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Post by Jack on Oct 10, 2020 8:01:29 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:48:39 GMT -6
Well, it had been a little while since Kadin was last here, but now he was back and with a new houluh to boot. Yes. He’d done it again. He’d adopted another puppy from the agency. But would anyone really be able to blame him when the puppy had been there for so damn long and no one had looked twice at it? He didn’t regret it at all, is what I’m saying.
Anyway. It was about time that he worked on Cirrus some more. The houluh needed to learn a few more things before Kadin was satisfied with his training so that was what they were here to do. He figured that there was a best thing to do.
Skip wasn’t really sure what was going on! He’d been in the kennels for a long long time and kept seeing other puppies go in and out of them with people. The people seemed nice and some of them he even saw multiple times taking home different puppies! But it had been a long time before someone decided to take home him. It was kind of sad because a lot of the people looked really nice.
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:49:41 GMT -6
While letting the other pup run around, was to start Cirrus off with something pretty easy. Cirrus was already pretty used to enclosed spaces. So Kadin wanted him to be alright with being in the dark, too. The best way he could figure going about that would be to have him in an enclosed, space, which he was already fine with! And make it dark.
So that’s what Kadin started with.
“Hey, Cirrus.” He said gently, putting the pup into one of the mid sized crates he’d brought with minimal fuss. He didn’t close the crate, at first. Instead he got a thin blanket and draped it over the crate, leaving the door open. That way he wouldn't get too nervous.
But they kept choosing other puppies to go home with and he never quite knew why? That was, until this human finally took him home. He’d seen him before, too! Like two other times before the time when he finally took him home. It was great to get out of those kennels! He’d liked them just fine, but it was hard to live your whole life just in a kennel for a while with no one ever bringing you home.
Accept Darkness: 1
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:50:41 GMT -6
This left the space still fairly well lit, just slightly shaded. Cirrus didn’t seemed bothered by it at all, to be honest. It’s not like it was dark in there. But Kadin wanted to start with something he was comfortable with, that was the whole fucking point, so that when he got to something he wasn’t comfortable with, maybe Cirrus would see that it was no big deal.
“Good boy.” Kadin praised, feeding him treats through the open door. “Good Cirrus.” He seemed pleased, at least. After a little while of sitting there with him and feeding him treats, Kadin closed the door. Cirrus still didn’t seem bothered by it, so Kadin also draped the sheet over the door.
Not that he needed to worry about that anymore! But, you know. It hadn’t been great. Playing with the people who did come by was fun, but when they didn’t pick you over and over again and you kept seeing new puppies get in and go home right away it started to get sad after a while. So he was really happy to have finally gone home with a person! And now he wasn’t even in the home!
Accept Darkness: 2
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:51:25 GMT -6
Still, Cirrus didn’t seem bothered. He couldn’t see Kadin anymore so he did while about that a bit, but he didn’t try to paw at the crate or get out. Everything was fine. Kadin kept talking to him from the other side, too, praising him for being good and brave.
After a little while, Kadin lifted up the sheet and gave Cirrus some more treats for taking this all in stride. It was probably time to move on to something else. Kadin put away the sheet and grabbed a heavier quilt instead. He draped this over the crate next. Once again, it didn’t completely block out the light since he wasn’t using black-out material.
He was somewhere else, the person had brought him somewhere else! He wasn’t really paying attention to him right now, but that was also fine, because he could run all over the place! There were so many places to look at and so many things to smell when you weren’t in a kennel all the time! He really liked it, although it was also kind of scary, so he stayed pretty close to the person even though he probably didn’t have to.
Accept Darkness: 3
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:52:16 GMT -6
The quilt was lightly colored fabric and still let some light through, but it was significantly more shaded than the blanket had been. He started off the same way with leaving the door open while Cirrus was inside, praising him and giving him treats for staying in there with no fuss. Cirrus’ tail kept thumping, pleased with all the treats and praise he was getting for doing basically nothing.
After a few minutes of making sure that Cirrus was as calm and relaxed as possible, Kadin draped the quilt over the entrance to the crate, too. He kept talking to Cirrus, talking him through it, telling him what a good and brave boy he was being. The houluh didn’t seem too bothered by it all.
That was also kinda nice because the person would talk to him sometimes. Even while he was mostly paying attention to the other puppy he had with him, sometimes he’d look over and say a word “Skip.” He had no idea what that meant, but the person was looking at him whenever he said the word, so it must be something in his direction. He had no concept of what a name was or anything.
Accept Darkness: 4 Name: 1
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:53:35 GMT -6
But once again he did whine a little bit at not being able to see Kadin anymore. Kadin let him sit like that for a few minutes before lifting the blanket to praise him and give him a treat. Then he let the blanket fall again and had Cirrus sit and wait for a few minutes more before lifting it and giving him a treat. He repeated this a few times before he was confident that Cirrus was fine in the semi-dark. Now Kadin figured that it was time to try him out for full darkness.
This one was a bit more difficult to arrange during the daytime, so Kadin came back with the pups later that day, during dusk. That way he wouldn't need too many materials to make it dark.
But whenever he looked at the person when the person said “Skip” the person would get really happy and offer him a treat! That was nice. So he stayed close to the person because he was nervous about being outside the kennels like this and whenever the person said the word “Skip!” And he looked over the person would give him another treat. He stuck even close to the person after that, tail wagging shyly.
Accept Darkness: 5 Name: 2
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:54:30 GMT -6
He covered the crate in thicker, black material that would block out all of the light from the setting sun. Then he put Cirrus back in the crate. As before, he kept the door open at first, praising him and telling him he was being good. Cirrus didn’t seem too bothered by the dark, especially not when he was getting treats! Kadin closed the door a little bit, but kept giving Cirrus praise and treats through the crack he left. Cirrus was a bit concerned by this, whining a little bit and trying to poke his head out so that he could see Kadin better, but he made sure the door stayed only a few inches open while also reassuring Cirrus and giving him treats through the crack.
It was still kinda scary to be out here, but the person had treats and those were GREAT. Skip was used to getting food, of course, and sometimes treats when someone was feeling nice and gave all the puppies treats, but not treats like this! Not like the person who kept giving him treats just when he looked at him! The person said the word “Skip” again while the other puppy was in the crate.
Accept Darkness: 6 Name: 3
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:55:02 GMT -6
Cirrus eventually settled down, tail thumping a bit against the crate again as he got used to still being able to see Kadin, but having to do so through a crack in the door and nothing else. In the dark.
Eventually, once Cirrus seemed fully comfortable, Kadin closed the door entirely. He kept talking to Cirrus in the same, soothing, easy voice, but he put the pup in complete darkness. Cirrus whined a little bit from in the crate, but Kadin kept talking to him reassuringly. It took a little while, but he eventually stopped whining and seemed to settle down. Once he was quiet and seemed calm for about 30 seconds, Kadin opened the crate back up to give him some treats and pets.
So Skip looked at him and he got another treat! Man, he could really get used to that. Even if the person’s attention was mostly on the other puppy, it was fine. There were so many things to smell out here, after all, and so many things to do. Skip even started exploring a little further out, from the person, just to see what was out there. “Skip!” He wanted to smell all the smells! “Skip!”
Accept Darkness: 7 Name: 4
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:56:19 GMT -6
Cirrus was pleased by this, proud of himself for whatever the heck he just managed to do.
Kadin closed the crate again after that. Once again, Cirrus whined a little bit, but eventually settled down. Kadin waited a minute before opening the crate back up this time for more praise and pets. He repeated this process several more times until Cirrus was going about five minutes by himself in the dark without a sound. Once he reached that level, Kadin figured that he sure wasn’t bothered by the dark anymore (or he might be getting sleepy), and decided to let him out. By now, it was fully dark outside, anyway, so he could test out and make sure that Cirrus was comfortable in the dark even outside the crate.
Oh! But the person said the treat word again! Or at least he seemed like he was trying to get his attention. Once Skip looked at the person again he got another treat! It was great! Then Skip went back to exploring. He really didn’t get to find that many interesting smells most of his life, so once he started to get more comfortable with where he was he started to explore more. “Skip!”
Accept Darkness: 8 Name: 5
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 11:57:53 GMT -6
It seemed that as long as he was near his trusted person, Cirrus was just fine.
Next up on the docket was teaching Cirrus to be fine with sudden movements. This one was going to be a bit more tricky and definitely involved coming back the next day so they could actually work on it when they could all see the sudden movements that were happening. Kadin brought a bunch of different things to help with it, too. Starting off, he just had some rocks. They were a simple staple to start with. The idea he was going to go with behind this training would be to basically make sure that Cirrus wasn’t reacting when he threw some rocks around.
But still, even when they came back the next day, every now and then the person would say that word again! In between talking about other things with the other puppy. He never got treats for paying attention to any of those other words, only when the person said, “Skip!” at him. So he looked over when he heard that word, wuffing quietly and wagging his tail in happiness when he got another treat. This was great! Being out of the kennels was great!
Accept Sudden Movements: 1 Name: 6
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 12:07:34 GMT -6
It seemed like the simplest to start with since Cirrus would be able to see the rocks before he threw them and he wasn’t particularly interested in playing with rocks normally.
Kadin had Cirrus stay near him while he started throwing rocks around. He had Cirrus leashed so that he wouldn’t be able to go off and run after the random objects that he’d be throwing around for this part of the training. He started by showing Cirrus the rocks. Then he started throwing them. With the first rock, Cirrus yipped and tugged at the leash as if he wanted to go after it. Kadin waited for Cirrus to stop tugging. To took a moment or two.
Oooh and now the human had new things out! Skip happily chased after the rocks whenever the human threw them! And then when he came back the human would say “Skip!” and Skip would look at the human and then he’d get a treat for it! The human was fine with him running around as long as he stayed close enough and he’d get treats! This was great! All he needed to do was look when the human said a word!
Accept Sudden Movements: 2 Name: 7
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 12:08:09 GMT -6
Then he waited a bit longer until Cirrus calmed down and looked at him instead of the direction the rock had gone in. Once he was calmed down complete, Kadin pet him on the head and gave him some treats for doing well. Then Kadin threw another rock and repeated the process all over again. He watched Cirrus, waiting for him to stop tugging on the leash, then to stop whining, then to calm down and look at Kadin for direction. Once Cirrus was calm, Kadin praised him and gave him more treats. That, after all, was the behavior he was trying to target. Cirrus being calm in response to movement.
Kadin continued on in this same way. He kept throwing rocks, waiting for Cirrus to be calm, and then praising him for being calm and keeping his attention on Kadin.
And even though the human looked busy with the other puppy he kept making time to give Skip attention, too! Skip always knew when it was time for him to get another treat because the human would say “Skip!” Then he’d look and he’d get another treat. It seemed pretty often, too, since most of what the human was doing was sitting and waiting with the other puppy.
Accept Sudden Movements: 3 Name: 8
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 12:08:44 GMT -6
It took a while, but over time Cirrus eventually stopped tugging on the leash whenever Kadin threw a rock. Then he stopped whining whenever there was a rock he wasn’t allowed to chase. Then he just started watching the rocks fly away when Kadin threw them. Then he stopped watching the rocks altogether, choosing instead to watch Kadin or to lay where he was, remaining calm even when rocks were flying all over the place. Kadin continued, each time, to praise him for being calm and keeping his attention on Kadin. He praised him once he’d calmed down and wasn’t looking to the rocks. Once Cirrus was able to have the rocks thrown around him without reacting at all, Kadin figured that that was good enough.
That looked boring, but Skip didn’t care because he didn’t need to do that. So instead of worrying about it he kept running after rocks or any other toys the human threw or had set up all over the place and then looking over whenever the human said “Skip!” This was a great system they had going and it was a LOT more exciting than the kennels that Skip had been in for so long.
Accept Sudden Movements: 4 Name: 9
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Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 12:09:16 GMT -6
He praised Cirrus some more and gave him some treats for a job well done.
Now it was time for something different. This time, Kadin set up a toy that moved randomly according to whatever breeze caught it. Since they were by the river, there was usually a breeze, so the toy was moving around at a fairly steady pace, with periods of moving more and periods of moving less. Kadin watched for Cirrus’ reaction to see what he thought of it all. At first, he was fascinated. He was straining at his leash, obviously wanting to go over and investigate the toy, but he couldn’t. He whined and barked, straining to want to see what this weird moving thing was!
He wondered if they’d go to other places, too, if he listened really well. He bet that there were all kinds of places to go and all kinds of new smells to smell! He also wanted the human to pay more attention to him, but he seemed pretty busy telling this other pup what to do. Plus it was fine. “Skip!” Because he kept saying that word! Skip barked happily and accepted a treat for responding to the word.
Accept Sudden Movements: 5 Name: 10
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