Danny and Sandy Playtime

One of the many interesting things about watching Danny and Sandy play together is the difference in playing styles. Sheep and Llamas have very different ideas of what playtime is. When we watch the different herds playing out in the fields we can really get an idea of what each breed does for fun. And watching Danny and Sandy play is like watching two species trying to communicate.

Sandy, being a sheep, has a much more aggressive play style. Danny will put his head down and she will think he wants to play at head butting, which is a great sheep play - similar to rough-housing. So Sandy will butt him in the head, and then he looks very affronted as Llamas don't do that. Sandy will try to butt him in the side, in the neck - pretty much anywhere to get him going.

Sheep also are climbers and frequently when we go see the sheep the babies are sleeping or laying on top of their mothers. The moms will be laying down and the babies will just literally walk all over them. The funny thing is that we have seen the baby sheep do it with Rosey as well, the adult llama that is in the maternity ward right now. Anyway, Sandy tries to do it with Danny as well. So he will be laying or sitting down and she will try and climb on top of him, or she will stand beside him and lay across his back with her front feet.

It's very funny watching to see all the antics that Sandy gets up to with Danny. Danny being a llama prefers to keep his playtime to doing twisty things with his neck and Sandy's neck isn't long enough. And he prefers running and jumping. In the herd you will frequently see the babies running together and leaping and kicking up their heels - not a lot of physical contact.

So Danny and Sandy are learning to play together - or at least to put up with each other when the other wants to play.