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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:52:05 GMT -6
From there, Fiera figured that they were about done with the acceptance tricks. You could throw everything short of an explosion at Bubbles by this point, and she likely wouldn’t react- or at the very least, she wouldn’t panic. Her owner was impressed with her progress so far, and figured that they could work on some more “fun” tricks now that she had proper acceptance levels. As for what fun trick to teach… maybe something involving maneuverability. She didn’t want to teach Bubbles anything TOO flashy just yet, and instead wanted to work up to those crowd pleasers. For something between ‘boring’ and ‘flashy’ though, hmm… what was something else that she could build on? She pondered it for a bit, going over a mental list of what Bubbles already knew and what she wanted to teach… oh, that was it! Fiera clapped- Bubbles already knew ‘stack’ and ‘leap.
Fiera 1 Bubbles 25.1/50.1 Jump Up 1 Off 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:52:26 GMT -6
She had a great idea of how to combine the two. For the time being though, she clipped Bubbles’ leash on and walked through the field, looking for something that would be appropriate to teach this trick. Considering how wide and empty the field was, it took a while but soon Fiera was able to find a fitting object. A large boulder stood next to a worn down dirt path path, grey and stoic. Despite it’s old appearance, it was clearly cut from a much larger rock and was flat enough on top that a houluh could easily stand upon it as if it were flat earth. It was tall enough as well that if Bubbles were to jump up, her eye level would be about at Fiera’s chin. In other words, it made a perfect temporary display table, like the kind that you set animals on at competitions for the judges to examine.
Fiera 2 Bubbles 25.2/50.2 Jump Up 2 Off 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:52:47 GMT -6
Most houluh could be examined on the ground while stacking, but some people preferred to have their pups hop up on a table. Fiera could do it either way, but she figured that diversifying her options didn’t hurt if one judge preferred a certain method over the other. It would help Bubbles build on certain tricks she already knew too, and could probably help in veterinary appointments as well if she could hop up and jump down from examination tables on her own. Fiera let Bubbles sniff around and examine the rock while she got the treats ready, dropping the leash so she could walk freely. She would probably keep it on though- it would help guide the houluh to where she needed to go later on. Once Fiera opened a new packet of canine treats, she was ready to go- and judging from the look on Bubbles’ face when she opened the packet, so was her pet.
Fiera 3 Bubbles 25.3/50.3 Jump Up 3 Off 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:53:03 GMT -6
Fiera held a treat above the surface of the boulder, and could see that Bubbles immediately focused on it. “That’s it, jump up!” She said, waving it a bit. Bubbles pawed at the rock and whined slightly, scraping her claws against the stone as if it would bring the treat any closer. “No come on, you can jump up! I’ve seen you jump before!” Fiera said. Bubbles merely ran a few laps around the rock and stopped in front of it again. Then, she strained her neck as far as she could, stretching it toward the treat, as if she could turn into a baakir and not have this problem. Fiera’s lip twitched with irritation- this clearly wasn’t working. At least she had taught Bubbles some other tricks for situations like this, though. Hopefully she’d be able to segue ‘leap’ into ‘jump up’. She held her arm steady, giving Bubbles a good target to focus on.
Fiera 4 Bubbles 25.4/50.4 Jump Up 4 Off 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:53:22 GMT -6
“Okay Bubbles, leap! Jump up!” She said, patting the rock with her other free hand. Bubbles’ ears perked up at that, recognizing the command. Fiera kept patting the rock, and Bubbles finally placed her front paws on it, getting ready to jump up. There were a couple of false starts, quick hops that she thought better of and came back down from. Finally though, Bubbles braced herself against the boulder and heaved herself up in a flurry of motion, throwing herself onto the flat top of it. It was certainly messy, but it was what Fiera had asked for. “Good girl, Bubbles! Good jump up!” Fiera cheered, and set the treat in front of her. Bubbles stretched her neck out to take it and then stood up again warily, glancing around at the area from her new vantage point, as if everything was completely new to her now that she was up here.
Fiera 5 Bubbles 26.0/52.0 Jump Up 5 Off 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:53:53 GMT -6
They weren’t done with training yet though- now Fiera had to teach her how to get OFF of things too. The humanish crouched down on the ground, unnoticed by her pet, and gently tugged on the leash. She held another treat in her hand where Bubbles could see it once she got her attention. “Bubbles, off.” She said, setting the second command. “Come on, get down. Off. You can do it.” She said encouragingly, continuing to gently tug on the leash. Bubbles whined and stood there awkwardly at the edge of the rock, looking down. It wasn’t a long way up and it would be almost impossible for her to hurt herself if she jumped off, but Fiera supposed that Bubbles wouldn’t know anything about that. She had never done this before, after all. She shuffled her feet as Fiera kept trying to lure her down, clearly nervous about all of this.
Fiera 6 Bubbles 26.1/51.1 Jump Up 6 Off 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:54:11 GMT -6
Finally she half jumped, half slid off the rock, her indecision making it hard for her to pick one or the other. She stumbled as she hit the ground, and had to take a few staggering steps to balance herself again. Still, Fiera was satisfied- she did get down, after all. “Good girl, Bubbles! Good off!” Fiera said proudly, and offered the treat to her. Bubbles was happy to eat it, wagging her tail nervously. She clearly wasn’t very confident about doing this yet, but at least she had the bravery to try anyway. Now Fiera just needed to keep encouraging her until her performance of these tricks was… a little more graceful. She dropped the leash now though- hopefully now that Bubbles had the basic movements down, she wouldn’t need Fiera to tug on the leash to guide her. Fiera walked back over to the rock again and patted its surface.
Fiera 7 BUbbles 26.2/52.2 Jump Up 7 Off 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:54:31 GMT -6
“Okay Bubbles, let’s try this again- jump up!” She said, and held another treat above the rock. Bubbles whined and looked up at it, clearly wanting it but not being comfortable with the trick yet. Still, she did her best and put her front paws on the boulder again, before bringing her back feet up and bouncing onto the top of the rock in those two motions. Fiera was pleasantly impressed. She was sure that Bubbles could do it in one bound, but that was a lot better and cleaner than her first attempt. “Good job, Bubbles!” She said happily, and let the houluh eat the treat out of her hand. “Good jump up!” She continued, and gave her pet an appreciative pat on the head. Now she just had to get her to go down just as gracefully- hopefully that wouldn’t be too hard now that she knew the basics.
Fiera 8 Bubbles 26.3/52.3 Jump Up 8 Off 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:54:48 GMT -6
Fiera crouched again, and held the treat near the ground. “Bubbles, off!” She commanded. She whined again, still hesitant. Soon she couldn’t resist any longer though, and took a flying leap off of the rock. Fiera yelped quietly and ducked, feeling the houluh’s claws brush the tips of her ears as she passed by. She landed well though, and didn’t stumble at all. After that, Bubbles looked up and doubled back around to Fiera, her tail wagging. Fiera tried not to let her surprise show and attempted to stay calm- she did jump off a lot better than before after all. “Good off, Bubbles!” She said, and tossed her pet the treat. She had done a lot better this round, but Fiera had the feeling there was still room to grow. Now that she had a couple repetitions done though, she had the feeling it would be pretty easy for her to improve her form and smooth out the kinks.
Fiera 9 Bubbles 26.4/52.4 Jump Up 9 Off 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:55:08 GMT -6
Sure enough, when Fiera next asked Bubbles to jump up, she was able to do it in one fluid motion, even when Fiera wasn’t holding a treat. Fiera did give her plenty of praise though, happy to see her taking to it so well. And when she asked her to get down again, giving her the ‘off’ command, it appeared that Bubbles’ fear of ‘heights’ had fizzled away, and she came back to the ground again in one hop. It looked like she didn’t have any problems with this at all anymore, to Fiera’s relief. She gave it a few more tries just to make sure, but it looked like Bubbles understood the tricks quite well by now. That was two more tricks in the bag, and they now had that much more ammo to use in the upcoming salonne contest. Fiera was more than happy to check them off the list.
Fiera 10 Bubbles 27.0/54.0 Jump Up 10 Off 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:55:54 GMT -6
With ‘jump up’ and ‘off’ out of the way, Fiera decided that she could focus on some… cuter tricks. Fiera honestly preferred more ‘functional’ knowledge for her pets, stuff that they could actually use, but she also knew full well that that wasn’t what audiences liked to see. As silly as it was, they liked to see pets that could flounce and do funny things with the best of them. Fiera supposed she could see why that was relevant to a loyalty salonne show. The judges would want to know that the houluh would obey their owners commands no matter what, despite how ‘goofy’ the result would be. Houluh didn’t usually care about dignity, it was all about pleasing their owner… so Fiera supposed that a goofier trick would do right now. While she was at it, she might as well build off of an earlier trick she taught her.
Fiera 1 Bubbles 27.1/54.1 Roll Over 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:56:08 GMT -6
Fiera lowered herself to the ground and patted it gently. “Bubbles, lay down.” She commanded. The houluh looked at her curiously, but obeyed. She lowered herself to the ground, sitting prettily. “Good girl, good lay down.” Fiera praised casually, and then got out her treats. She held one near the ground by Bubbles’ face, then moved it to Bubbles’ right hand side- or right paw, as it were. “Okay Bubbles, roll over!” She commanded. Bubbles strained to see where the treat went, trying to grab it, and in her effort toppled over. The houluh was clearly embarrassed, and soon rolled all the way over to try and save face, returning to her original position. She gave her chest a couple of licks, clearly trying to play it casual. Fiera smirked at her actions, but was secretly pleased- that was exactly what she had been trying to get her to do!
Fiera 2 Bubbles 27.2/54.2 Roll Over 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:56:26 GMT -6
“Good girl, Bubbles! Good lay down!” She said eagerly, and gave her the treat. Bubbles seemed surprised that she was being rewarded for essentially falling over, but still ate the treat. She was a houluh still, after all- she would never turn down food. When she was done eating, Fiera got out another treat and held it to the houluh’s left this time. “Bubbles, roll over!” Fiera said eagerly, but Bubbles only side eyed her as she leaned toward the treat again. She tipped over again, slowly but surely, and soon righted herself again, having rolled over completely. “Yes, that’s it! Good girl, Bubbles!” Fiera said. She was pretty slow and unsure at this, but at least she knew to do it on command now, with the help of a treat. Bubbles was a good learner- you just had to keep working and be patient to let her colors really shine.
Fiera 3 Bubbles 27.3/54.3 Roll Over 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:56:42 GMT -6
“Alright, let’s try that again!” Fiera said after giving Bubbles that treat. “You ready, Bubbs?” She said happily. The houluh sneezed. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Fiera said, ignoring it. She got out another treat and held it in her hand, this time not to either side. It would look better if Bubbles could just do it on command, after all. “Okay Bubbles, roll over!” She said, and Bubbles looked at the treat… but slowly rolled over, completing a barrel roll across the ground. When she was done, she looked at Fiera eagerly. “Yep, you did it! Good roll over, Bubbles!” She said, and tossed the houluh the treat. She tried it again a couple more times after that, and Bubbles’ performance only got better and better, slowly speeding up and getting more graceful over time. Fiera was impressed with her progress, but there was still one more test to be done.
Fiera 4 Bubbles 27.4/54.4 Roll Over 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 2, 2020 13:56:56 GMT -6
“Okay, last time, Bubbles!” She said. Hopefully, at least. This time, Fiera didn’t have a treat on her. It was always best, in her opinion, if a pet knew a trick well enough to perform it without treats. After all, one never knew when they’d be in a situation where it might be needed (though she couldn’t imagine when for this specific trick), and most people didn’t carry treats on their person every second of the day. So Fiera’s hands were empty, and her eyes were determined. “Alright. Roll over!” She ordered. Bubbles sniffed at her for a second and realized she didn’t have a treat. Fiera bit her tongue, hoping that she would obey anyway… and to her relief, she did. Bubbles rolled over, making a complete rotation before looking at Fiera again for approval. “Good girl, Bubbles!” The humanish laughed before giving her a pat. “You did it!” With any luck, that meant that they’d have a chance at the loyalty salonne...
Fiera 5 Bubbles 28.0/56.0 Roll Over 5
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