The next morning, the poor 'Pacas had remained in the paddock (and not taken off for a night with the boys (bulls next door)) and looked disgustedly at daughter and I as we ventured out with the buckets. Voddy and Boo decided that the buckets outweighed any former resentment, and both ran up to me and plunged their heads in to chew happily. The boys however, took much tempting from daughter (I heard her, though she will deny it, saying 'yum yum' and pretending to eat chaff), but she finally enticed them into the pen. Poor Hamish put his tail immediately up onto his back, a sign that he wasn't happy (a sign in any language I should think). We decided to get it over and done with, and began stalking them into the corners of the pen.
If only they would give in and submit to a cuddle (no kisses)! I finally grabbed hold of Hamish, and daughter caught hold of Sherman. To my surprise, Hamish went limp and far from happy, allowed me to stroke his legs, back and neck whilst I rested only a hand on his neck. Sherman did the same - what good boys! We let them go only a few minutes later, after talking quietly to them (what quiet things does one murmur to a restrained Alpaca?), and they stood where we left them blinking and puzzled in the sun. I was happy to see that both Voddy and Boo still had their heads submerged in their buckets and couldn't care less that we were handling the boys.
We let the boys out of the pen. This is surely a good thing - handling the two boys daily is supposed to get them used to being handled - and I am sure they were both just happy to have gotten away so lightly this time :)
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