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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 15:43:54 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 15:43:54 GMT -6
Morgan walked over to the frisbee now, hoping that the catch behavior would be understood by the houluh in order to transfer to the frisbee as well. Thankfully, the houluh was quite astute and also quite understanding of what Morgan was wanting. Morgan tossed the frisbee, and the houluh chased it down like he would the ball in the fetch game, keeping his eye on the floaty-falling disc as he did so. Eventually, he leaps up, and tries to grab it with his mouth. Surprisingly enough, he just barely got it. Then, he naturally returns it to Morgan, of course, because of the fetch game that they had learned. Morgan felt very good about this; it was beginning to get really nice! The two of them continued to play with the frisbee, Nico getting much better at the catching aspect. They played fetch for a long time, with Nico catching the frisbee, until Morgan noticed someone come up and sit down on the park bench. Ah, the vet was here.
[5] - [END 'Catch']
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 16:12:43 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 16:12:43 GMT -6
Tolerance should be quite easy, all things considered. Of course, Nico was a lot like Morgan, so the houluh was often a bit wary of strangers. Not enough to bite or hurt them, but enough to stay clear and quiet. This would be the houluh's first checkup, and most first checkups were done out at the park for a reason, at least for Morgan's creatures. Morgan had the houluh for a bit now, and normally would have gotten him checked up immediately, but Morgan wanted to make sure that he was trained well enough in order to be polite to the Vet. Morgan takes the frisbee and moves over to the park bench, picking up Nico in the process. Nico tolerated Morgan moving around his limbs and such, but Morgan knew that he needed to tolerate anyone that was required to touch him, to move his limbs around, as long as Morgan told him so.
[1] - [Start 'Tolerance']
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 16:29:16 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 16:29:16 GMT -6
The houluh is curious about the Vet, but stays obediently on Morgan's lap for now. Morgan gently started him off by picking up each leg and looking at it theirself, maneuvering them about and then putting them back down. Morgan then lifted up each ear carefully and looked in them, with the houluh sitting there patiently. Afterwards, Morgan gave Nico a treat and gently petted the houluh on his head and his ears. Afterward, Morgan gently put their fingers close to his mouth to lift up the houluh's gums and check their teeth. The houluh was a bit uncomfortable, but allowed it of course, because it was Morgan that was doing it. After this, Morgan quietly gave him another jerky piece and petted him. It was getting to be time to move him over to the vet now, so that he could learn that other people can check him too without anything bad coming to him.
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 16:44:33 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 16:44:33 GMT -6
Morgan nodded to the vet, and then gingerly picked up the hound, placing him in the lap of the vet. Morgan used the hand signal to tell him to stay. The houluh may be a bit nervous about this strange new person, but he wanted to perform all of the required commands regardless, and sat there, looking quite noble. Then, Morgan gave a calming word and petted his head. "Good boyo, Nico. It's okay, boyo." Soft coos soothed the nervous of the houluh quite expertly. Morgan knew how to deal with him well enough. "Alright, feel free to do your check." Morgan said, and the Vet gently reached forward, picking up a single front paw to check it out, lifting the leg expertly. The vet was an experienced one, and Nico wasn't harmed; though he was nervous. "Good boyo, Nico." As soon as the vet was done with the first leg, Morgan gave the houluh a piece of jerky for his trouble.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 16:47:34 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 16:47:34 GMT -6
So far, so good, even if it was just the start. This went on for some time, with the vet picking up a leg and checking it over, and the houluh being rewarded for being good while being handled. After a bit, the Veterinarian moved to the creature's ears, using an instrument to look inside of them. The houluh obviously didn't like that, but Morgan soothed him with a touch and gave him jerky after each ear. After a moment, the vet moved to the mouth, checking the gums and health of the teeth; the puppy teeth that were soon going to be coming out to be replaced by adult teeth. After this was done, with no growling, Morgan gave the creature another piece of jerky. After a soothing word, and lots of pets, the vet picked up the entire houluh, sitting him down on the grass. The next bit that was requested of the vet was to test getting the creature to move into a stack to be checked.
[4]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 16:54:51 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 16:54:51 GMT -6
A stack, of course, is used by show animals to best exhibit the proper body structures that a judge would look for in conformation shows, and of course in a show the judge would be moving the creature around in order to check all of the joints and such for defaults. This was the true reason why Morgan was teaching this for other people, and they also knew that it would be important to learn this so that Morgan could teach the proper walk for such things as well. The houluh tolerated being picked up quite well, Morgan was quite surprised that he seemed to be accepting this with decorum. Morgan nodded, and the vet began moving around the limbs, gently setting him into a stack, and then carefully ran their hands along the creature, checking all the typical spots that would be checked during a visit and in the show ring. After a while, Morgan was satisfied, and walked away for a moment to talk to the Vet about the creature's needs and health. The Houluh stood where he was left, in the exact position.
[5] - [END of Tolerance]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 18:10:50 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 18:10:50 GMT -6
Morgan was honestly not going to train this next bit, but they realized that they were kinda dumb for not realizing before that this might be useful when it comes to the whole hoop training thing. They should have done this first, sure it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but did anything really? Ah, well, it would help the canine in the long run, and it would look quite impressive in the show ring at the very least. The poor creature was a bit too short to jump through the hoops that Morgan planned to be holding over their head (despite Morgan's small stature) and the houluh could easily reach them if he ran up Morgan's back and leapt off, right? Morgan dug around in the backpack's side pocket again and went to pull it out. Why did they not think about this before? Sometimes Morgan was a bit scattered, since swallowing the chaos node.
[1] - [START 'Leap']
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 18:15:04 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 18:15:04 GMT -6
"Alrighty, boyo, let's start one something else, huh?" That was the idea, anyway. Morgan wondered if it would take a while for the creature to be able to manage to learn this one quite right, or not. Now... how to train this? Morgan wasn't really even sure how to train him to do this, but they figured they would train it to a specific body movement. That would be easiest during routines, right? Morgan pulled the hoop out, and then realized exactly how they were going to do this. Morgan held up the hoop waaay above their head, and then spread-eagled their other arm, keeping a very wide stance with their legs, leaned forward just a bit so that their back was flat so that the creature could theoretically run up it; and then, Morgan waited. The houluh saw the hoop and knew that he was supposed to go through that, but how was he supposed to get up there?
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 18:32:27 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 18:32:27 GMT -6
Morgan stayed bent down for a while, waiting. They figured that eventually, the houluh would be able to come up with his own idea about how to get to the hoop. After waving it just a bit to catch the creature's attention again, the houluh whined a bit, danced his little legs around, for a minute, paws barely hitting the grass. Then, a breakthrough. Morgan patted their back a bit with the off hand, and then got back into position. The creature knew exactly what the pat meant; that meant to jump up there. So after taking a bit of a running start, he jumped up onto Morgan's back and went through the hoop, trying to land on the ground the best he could. He wasn't used to jumping from that height yet, so he made a bit of a clumsy landing, but was right back up. Immediate praise, pettings, and treats were given.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 23:13:05 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 23:13:05 GMT -6
They just had to keep working on this behavior, Morgan was sure that it would only get better from here, at the very least. Morgan waited a moment for the houluh to finish his treat, and then immediately Morgan raised up to the same position, hoop above their head. The idea was that they would start first with Morgan being still as could be, but it would of course be important that eventually they would move to doing this while Morgan was moving. It would take a lot of work, and Morgan was ready to take that needed time. Morgan could feel the houluh jump up on Morgan's back, taking a good run for a minute, and then immediately go through, leaping out onto the ground from there, this time sticking that landing. Morgan gave him lots of praise and a treat, and then began the repetition process for this trick; making sure that Nico could continue to use Morgan's body as a ramp to run and jump up off of.
[4]
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 23:27:32 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 23:27:32 GMT -6
Lots of attempts were had by the time that Morgan was convinced that he could take the position as a command and then perform the trick, at least while Morgan was standing still. However, it was time to start practicing it from moving postures, and it was going to be just as much of a work out for Morgan as it was going to be with the houluh. They worked for the next hour with the typical training methods; only this time with Morgan running and then maneuvering into position; and then the houluh would run up their body and through the hoop, and then onto the ground. Lots of petting an then praise, and a treat of course, for each well-done attempt. The human worked with the creature again and again, until they were both quite tired; and Morgan was convinced finally that the houluh could perform this relatively dexterous leap while using Morgan's back as a ramp.
[5] - [END of 'Leap']
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Sparks
Jun 28, 2019 23:45:00 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 28, 2019 23:45:00 GMT -6
Morgan took a break for a bit, tearing up the jerky stripes into smaller pieces for the rest of the training session today. There was so much that needed to be done, and they really didn't have much more time to keep taking a break. They needed to re-work on the hoop training, since Morgan saw some weaknesses in Nico's memory of the hoop command. Morgan wanted to reiterate it to make sure that it would be alright in the long run. "Let's go, boyo, do the hoop thing again." Morgan put the hoop on the ground. At the indication of the hoop being there, Nico immediately went over to it, and then stepped through it. Morgan raised it up just a tad earlier, and indicated again by spinning it slightly and then stopping. The houluh made a quick hop into and then through the hoop. Morgan moved it just a tad higher.
[1] - [Rework; Through Hoop]
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Sparks
Jun 29, 2019 0:28:45 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 29, 2019 0:28:45 GMT -6
Once again, the houluh leapt up and then jumped through the hoop. Morgan was quite proud that he remembered it at this height, at least. Morgan bent down and then gave the creature warm positive reinforcement, as well as some petting and treats. The bespectacled human was beginning to feel a bit out of it, at least, and felt like it was important to stop for a minute or two in order to gather their thoughts. After working through the hoop command again to reiterate their previous training, they were going to move on to a few more behaviors; Morgan wanted to finish as much today as possible. They had the idea of going out and doing some gym training, eventually, and they wanted the creature to be as well trained as possible in the meantime. After this quick breather, they continued working on the 'through the hoop' trick that Morgan hoped they would get for sure this time.
[2]
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Sparks
Jun 29, 2019 1:04:16 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 29, 2019 1:04:16 GMT -6
It would seem at least that the houluh remembered the hoop commands to a degree, but Morgan wanted to make absolute sure that the command was sticking and that sooner or later, they would be able to move on to incorporating hoop tricks with the leap command. It was going to be quite difficult over all, but it was important that Morgan get used to this as well as the houluh. They would eventually work it into a routine, Morgan figured, for obedience shows at least. They began working with the houluh again, putting the hoop on the grass once more. Nico was more than happy to oblige, stepping through the hoop. Morgan raised up the hoop again, and went through the entire routine that way, each time the houluh went through it, Morgan would raise it yet again up. After making it up to Morgan's hip where a light hop was required to get through, Morgan gave the creature lots of praise.
[3]
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Sparks
Jun 29, 2019 1:11:23 GMT -6
Post by Morgan on Jun 29, 2019 1:11:23 GMT -6
After this quick break for lots of praise, Morgan raised the hoop up to a bit above their waist. "Think you can get this one, Nico?" It was a little higher than they had worked on previously, after all. Nico didn't seem nervous when he jumped through the hoop this time; his landing was very delicate; much better than usual. Morgan was quite impressed! "Good job, boyo! Great job Nico!" The bespectacled human said, gently petting the top of the houluh's head, gently petting the houluh's ears after that. Then Morgan gave him another piece of jerky for the trouble. This was then practiced several more times in the exact same way. The hoop would be presented, and the houluh would jump through it. After a couple of strange landings, he began sticking that careful landing each time. Morgan would then give him soft words and gentle pets before giving him a small jerky piece as a treat.
[4]
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