
in the same direction as
your llama - your noses
should be pointed in the
same direction. For turning,
you must adjust your body
position to face the llama.
Interestingly, once again
your nose will be pointing
in the direction you wish
your llama's nose to head
in order to make the turn.
We all tend to move in the
direction our nose is headed.
Again, watch the balance.
When you and your llama
are first experiencing positioning,
it is important for you,
yourself, to consistently
face in the direction you
wish your llama to go. Llamas
are keen observers of body
language. Our work that
day experimented with facing
towards our llama and facing
the same direction as our
llama. We discovered when
facing towards our llama,
particularly when initially
learning the nuances of
positioning, we often created
the effect of blocking,
cornering or trapping our
llama. Facing our llama
created closed shoulders
and the ability to outstretch
our arms along our llama's
body length. This is a common
stance by humans for "cornering" or "catching".
Facing the same direction
as our llama opened our
shoulders and greatly lessened
the usefulness of our arms
reach providing a more obvious
and clear "escape route".
This same direction positioning
facilitates the opportunity
for feeling a higher level
of security, safety, attention
and communication for both
human and llama. Thus, applying
the notion we are giving
signals by our body language,
by our turning and facing
our llama when asking our
llama to turn, we have basically
created a physical block
as well as the image or
idea of what we want to
have happen. We are, in
effect, giving signals -
communicating - with our
overall body positioning.
And llamas, as we have noted,
are keen observers in this
area.
Keeping
A Correct Distance
When
using positioning it is
important to keep the personal
space zone in mind. This
zone is not a matter of
inches or feet and varies
from llama to llama as well
as from person to person.
Do not crowd nor stand far
away. I've found the most
consistent distance is an
arm's length plus about
one hand more. And, believe
it or not, it is your particular
arm's length not anyone
else's. The distance is
relative to our own unique
size. In solving the mystery,
we discovered a shorter
person's (like myself) arm
length distance was actually
crowding for a tall person.
A
Fruitful Collective Effort
I truly thank
those many who were in attendance
at my clinic that day for
their help, support and
enthusiasm in providing
the opportunity to solve
this long-standing mystery.
We are all much better for
the experience and I could
not have solved this mystery
without their willing participation
and thoughtful input. As
a result of this collective
effort, I have been able
to add the valuable art
of positioning to my understanding
of llama behavior within
my own herd and share it
with others in my behavior
and training clinics. The
increased success for participants,
not to mention myself, is
truly noteworthy.
To
have your llama stop, move
forward to that small space
between the withers and the
eye. This position halts the
action for a brief moment. 
When
using positioning it is
important to keep the personal
space zone in mind. This
zone is not a matter of
inches or feet and varies
from llama to llama as well
as from person to person.
Do not crowd nor stand far
away. I've found the most
consistent distance is an
arm's length plus about
one hand more. And, believe
it or not, it is your particular
arm's length not anyone
else's. The distance is
relative to our own unique
size. In solving the mystery,
we discovered a shorter
person's (like myself) arm
length distance was actually
crowding for a tall person. 
