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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 21:36:17 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 21:36:17 GMT -6
Morgan knew that continuing to put in the effort of repetition was the most important aspect of training, and it was certainly working with Nico so far! Morgan continued to perform the same repetitious actions over and over again, so as to get the idea into Nico's head, make sure that he knew it well and would respond to it as soon as possible, and to make sure that everything was going quite well. Nico was growing more and more comfortable with sitting back on his haunches, as well as holding up his paws in the cute 'begging' fashion. He also began to tilt his head from side to side, which was a bonus in Morgan's eyes, it made him especially adorable. "Good job, Nico!" Morgan would give him lots of praise and pets, as well as the jerky treats. This was of course repeated until the creature was begging like a charm, just adorable.
[5] - [END of 'Beg']
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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 21:50:31 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 21:50:31 GMT -6
There was only one more thing that Morgan really, really wanted to work on today. The human glanced up at the sun, and took a moment to figure out about the approximate time since it was the first day of summer and all. After a moment, they realized that it was four in the evening! They really did not have time to work on this last thing that Morgan wanted to, but Morgan (perhaps unwisely) decided that they needed to work on this last thing. Morgan figured that since the creature learned so fast; that Nico would look absolutely adorable doing the classic 'roll over' behavior. Morgan figured that another whistle command would be best for this one, but what sort of whistle command? Morgan considered this as Nico rolled around on his back in the grass; getting the stuff all in his fur. Looked like he was going to get a bath as soon as they got home!
[1] - [Start 'Roll Over']
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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 22:44:40 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 22:44:40 GMT -6
Morgan finally decides upon a whistle command that sounded like the whistle that most people used to get the attention of someone. Morgan was sure that it would be charming if heard by others, and otherwise, it would be easy to remember. The bespectacled human was now running up against a sort of time limit now, and had to get started right away. It was not uncommon for Morgan to trudge in late in the evenings, but it was always a bit of an upset to the staff, and Morgan disliked dealing with all of the individuals acting up. Morgan would sometimes threaten to fire them, but not in a way that mattered. There were only three staffers; and only one of those had been working the grounds when their father had been about... Ah well.
Morgan crouched down close to the grass, and then pulled out the whistle. Immediately, Nico paid rapt attention to it.
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 22:58:32 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 22:58:32 GMT -6
That was... Refreshing. Seeing a creature so laser-focused yet eager to please was a brand new thing for the bespectacled human. Some were focused, but easily made upset, with others being eager to please but also not really all that smart. Nico took to training like a fish does generally to water. Morgan gave the new command on the whistle, and then gently pushed Nico to the side, making him 'roll over'. Afterwards, Morgan praised the creature, petting his head and tousling his ears, and then Morgan also gave the creature a piece of jerky. He was going well thus far, but Morgan was sure with some repetition he'd be able to do it on his own well enough. The command was soon given again, and Morgan could tell that Nico was trying to figure out what Morgan was wanting. Morgan gently pushed on the creature enough to 'roll it over', and then praised the houluh and gave him another treat.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 23:06:21 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 23:06:21 GMT -6
Of course, up to this point, Nico did not quite understand what was going on yet, but Morgan could tell that he was well on his way to a breakthrough. It would seem that this was another of those difficult concepts for the poor critter, but Morgan believed in him, at this point. Today was not only a bonding experience on the side of the houluh, it would seem. Morgan was already feeling attached to the tiny hound. Morgan called out the command yet again, and this time Nico rolled over onto his back himself; Morgan rolled him over the rest of the way, and then gave him lots of praise and a treat. Morgan could tell that he was getting it. Upon the next repetition of whistling the command, Nico rolled over by himself completely for the first time, and Morgan couldn't be any prouder. "Good boyo, Nico!" Morgan could have almost jumped!
[4]
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Sparks
Jun 22, 2019 23:16:47 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 22, 2019 23:16:47 GMT -6
The breakthrough was definitely a good thing for Morgan this go around, since it was getting later in the afternoon now, and it was important for them to get on their way after this. Repeating all of the things was incredibly important, and thus far today they had done quite well today with that aspect of training. Morgan would continue to do this on this last behavior today; giving the command using this whistle, an then of course treating and petting the houluh pup whenever he rolled over in response. Morgan was pleased with how quickly he was learning; command then roll over, lots of treats; repeat. It was not difficult, and it was funny to watch the houluh pup as he got better and better at rolling over. Morgan eventually felt as if Nico had gotten the rolling over behavior down pat. Morgan packed up everything, and put the houluh in the wicker basked; telling him to stay. Soon, the two were on their way home; Nico was going to come to his new home for the first time, and Morgan was stoked.
[5] - [END of 'Roll Over' - The two go home.]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 14:59:37 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 14:59:37 GMT -6
The egg was a strange addition to Morgan's daily life. They carried it everywhere with them, and the staff didn't even blink an eye at the strange behavior. Ah, well, it made sense. They got paid too much to care, right? Morgan gently nestles it into their backpack and then gets Nico ready for the walk. Training again today, it would seem. Last week they had went to the mansion, the next day they had gotten a pet bed built for the houluh by the Jackalope, and a few days later, Morgan had began studying chemistry. It was absolutely required to be able to come up with the perfect diet for a Houluh. Today, however, was training day again. "Alright Nico, want to go to the park?" Morgan wasn't sure exactly when they had began talking to Nico like he was more person than dog. Weird.
The park was nice today, and Morgan wasn't sure what to start with. They'd brought everything they figured that the dog would need today.
[1]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 15:05:38 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 15:05:38 GMT -6
Plenty of jerky to be torn up into treats an plenty of toys; Morgan planned to teach the pup about which ones were which at some point hopefully. Morgan had even brought the whistle for more commands to be used today; just in case there were any that would require a long-distance aspect. The houluh was waiting patiently to be let off of the leash; Morgan un-clipped it from his collar and the houluh sprinted around, getting some of that energy out. That was... Nice at least. "Good boyo, Nico." There were a few things Morgan needed to sit down now, of course. They were in the same place in the park this go around; Morgan sat the half-barrel of toys down; and started shredding the treats from the box they had been using. There was still so much jerky in this; it was really nice. Not really good for humans, of course, but more than good enough for a houluh in the meantime.
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 15:17:23 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 15:17:23 GMT -6
Morgan would have to figure out now which behavior they were going to work on first. The houluh sometimes picked up commands incredibly easily; so they were probably about to work on a large amount of them. Morgan sits their backpack down gently, and pets the egg that they had woken up with that day. Who knew where it came from? It bothered Morgan a little bit. In fact, they'd been having a difficult time sleeping lately. They kept having weird dreams that they didn't remember upon waking, but it usually took then a moment to realize who they were and where they were and WHY they were. Nico sometimes slept in the bed, and sometimes in his own barrel bed. Morgan realized pretty quickly that the houluh would curl up against them whenever they woke up feeling more stressed than usual; nightmares, it must be. The bespectacled human gently closed the backpack, and then turned to the houluh.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 15:24:39 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 15:24:39 GMT -6
Morgan's life had been turned upside down recently. Of course, it had first been turned upside down whenever their father stopped coming home at all; but this was the first really weird stuff going on since then. They had prided theirself on their relatively calm, quiet life of study. Now they had swallowed a node (which was actually a lot more trouble than Morgan had expected), bought, trained, broken, and subsequently had to get a sarane revived, found several tat-lungs to train, and even wound up with a weird rock that they somehow just knew was an egg. Oh, and they got a dog, too. How bizarre. Morgan's life had perhaps spiraled way out of control just a little while back. It was not ever going to get normal again, was it? The houluh made it feel a little more normal, somehow. "Alright Nico, I gotta figure out what we are working on today, buddy."
[4]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 16:42:25 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 16:42:25 GMT -6
Morgan should probably plan ahead better. In fact, they had attempted to, but there were really hardly any bounds when it came to houluh, they could nearly do any trick imaginable, roll over, shake, beg, the works. Tricks were almost invented for these sorts of animals, it would seem, at least commonly enough. Moran petted the houluh's head and then pulled ever so gently across his huge ears. "Such a soft, good boyo. Yes, Nico's a good boy." He was beginning to understand what the meant, it would seem, or maybe it was the body language, but Nico was wagging his tail, hitting the grass with soft thumps. Morgan continued to consider which of the tricks they should work through first. At some point today, the Vet was supposed to come see Nico, to help train the creature to accept movements from others (absolutely needed for any show animal).
[5]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 17:49:35 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 17:49:35 GMT -6
Morgan finally decided that they would start with some really easy tricks to learn, so that they could stop easily whenever the Vet got here in order to check him. He'd been doing well thus far, so Morgan figured that he was fine, but Morgan liked to be absolutely sure about that sort of thing. They'd used the same Vet that their father had used for a long while, and was quite serious about continuing to make sure that their creatures were in good health.
As for the first training bit, Morgan figured that the easiest thing would be the best. Shake would be a good command, and Morgan hoped to train it to a hand signal; or rather, when someone put their hand up to shake, Morgan wanted Nico to automatically put his paw up to shake. It wasn't going to be difficult at all; this was another one of those things that could be taught easily to most canids using the same method.
[1] - [Start 'Shake']
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 18:00:48 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 18:00:48 GMT -6
In order to do this, Morgan would have to show the creature when to do this. Morgan gently held up their left hand with the palm up and with slightly curled fingers; so that a paw could reasonably be expected to be placed there. Then Morgan gently touched the back of the houluh's leg, gently lifting it up. Nico looks at his paw in a strange way, and then up at Morgan before glancing over to the hand that Morgan sticks the paw onto the palm of. Then, Morgan shook it gently. "Good boyo, Nico!" Morgan said, and then petted his head while giving the creature a piece of jerky from the box. Nico didn't seem like he was catching on quite yet, but he did seem to want to please Morgan at least. He took the jerky and then pushed the top of his head into Morgan's palm cutely.
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 18:12:21 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 18:12:21 GMT -6
Morgan had originally tried not to get attached to the creature. However; that was a lost cause nearly from the first second that Morgan had received that little wicker basket with the puppy in it. Morgan was now a bit afraid that something would happen to it; irrationally afraid. Waar's incident had made the bespectacled human a bit clingy with their creatures. No one was allowed to feed them but Morgan; none of the staff. Morgan somewhat assumed that someone else had accidentally hurt Waar that night, since they still weren't a hundred percent sure what had happened there. The human tried not to think about it, but looking into the wavering eyes of the tiny trusting puppy, Morgan hated the idea of something happening to him.
The human put their hand out again in the exact same way, trying to see if Nico would try to do it himself, or if he would need help.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 25, 2019 18:35:54 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 25, 2019 18:35:54 GMT -6
Nico did not at all try to put his paw in Morgan's hand at first, which was to be expected, however, as soon as Morgan leaned forward to lift the puppy's front paw up to do the shake, Nico immediately seemed to get it, and gently put his own paw in Morgan's curled hand. He learned quick; quicker than most canines even. "Good boyo, Nico!" Morgan said, with lots of pettings on the critter's little head, and then of course he was given a treat. This was always a good sign; after this, he would only improve, if their earlier training were any indicator. "Such a good boyo, yes." Morgan cooed, and then gently touched the creature's cute ears. "Alright, now we only have to do this about a billion more times. Not literally, of course, Nico." Morgan talked, hardly paying attention to it all that much. The creature was small.
[4]
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