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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 17:22:55 GMT -6
For the next trick, Fiera wanted something else “active” for him to do. She dug through her bag, trying to get any sort of idea on what to do next. She didn’t have anything in particular in mind. Twinkle knew a few things already that she thought would make the judges happy at his debutante show, but you could never be overprepared. With that in mind, she still wanted to teach him a few extra things. She got to the bottom of her bag and didn’t find much- except for one lonely, discolored tennis ball. “…Ew.” She said with a crinkle of her nose. She must have shoved this in there a while ago to play with one of her pets and then just… forgot about it. For months. Honestly, she really should have thrown it out… but as she turned the shriveled green ball over in her hand, it gave her an idea.
Fiera 1 Twinkle 12.1/26.1 Catch 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 17:32:15 GMT -6
“Hey Twinkle, catch.” She said, before tossing it at the houluh in a gentle underhand. He had only barely turned around to look before the tennis ball hit him squarely in the head, bouncing off of his forehead and ricocheting off a tree back in Fiera’s general direction. He stumbled before righting himself, looking around with an expression of pure confusion. The humanish resisted the urge to laugh at her houluh’s misfortune and almost won, only letting out the slightest of sniggers. That just made Twinkle more confused, of course. “Well, now I’ve got to teach you, eh? If just for your sake.” She said before standing up. Catching a ball was a pretty good trick to teach anyway. It showed that the houluh was neurologically healthy and had good reflexes along with solid play drive. She had already trained Twinkle to bite down- maybe this would get him better with moving prey.
Fiera 2 Twinkle 12.2/26.2 Catch 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 18:22:16 GMT -6
Now though, he was definitely paying attention. Maybe he would do a bit better this time as a result. "Catch, Twinkle!" She said, and tried tossing the ball to him again, slowly and obviously, just like before. This time he reached up and at least TRIED to catch it... though it just bounced off his nose again and onto the ground, rolling away into the brush. Fiera sighed and went after it, with Twinkle wagging his tail. He was enjoying himself at the very least, though her back wasn't enjoying itself quite as much. After a few minutes she managed to find the ball again, pulling it out of the brush and holding it up. Twinkle sat down again, excited for the next go. Fiera sighed. "...Good catch, Twinkle." She said reluctantly while getting ready for the next try. She straightened up again and stood back from her pet a bit.
Fiera 3 Twinkle 12.3/26.3 Catch 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 18:43:52 GMT -6
"Alrighty then. Catch!" She said, hoping he would do a little better this time. Unfortunately, she threw it a bit faster than she intended this time, perhaps on some level trying to get it over with faster. TO her surprise though, Twinkle moved faster than she thought he would. He just barely managed to catch the ball, managing to grab it by the stray strands coming off the side of it. It wasn't the cleanest catch ever, but Fiera considered it a success- it was leaps and bounds better than the other attempts he had made. "Oh, good catch Twinkle!" Fiera said, and offered him a treat for it this time. He wagged his tail and happily let her have the ball. She took it gently from his jaws and traded it out with the meaty treat. He chewed on it happily while she backed away again, getting ready for the next try.
Fiera 4 Twinkle 12.4/26.4 Catch 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 19:08:59 GMT -6
Twinkle seemed plenty ready for it, sitting and wagging his tail before she was even all the way over. She couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, alright. Let's try this one more time. Twinkle, catch!" She said, and threw him the ball again. She did a proper throw this time, in a straight line, nice and fast. To her utter delight though, Twinkle leapt up and snatched it right out of the air, his body twisting elegantly to get him up high enough to grab it. Fiera was impressed! "I- huh! Good job, Twinkle!" She said, a smile creeping across her face. She admittedly thought it was going to take a few more tries to get it down pat, but he had certainly proved her wrong. Of course, when she went up to take the ball from him, he thought she was playing and started a game of keep away. So yes, she had trained him to catch- but not necessarily to give it back.
Fiera 5 Twinkle 13.0/28.0 Catch 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 25, 2021 19:36:10 GMT -6
Fiera had a bit of an idea of what to teach Twinkle next. He was getting a lot better in terms of behavior, but he still didn't like it when Fiera touched him too much or, gods forbid, tried to held him down. He was perfectly fine with her getting close, but actually touching him? Was a good way to get gently nipped. Fiera knew she had to cut that behavior out now before it could get worse- so she decided to teach him a bit of tolerance. Specifically, just getting him to accept her moving his body parts around or touching him in weird ways. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him, but it was definitely a requirement if she wanted him to be easily inspected by the judges, or if he needed grooming, or even if she needed to bring him to a veterinary office. There was a lot of potential uses.
Fiera 6 Twinkle 13.1/28.1 Tolerance 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 10:06:11 GMT -6
Luckily she had plenty of treats. Those could be used to gently reward him whenever he tolerated her touches- of which she would be giving him a LOT. She decided to start out easy and began stroking his fur, which he seemed happy about as it wasn't too different from the usual pettings she gave him. From there though, she started parting the fur in spots, as if looking for ticks or growths on the skin. He didn't seem quite as okay with that, so she handed him another treat just to make sure. He snapped it up happily, but still eyed her as she moved on. After a few minutes of that though, he seemed to relax. She had been doing it for so long that the sensations all blended together after a certain point. That was the point at which she knew it was safe to move on.
Fiera 7 Twinkle 13.2/28.2 Tolerance 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 11:00:05 GMT -6
From there, she went to his head. This was usually one of the touchier areas for houluh. Their eyes, ears, and nose were far more sensitive than any human's (or humanish's, for that matter). That, combined with the ease in injuring those areas, meant that all of Fiera's houluh were usually quite resistant of her touching them there. Twinkle was no exception, whining and yanking his head around as she tried it. She started slow then, working her way from the base of his head and going up from there. She rewarded him at each step of the process until she was able to look inside his ears, pull up his gums, and even check his eyes with little struggle. Which was a good thing, seeing as she had some VERY sharp nails. With enough treats though, he only wiggled his tail as she worked, letting her examine him with ease.
Fiera 8 Twinkle 13.3/28.3 Tolerance 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 13:12:06 GMT -6
"Perfect!" Fiera said sweetly, ruffling the fur on Twinkle's head to let him know he was doing a good job before she moved on. The next part she wanted to mess around with was his legs. An important part of houluh showing was getting them to stand in specific position and having good foot health, so she'd need him to allow her to mess around with his legs and feet. "Alright, let's see." She said, moving her hands down to his legs. She picked each one up and rearranged them, getting him to stand in new positions, at least for a couple seconds at a time. He was too hyper to maintain a position for long, but she could cover that later. She also picked up his feet, examining between his toes and gently messing with his nails to hopefully get him used to nail clippings in the future as well.
Fiera 9 Twinkle 13.4/28.4 Tolerance 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 13:25:34 GMT -6
Throughout all of that, Fiera was careful to keep feeding her houluh treats, making sure he was comfortable at each step before moving on. After a while he hardly seemed to notice her shifting him around, even after she moved on from his legs. With a bit of effort, she was able to get him used to touching and moving just about every part of his body. He was just as rambunctious as before and she couldn't get him to stay in any one spot for too long, but that didn't matter much. She could work on "stay put" later- this was just "don't be upset". And he was doing quite well in that regard. After about half an hour, Fiera sat back and called the trick done. He hadn't given her so much as a sour glance for that whole time, and she could put her hands on just about any part of him with no trouble. It was perfect.
Fiera 10 Twinkle 14.0/30.0 Tolerance 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 13:34:30 GMT -6
With Twinkle so well trained so far, there wasn't much else Fiera could think of for this specific training session. She had already taught him plenty of complicated tricks, from catching a ball to tolerating her touch, so there wasn't much else she wanted to teach right now. With that in mind, she figured that she would teach one more trick and then call them done for the day. Twinkle was starting to get cranky, and in a "I'm so tired" way as opposed to his usual brattiness. So if he needed a rest... perhaps she could teach him to lay down. It was an easy enough segue from sit, and he seemed to want the rest anyway. The judges would probably like that he knew another basic obedience trick, so really Fiera could see no downside to it. The only pertinent question then was whether or not Twinkle would obey.
Fiera 1 Twinkle 14.1/30.1 Lay Down 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 13:41:58 GMT -6
There was only one way to find out though. "Hey Twinkle. Twiiinkle boy." Fiera said softly, luring her houluh over to her. She would start him off halfway, just to get his feet in the water. It took him ages to make his way over though, tired as he was. This really would be the last trick of the day, huh. "Good boy, Twinkle. Now, sit please. Sit down." She said, encouraging him. Slowly but surely he obeyed, sighing as he sunk to the ground. Then, Fiera placed her hands on his shoulders. "Good job. Now- lay down." She finished, giving the new command to get him used to it right off the bat. To her surprise though, he resisted at first. Perhaps he was just sick of learning new tricks, but the young houluh heavily resisted Fiera's attempts to push him down to the ground, his legs trembling with the effort.
Fiera 2 Twinkle 14.2/30.2 Lay Down 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 14:02:25 GMT -6
Despite his protests however, Fiera was soon able to bring him down, his exhaustion apparently too much for him to disobey her for long. "See, was that so hard?" The humanish chided gently, before following it up with. "...Good lay down, Twinkle." She followed it up with several treats- more than usual to make up for the fact that he was no longer in the mood. That seemed to perk him up at least a bit, and the houluh hopped right back up, wagging his tail as he did so. Fiera smiled- time to try again. "Okay Twinkle- lay down!" She said, now that he had gotten at least one repetition in. He did crouch down... but his belly only barely brushed the leaf litter beneath them before he tried to hop back up again. In a flash, Fiera reached out to grab him, keeping him on the ground for a moment.
Fiera 3 Twinkle 14.3/30.3 Lay Down 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 14:08:14 GMT -6
"Oh, lay down Twinkle! Lay down!" She emphasized, keeping him there for a few moments before releasing. "Okay... good job! Good lay down!" She said quickly. The houluh didn't hesitate to get up again, especially once Fiera offered him some food for it. As he crunched away, Fiera stretched her hands briefly and got ready to try again- though she hoped she wouldn't have to hold him down this time. Twinkle was taking his sweet time with getting ready however, perhaps on purpose. When he finally swallowed those last two chunks however, he looked up at Fiera expectantly. Perhaps he knew that she wasn't letting him off that easy, and just wanted to get it over with already. Well, Fiera wouldn't disappoint. "Go on then Twinkle, lay down!" She said encouragingly. And to her relief, Twinkle didn't disappoint as he flopped down onto his belly, and then even over onto his side.
Fiera 4 Twinkle 14.4/30.4 Lay Down 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2021 14:16:40 GMT -6
He laid there for at least a minute or so until Fiera told him "...Ok, good boy! Good lay down!" Even then he was resistant to getting up. With a bit of coaxing however, the houluh finally rose to his feet and accepted his treat and praise. And just like that, they were done with training for the day. Fiera was relieved, and she was sure that Twinkle was too. They had worked their butts off, and by the time they finally exited the copse of trees again the humanish realized just how dark it had gotten. The fields had been cleared of their people, and it was a lot easier walking Twinkle out of the public park in comparison to the troubles they had been finding on their quest to get to training on their way in. In fact, the walk home was downright pleasant- a welcome change for both of them.
Fiera 5 Twinkle 15.0/32.0 Lay Down 5
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