Prima Donna Goes Shopping



Prima Donna Spots Herself for the First Time


Oh Boy, did we have fun in the shoppe today.  Prima Donna (so named because she has beautiful big brown eyes, looks like developing top quality fleece - and she knows it) was our alpaca of choice for our current ad campaign.

What a difference from when Little Bit came into the Shoppe for the first time - must be a Girl Thing.  Prima Donna, although skittish at first, completely lost interest in us humans as she spent the first few minutes scoping out the merchandise.  Very interested in the teddy bears, she is just a baby afterall, and the sweaters, she gave everything her full attention - until she spotted herself in the mirror!

What a hoot.  Immediately taken with the beauty of the alpaca looking back at her, Prima Donna kissed the mirror all over - until we took it away.  The purpose of bringing her into the Shoppe was to get some photos next to the Christmas Tree, but Prima Donna had other ideas.  Although we had moved the mirror to another part of the Shoppe, next to the Christmas Tree, Prima Donna knew that the mirror should be in it's original location and kept returning to that spot and fussing that she couldn't find it.  Of course, the intelligent thing would have been for the humans to move the tree to the mirror - but we only worked that one out after the fact.

Showing her herself in the "new" mirror was not what she wanted at all and she kept returning to the original spot.  Just shows how intelligent alpacas can be.  She eventually just gave up and, very cooperatively of her, lay down in front of the tree to have her photo taken.

On returning her to her pen, Little Bit met us at the gate and seemed very much put out that he wasn't the center of attention for the day.  He even followed me around the pen and let me pet him without catching him first, as if to make sure I knew he was willing to help out.  I'm sure they will have a lot to talk about as they compare notes about their moment in front of the camera.

Drama in the Barn

Well, not quite the twice a week, like promised.  I'll do my best to get on a schedule but we've been so busy in the Shoppe, I run out of time - and I have so much to write about.

Of course, getting to work (some say play) with the babies is the best part of the day and Little Bit is enjoying attention more and more as the weather turns colder.  The babies are starting to show interest in eating hay now and are staying close to their mamas to stay warm and dry. 

We did have some drama in the barn this week.  When I arrived, Maggie and Otis our guardian dogs, were conspicuously quiet.  Even when shoppers came by, their signature, extremely loud, barking was noticably absent. 

On going to investigate, I discovered Otis outside looking depresssed while Maggie was inside a closed up area of the barn.  Neither dog could be tempted out of their respective pens so further investigations seemed needed.  Heading to the back of the barn, I found Ozzie, one of our yearling baby boys, looking very upset.  His head was down and he was pacing the yard making distressed cries as he went.  Not another alpaca was to be seen. 

For the "new to alpaca" readers, alpacas are herd animals and get extremely upset and, if left long enough can even die, if taken away from the rest of the herd.  What had happened was a gate had blown shut in the wind separating Ozzie from his buddies.  Ozzie eventually lay down next to the pen with the bigger boys in it and, funnily enough, the same pen that Otis had chosen to guard.  A very pitiful sight it was!

On entering his pen, Ozzie came to greet me and followed me to the gate as I pushed it open.  All his pen mates, who'd been stuck in the field, immediately rushed through and crowded around as if they hadn't seen him in a week.  Lots of bleating - especially from Zanzebar who is never shy about making his voice heard and the happiness to be back together was obvious.

So all's well that ends well.  Ozzie was immediately content on being reunited with his pen mates and I left them all catching up with each other.  When you think that they cannot have been separated for more than a few hours and the joy they had to be back together, it just shows what great animal alpacas are.

As I re-entered the shoppe, a car came down the lane and Otis and Maggie greeted the visitors with loud voices.  Everything is back to normal!