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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:43:21 GMT -6
The move came just as she was about to repeat the word to come as she had done so many times, and she almost forgot to start walking away as Soak slowly walked after her. She praised him as they walked, waggling the minnow around to energize the slow steps he began with until he was trotting to keep up with her. Then came the minnow, garnished with more praise, and Alma reviewed what had changed. “Didn’t say the other word, did I? Maybe I said it instead?” She raised one fist to her mouth as she thought, spitting away dried flakes of minnow a second later. “Well, stay then” she told Soak once she was fairly sure no scales remained on her lips, walking down to check the fishing line again, and, as an afterthought as she recast it, added “and sit.” It took a second casting before she was happy with the position of the bobber on the river and she turned back to the sitting sarane. “Now, Soak, follow.” This time there was no fish held out for him to see, and though he stood back up, he did not move. “Follow,” Alma repeated and started walking in a circular path, watching the sarane take a few more steps towards her as she did so. “Follow!” she said one last time, and this time he did, slowing his speed as he caught up to her to match her pace. She gave him a treat, immediately repeating the command as he tried to stop and eat it. He walked after her a bit slower until the fish was gone, then matched her pace once more.
64 ((Soak Follow - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:44:50 GMT -6
Alma gave him a treat nearly fifteen seconds into the follow that time, and then began the well trodden process of giving him the stay command, sometimes paired with sit, then telling him to follow her and giving him his reward further and further along into the walk. Sometimes she switched it up, using a “come” instead, and she noted that a treat given with that command would be eaten while he stood on the mud, unmoving even if she stepped away. But the command to follow, that one saw him leave trails of minnow dust behind him as he walked after her.
She even threw in random stops to trip him up, needing to repeat the command to follow the first few times she left him behind. But soon he was following on command without issue, and she was almost tempted to untie the rope from him as she swapped in a new new lure and better bait on her fishing line, Soak remaining close to her as she did so and then walking after her back to the supplies.
Alma kept him walking long after she was sure he understood, jogging with him on the somewhat more stable place where stone and dried mud met. She did not fancy him having a ton of extra energy for the next bit.
Using:
65 ((Soak Follow - 5 End? Soak-13.0))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:45:31 GMT -6
She was certain she would not need to rely too much on minnows for the next part, leading Soak up to the rocks to let him rest as she dug through the sack. This time she pulled out a bone, some long piece of an equillion that had doubtless been from a v2 version of the breed, the bone itself slightly charred. “You can get four of a kind from the remakes,” she told Soak, and then paused, looking at the sarane as he sniffed and licked at his claws. “Maybe this one will just be a reward for later,” Alma muttered as she slid it back into the sack, remembering how some dogs could get if they had a bone. And while the sarane was no dog, the torn and punctured glove that had been holding the bone made her think she should not give him any more reason to behave like one of the greedier hounds.
She called out to him first, waiting until her was looking at her to reach out with the still intact glove.
66 ((Soak Tolerance - 1 Start))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:46:13 GMT -6
She let him sniff the glove, turning it over slowly as she watched him for any warning that he would make this hand match the other. When he did not bite her but instead looked past the glove to stare at her, she slowly reached out to pat him on the head once. He pushed back, thrusting his snout into her palm when she was slow to pat him a second time, and she pulled her hand away after a third. “Good so far,” she said, half to herself as she looked at his chubby body, “though we knew it would be. Haven’t been one to refuse a pat so far, have yah?”
She resumed petting him, slowly shifting from his head to his neck. When she reached the first loop of rope, he squeaked and shifted away from her snapping at the air by her hand rather than on the glove itself. Alma pulled her hand back, looking at the collection of mud and bits of other things drying there, she said, “I suppose that’s bothering you a bit?” When the sarane did not reply beyond shifting slightly away, Alma sighed. “Guess that means I’ll have to take off the rope. Hope yer other training holds. Don’t fancy chasing you down the beach.”
She was as slow this time as she had been before, telling the sarane to stay put when he tried to shy away from her. She kept up a soft-toned babble as she slid her fingers into the loop of the rope, loosening her grip as the sarane squeaked and snapped at the open air.
67 ((Soak Tolerance - 2))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:47:24 GMT -6
“Now, hush, I ain’t aimin’ to hurt yah, just need to get this off of yah. It’s a simple set of loops, really, meant to keep you from slippin’ out or choking yerself, and I know it’s uncomfortable.” She kept up her words until the sarane’s breathing slowed, leaving her hands where they were as she waited. “Now, I can see why this is gonna be useful when yer big. Maybe not ‘til your broken,” assuming she ever bothered to, “but then you won’t try to eat mah hands when I need to remove a bit of netting or something.” She began to prod at the knot, resting her palms against his scales as she did so, pausing only when his breath began to hitch and a squeak built in his throat.
After a few false starts, she managed to free the knot, patting Soak lightly on the head as she uncoiled it from his throat. The rest of the rope was much easier, more of a series of loops that had depended upon the neck knot to hold them in place. But she had to go slowly as she unwound rope from his legs and back, having to pause when she brushed his wings with the back of one glove and he cried out in panic and dragged himself a step away from her.
“I’m not gonna eat yah, you overpriced COD,” she reminded him softly, waiting on her heels as he shivered, untying her end of the rope from herself to rest on the stones. When he seemed calm once more, she called him to come back, inserting praise for his bravery when he did so and let her unwind the last of the rope.
68 ((Soak Tolerance - 3))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:48:16 GMT -6
She kept one hand resting lightly on his back, just before the bump where his wings met, as she pulled away the rope, dried mud flaking away. If she had expected him to run off as she dropped the rope to the side, she did not show it, keeping the same soothing tone of voice that she found worked well with scared pups.
With the rope gone, she started to brush away the dirt that remained, wishing for a handful of sand to better polish the scales rather than the feather-light touch she affected that removed only the already flaking bits. He watched her as she did, snapping at the air once more when she risked a brush of her glove against the webbing of his wings, a few panicked squeaks let loose as she moved down along one of his legs. Then it was back to the head, then down the length of the tail that whipped away, then to his neck, then to one hindleg and then the other, touch growing slightly more assured but no less careful as she revisited different spots without complaint, sporadically offering a quickly gulped minnow when she found him particularly brave.
The wings were the tricky part, the sarane unable to avoid letting out a panicked squeak and sometimes scooting away altogether whenever she touched them, resulting in her reaching for more acceptable spots to try to rub the dirt off.
69 ((Soak Tolerance - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:49:32 GMT -6
Then back to the wings after she had held the last of his feet for the third time, squishing it slightly between her fingers to spread the toes as she had done with the others to get at the last of the excess mud hiding there that her earlier handling had missed. Soak only seemed mildly perplexed now, and so she decided to risk it. She kept her tone steady as she slid her hands up to the knob on his back halting as he let out a choked squeak and dug his claws into the stones as though he planned to pull himself away as he had done the other times.
She kept herself still as she continued talking, telling him of nets and tarps and all sorts of things that could get tangled up in a pair of wings, about the damage such things could do if he panicked and flailed while caught. And when she calmed, she moved her hands across the scaled portion of his wings, examining the fingers of each wing and giving him a treat as she told him “How brave you are, little Soak. And strong too, or you will be one day.” She brushed her hands against the skin stretched between the scaled fingers of his wings, as carefully as though she was applying oil to a cracked membrane on a wiurn.
By the end, he seemed almost bored, snorting and rolling onto his side as she reached for his chest again. She gave him a glove-tipped scratch there, then a pat on his head before standing back up. She went back to her rod as she had done so many times before, calling the little sarane over to her when he seemed disinclined to move from the cooling stones. She patted him again, this time near the knob of his wings and threw in a little extra praise alongside a head pat when he did not flinch.
Using:
70 ((Soak Tolerance - 5 End? Soak - 14.0))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:50:19 GMT -6
Alma had eaten her meal and fed the sarane something a little more substantial as the sun inched towards the horizon, allowing the sarane to wander the banks and beach so long as she could see him. The day’s fishing had been profitable, and she was sure there would be more fish to be found at night, but she could already feel the chill of the winter’s night leeching away at the warmth in the stones, the sun soon to be too low to provide much more than the light of sunset. She had time before the cart drivers would make their later stop, taking back those who waited just a bit after sunset to huddle in the carts for warmth and brag of catches that were or almost were.
And with her buckets already containing a good number of creatures and things, not to mention the can that held the murderous bobbit, Alma set the rod down one last time to look at her blue sarane. “Seems like we’re coming to the edge of our fishing day. Might as well train you one last thing, right? Soak! Come!” The sarane came as commanded, snorting as he reached her.
She cycled through the other commands briefly to test him, leading him to sit on the still-warm stones. “Now,” Alma said, dropping a treat on the ground in front of him, “lay down.”
Soak did not lay down. The sarane maintained his sitting position and he bent his long neck to the ground, bending his forelegs only the smallest amount before his jaws closed shut on the minnow.
71 ((Soak Lay Down - 1 Start))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:50:33 GMT -6
The next minnow was dropped slightly farther than the first, this time landing beyond the reach of Soak’s teeth no matter how much he strained his neck in its direction. The new order was given, but his front legs refused to buckle as he bit at the open air, at one point nudging the minnow slightly farther away.
“Soak,” Alma rested her hand on his back, at the point just before the knob for his wings, “lay down.” She pushed him down to a surprised squeak, but he snapped up the treat without looking back at her. “Good boy, Soak. Now sit.” He pushed himself back up into the sitting position, and they started the process again, with Alma dropping the minnow just out of reach of him so long as he sat, giving the order to lay down as he tried to remain sitting and still reach the treat, and then lightly pushing him to the ground a moment after the order was repeated.
72 ((Soak Lay Down - 2))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:51:15 GMT -6
Soon Alma had removed the drop treat altogether, instead falling into a routine that boiled down to sets of giving the order to “lay down”, pressing the sarane to the ground from a sitting position but never so hard as to crush his delicate ribs against the stones, then giving him a treat. And soon, though he still would not bend his forelegs to lay down quickly enough that Alma did not feel the urge to help him, he no longer tried to struggle against the pressing weight of her hand once the new order was given.
Alma stepped away to check on her rod and potential catch, then returned to him. The order was given as the helping hand was applied, but this time she gave no instantaneous treat to the sarane. When he tried to push himself up with a squeak of complaint or demand, Alma said, “No, lay down,” and pushed him back to the ground. This part was repeated several times before he remained down long enough to convince Alma to give him one of the minnows from the mostly depleted bag. And so waiting joined into the cycle, just as it had done in the other parts of the training, and Alma found herself wishing she had brought a book.
73 ((Soak Lay Down - 3))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:53:11 GMT -6
Eventually, Alma found the patience to give the command to lay down and not immediately shove the sarane to the stones, reasoning that, “I shouldn’t hafta touch yah for it to work. And,” she chuckled, “I reckon it’s be a bit harder to push yah down when yer big.” So she waited, repeating it when the sarane hesitated. And, to her immense pleasure, he slowly slid his rear back while keeping his foreclaws where they were, ending up in a position that definitely fit the command to lay down.
That was worth an instant treat and praise, and she gave him another as he held the pose for a bit. Then she called him to sit again, then, just as he pushed himself back up, she repeated the command for him to lay down. His speed at laying himself down on the stones improved with time, but it occurred to Alma that she had only made him lay down after giving the command to sit first. “Which shouldn’t be an issue,” she told him as she stepped away from their most recent success, “but follow me anyways.”
74 ((Soak Lay Down - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:54:03 GMT -6
What followed was the addition of lie down to nearly every command, some of which the sarane picked up quickly, such as when the order was given to lay down after being told to stay. Others, like follow and come, saw the sarane hesitate until Alma repeated the command and pointed at the ground. Praise and pats were used more and more often as the remaining minnows disappeared, with Alma promising to give him a better cleaning back at the kennel as he presented a muddied leg or wing for her to scrape clean of mud.
The last of the minnows went down the sarane’s throat just after she saw to her rod one last time, leaving it to catch what it could, and the bobber to warn her as she started to pack up the rest of the supplies. “Soak, lay down” she told him when he squeaked at some shape in the falling darkness, and so he did, falling asleep as she packed away the last of the gear.
Using:
75 ((Soak Lay Down - 5 End? Soak-15.0))
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Post by Jack on Jan 1, 2023 16:07:53 GMT -6
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