Alpacas as therapy animals
Alpacas: creatures of calm and gentleness
Alpacas have a wide appeal: they are amusing, entertaining and have a calming quality that soothes and relaxes.
Animals can help to refocus people, taking them away from themselves and their issues to an appreciation of nature and the environment. This in itself is a source of healing.
Touch is an essential part of our emotional wellbeing. For children and adults who find communication and touch from another human difficult and uncomfortable, a warm fleece, gentle temperament and big trusting eyes becomes safe and reassuring, and helps to create a sense of wellbeing.
Working with well-trained alpacas can help youngsters to develop their confidence. Learning how to attend to the needs of another contributes to the development of empathy. The various tasks and duties around care of an animal can provide a person with a safe place to explore his or her own thoughts and feelings.
Many aspects of a combined curriculum can be attained through working with animals. Alpacas offer a trusting presence and a different range of negotiation approaches and interactions.
We are very pleased that four of our listed male yearlings have gone to a wonderful home where they are assisting in the learning of a number of youngsters across a broad age range and will soon be used in working with dementia care. These yearlings were trained using the ‘camelid dynamics’ approach.