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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 19, 2020 10:56:51 GMT -6
Trick Goals: Name (1), Come (1), Sit (1), Stay (1), No(1), Follow (1), Catch (1), Follow (1), Fetch (1), Lay Down (1), Roll Over (1), Shake (1) Ability Goals: Swim (3) She'd owned houlou for how long now? It wasn't too long ago that Sevyrn had gone down to the houlou hall and finally registered to have an official kennel, though. It meant that she was about to put a lot of hard work in to her pups, but there was little that the young woman loved more than pouring her heart in to the creatures that she cared for. Maybe one day she could win a contest, or even start breeding pups - she would have to start with the pair that she currently had, though. She'd picked up Sweetie and Spot a long time ago, back when the labs first released the species, and they deserved the utmost care. Today she was focusing her attention on the little girl, a cream-spotted lady who she had been calling Sweetie. She was first in line to spend the day learning, and Sevyrn hoped to do a good job at it. 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 19, 2020 13:50:14 GMT -6
The little girl was excitable as Sevyrn wandered down the rocky paths to the training pens, running ahead on her leash only to get stopped every time by the sheer size and strength difference between the juvenile pup and the full-grown human that was with her. This place was new! It was exciting! Sweetie wanted to check out anything and everything that she came across. Life was so good, there were so many things around, and boy was the houlou happy to be out and about.
The first thing that Sweetie wanted to do once Sevyrn entered the training pen - one more on the small side, given that she didn't need the same space as she would with a wiurn or other larger creature - was run around and see what it was all about. That was all good, Sevyrn needed to get herself settled in. After unclipping Sweetie's leash, the houlou dashed off and Sevyrn got herself set up at a picnic table.
2
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 20, 2020 20:19:13 GMT -6
After everyone had a chance to get settled in, it was time to get to work. Loaded up with some training treats, the motivation to get some work done, and a very excitable houlou pup, Sevyrn had a challenge ahead of her. She planned on pushing herself as far as she could go, getting as much done today as she possibly could. If that wasn't enough time then she would be back at it tomorrow, and the day after that if need be. She (thought that she) had it all figured out.
"Hey Sweetie," she said in a soft yet excited tone, attracting the houlou's attention. Just that quick look was enough for Sevyrn to toss one of the treats towards where Sweetie stood - and as soon as she had the first one in her mouth, Sweetie was awaiting many, many more. "That's you-" she said in that same high-pitched excitedness. "You are Sweetie, and you are a very good Sweetie at that!"
Name - 1 3 (Sweetie - 2)
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 7:06:55 GMT -6
"What a pretty little girl," Sevrn cooed to the pup, petting her side vigorously as the houlou's tail went a mile a minute in pure joy. Houlou had such a life to them that Sevyrn couldn't help but grin as she stayed where she was knelt down at the houlou's side. "You are such a good little girl, Sweetie. You're going to love staying with me, I promise. You and I are going to have a great time, Sweetie." That was all this was about - repetition. All she needed was for the houlou to be able to aquaint the name she was given with herself. As she continued to work with the houlou, having a relaxed morning filled with cuddles and repetition, Sevyrn had to wonder about something. Houlou were show animals - and now that she had a registered kennel, she was probably going to need a show name for the pup.
4 Name - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 7:11:49 GMT -6
For a while, the houlou got a treat just for paying attention to her every time that her name was spoken. Eventually Sevyrn had to move on from that stage to make sure that Sweetie was becoming familiar with the association, and while she continued to cuddle and bond with the houlou the rest of the treats were being saved for later on. There would be much more work to do after this, after all, and Sev wanted to have some rewards left over for those commands as well. From what she understood she needed to teach the houlou about a dozen tricks before she would qualify to be shown, so there was much more work to be done... She'd been working on a list of ideas, but she still wasn't sure what all she wanted for her first show attempt. There was still time to figure that out, though.
5 Name - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 7:14:51 GMT -6
Eventually, Sevyrn needed to make sure that the houlou would respond to her name when off and doing her own thing - after all, this was about being able to get her attention when she wasn't already paying attention to Sev. For that purpose, Sevyrn pulled away from her and moved towards the middle of the pen. Sweetie had taken Sevyrn walking away to mean that she was free to run and play, which actually worked great for the current purposes. As Sweetie sniffed around, Sevyrn called out to her - and tossed her a treat when she looked towards the girl at the call of her name. After that she worked on seeing how well Sweetie acted when already occupied without the lure of the treat to encourage her. Sweetie was a smart little girl, though - she seemed to be doing absolutely amazing. Looking up when called wasn't really a lot of work, though. Sevyrn wondered how she would do with some further tasks.
6 Name - 4
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 7:52:41 GMT -6
What next? Sevyrn tended to follow up with 'stay' or 'come here' after getting the name basic down, so it would end up being one of those two commands. As Sweetie ran around, happier than ever, she ended up deciding to work with 'come' first. It was easy enough, though neither command was particularly difficult to work with. This might be her first time training a houlou, but it wasn't nearly her first time around the block with training the basics. If they were to ever get in to anything more complicated then she might have a harder time.
"Sweetie!" Sevyrn called, pulling the cream-spotted girl's attention towards her. Once she had it she flicked her wrist towards herself and called out to her. "Come here! Come here, Sweetiie!" She worked with that high pitched, excited voice that tended to get the attention of most, and as the houlou bolted towards the woman she continued to repeat herself. Once Sweetie was at her feet she crouched down low to the ground and gave her a really good pet, offering out a treat at the same time.
7 Come - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:06:58 GMT -6
Sweetie was so distractable that she went right back to frolicking around as soon as Sevyrn had finished patting and feeding her - running full speed all the way around the training pen and then completing a second lap of the place just for the fun of it before she stopped to chew at the long grass beneath a tree. It was a good time to try and call Sweetie back over to her once again. "Sweetie!" She called, but the houlou was still more interested in the grass. "Sweetie! Come here." The second call got the houlou's attention and then Sevyrn held out a treat to urge the little dog to come over. As Sweetie ran to her, she repeated the call to come to her until the houlou right past her and started to do little circles. "Come here," she repeated, pointing at the ground in front of her.
8 (Sweetie - 3) Come - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:12:21 GMT -6
Only after the houlou waited right in front of her did Sevyrn crouch down and offer her the treat, which Sweetie was more than happy to take from the woman. What a good little pup! She obviously had the energy and attention span of a puppy, but she was smart enough that she would get the hang of this soon enough. As they continued to practice, Sevyrn thought about two things - that she liked the idea of the name Ice Cream Sandwich for this girl's show name, and that she hoped that Spot would do just as well with his training when it was time for her to bring him in to the training pen. Sweetie was definitely treat motivated, though - she loved the good snack, and seemed to expect it from Sevyrn every time that her little paws ended up in front of the girl on command.
9 Come - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:18:02 GMT -6
Sevyrn desperately needed to train the girl out of thinking that she was going to get a treat every single time that she listened to her, though. After deciding enough was enough, that was the routine that Sevyrn started to work with - first every other attempt for a few rounds, then every third, and so forth until Sweetie seemed pretty content responding simply to that little bit of praise. Despite it seeming like things were going good, Sevyrn didn't want to rush the job - she needed to know that Sweetie was truly capable of listening to her without struggle. Because of that she kept it up for a while longer, no longer focused on the task but instead interrupting Sweetie as she went about her own business to test her skills. The houlou was responding well, and after a few test runs Sevyrn was happy to say that the girl knew what she was doing.
10 Come - 4
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:23:44 GMT -6
Stay then sit then maybe something fun, like learning how to fetch to give Sweetie a chance to learn something useful through play - Sevyrn decided that was the best route to go from here.Stay was another command that was easy enough to work with - Sevyrn would want to bring the houlou over to her and then get her to stay where she was while Sev backed away from her until eventually, Sevyrn would be able to trust her to stay where she was regardless of what Sev herself decided to do. Sweetie seemed to need a drink so she gave the houlou a minute to finish that up, but as soon as Sweetie was done she called the little pup over to her. "Come here Sweetie!" Once the houlou was waiting for her with a wagging tail, Sevyrn held her hand up. "Stay," she said as she took a step back.
11 Stay - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:27:48 GMT -6
Sweetie didn't want to wait where she was, she wanted to follow Sevyrn and see what she was up to. Sevyrn shook her head and gave the dog a firm 'no', stopping in her tracks until Sweetie had stopped excitedly moving around her. "Sweetie, stay," she repeated with her hand up as she once again started to step backwards, and the houlou's head cocked as she once again watched in curiosity. When Sevyrn was able to move the first few steps away, she tossed the little girl a treat for good behavior. Once she had finished the snack and was paying attention to Sevyrn once again, Sev started to back away while repeating the command that she was trying to teach once again. What in the world was going on? Why was her hand up? Sweetie was so interested in what was going on that it was hard to leave Sevyrn alone.
12 Stay - 2 No - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:31:34 GMT -6
"No," Sevyrn said once more, just as stern as last time with her finger pointed towards the houlou. When Sweetie continued to walk towards her and then bark at her from the base of her feet, she repeated the gentle chiding. She wasn't giving the houlou trouble, she wasn't doing anything wrong, she just needed to know when she had done something that she wasn't supposed to. Sevyrn didn't move or say anything other than no until Sweetie stopped bouncing around and was simply paying attention to her - okay, she had earned a treat for listening to Sev. After that the woman resumed the training, and Sweetie seemed to slowly learn how to stay where she was. No miracles were being made, but this time Sevyrn was able to get a few feet away from her and toss a treat, and it wasn't until she'd almost got to the next stopping point that Sweetie seemed anxious to follow her.
13 (Sweetie - 4) Stay - 3 No - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 8:39:18 GMT -6
From there on the pair worked in spurts, and Sweetie was slowly but surely getting the hang of it. She always seemed to want to follow after her human but that was okay - she could want whatever she wanted, as long as she was able to listen to the command that she was being given. After a while Sevyrn was feeling quite confident in the houlou's abilities, and she was rather proud of herself. This little pup had gone from bare-bones and untrained to grasping multiple tricks, all in the span of a day. She wondered how much more she would be able to get done today, but she didn't want to push the houlou's limits and overwhelm her. "Alright Sweetie, one more shot," the woman said as the houlou stood excited at her feet. "Stay here," she ordered and then walked off with her back turned, only stopping to see how the houlou was doing once she had made her way to the fence line. Once she was there she waited for about half a minute, and then excitedly called Sweetie over to her. "What a good girl!" She praised, as she showered the pup in love.
14 Stay - 4
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Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 9:18:08 GMT -6
Sevyrn elected to end the day with another simple command - sit - and then they would head back home for the night. More work could be done with the houlou tomorrow, there was no point in overworking her now when they had all the time in the world to get things done and Sweetie had been doing amazing today. This would probably require a little more work given that Sweetie would need to take a certain position rather than just moving around or staying where she was, but that was okay. With the houlou right in front of her Sevyrn said the word sit while she applied a gentle pressure to the girl's hips, repeating the command as she urged her to lower her rear end to the ground. Sweetie didn't seem too comfortable with what was going on, so Sevyrn paused for a moment before trying again.
15 Sit - 1
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