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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:36:27 GMT -6
But given that she didn’t seem particularly motivated, he had to start somewhere. Letting her see that there was something in it for her was a good place to start.
She sure was quick about picking up the food though. Good ol’ Sarane. The other two were also paying more attention now, having already had a taste or scenting it in the air nearby. It wasn’t even as if he had lightened their meals the day before or anything either, though it was good to see he didn’t need to.
Finally, he got to the other end of the pens he had set up, where Arnica was staying. She was already watching him, and when he tossed the first ball at her, she immediately moved out of the way. He wondered if she was cleverer, or if it was coincidence, or whether she had simply been watching the other two have their go and had figured it out. Whatever it was, she had done as he wanted on the first try, so he rewarded her for it with a treat. “There’s a good girl. You know what you’re doing, huh?”
From there, he drifted back to Axchel. The first ball he threw managed to hit her on the rump, but she was moving now. Trouble was, she was looking to him for a treat after moving, even though she hadn’t dodged it. Aster thought on this for a moment, and decided to try something else.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:36:56 GMT -6
This time he deliberately aimed just shy of her. Axchel still didn’t move in time, but this one didn’t hit her, and he wanted her to see him rewarding her for that. He tossed her a piece of meat, and she snapped it up as soon as it hit the ground.
While she ate, he moved onto Dustdevil. Dustdevil was paying him more attention than Aster thought the task deserved, but more was probably better than less, right? Aster eyed him for a moment, before deciding to just go for it and throw the ball. Rather than dodging out of the way or letting it hit him, Dustdevil snapped at it, changing its course. “You want to fight, do you?” Aster said. Too bad that wasn’t what they were working on right now.
He threw another one though, and then a third, when the second one landed a hit on the drake’s flank. “Come on old boy, you can do it,” Aster said. It probably wasn’t the encouragement that did it, but Dustdevil did move away from that third ball, so Aster tossed him his reward for his troubles.
He was starting to feel glad that he had put Axchel in the middle, because it had become clear after two passes that she would need more work than the other two. At least Dustdevil had managed to do what Aster wanted out of him twice, even if Aster didn’t think that the drake had necessarily grasped the concept yet.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:37:09 GMT -6
And Arnica, if that first attempt hadn’t been a fluke, seemed quick on the uptake - he would find out whether she really was when he got back to her. But Axchel still hadn’t managed to do it.
Third pass was the charm, right? At least Aster hoped so, anyway.
“Come on girl, you can get this.” Aster tossed another ball at her. It grazed her side, and she nosed at the spot where it had touched her, then rumbled at Aster again. Sighing, he threw wide once more, then tossed her a piece of meat. But this time he didn’t move on. He wanted to see her get this, and if he kept rewarding her for not quite the right thing, he was afraid she would just get the wrong idea after a while.
Hoping for the best, he threw the ball.
This time Axchel finally moved out of its way. Aster hadn’t made it very difficult, aiming for her side again rather than squarely on her, but she had finally done it of her own volition. “See, there you go,” Aster said, and gave her another reward. Hoping to reinforce it a bit further, he even tossed another ball at her, rewarding her again when she moved out of the way this time.
By that point, the attention of the other two Sarane had clearly been attracted. Arnica hissed vocally, and Dustdevil was beginning to look much more interested in trying to get past the fencing and into Axchel’s pen.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:38:01 GMT -6
“Okay, okay, you gluttons,” Aster said, shaking his head at their antics. They sure were eager now. He tossed another ball at Arnica, and she darted right out of the way this time. Aster gave her the treat and began to move away, but she actually came up to the edge of the pen and nudged him, presumably for another. She had been worked with before, and was less sluggish than Axchel seemed to be, at least today. It was good to see that she was comfortable with people, even if she didn’t know him that well on a personal basis.
He threw another ball for Arnica, and threw another treat for her when she dodged.
Having established what he wanted from each of them, Aster took a step back from the pens so as to get a better angle on all three, and began to exercise all of them at once. If they wanted more food, then so be it. He tossed balls at each of the Sarane in increasingly quick succession, and not always in a particular order either, so that they didn’t become reliant on watching their fellows for cues. If he saw them dodge it, he gave them a reward. If they didn’t, then no dice.
With the increase in repetitions, and the immediate reinforcement with the food treats to motivate them, it didn’t take them long at all to get into the habit of moving away from the ball when it was thrown.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:38:16 GMT -6
After a few rounds in which all three of them performed pretty consistently, Aster figured it was a good place to end the first session. After all, he didn’t want to put them off their proper meals either.
Besides which, none of them had been worked with for at least a significant period of time, not to mention the fact that Dustdevil hadn’t really been worked with period. He wanted to give them time to acclimate to having to do all this again.
But a break was just a break, and the next day he led them to the same pens. This time, Arnica and Dustdevil were less inclined to snap at one another, recognizing this as the place where they had gotten fed yesterday. Seeing this, Aster decided to put them in a different order of pens just to change things up.
Aside from that though, this session was more of the same: Aster threw the balls, and rewarded them when they dodged out of the way. There was still a bit of struggling at the beginning, but it was nothing like the previous day, and it only took a couple of attempts before the three Sarane were back to dodging most of the time. By the time the session ended, they were dodging all the time, so their technique had definitely improved.
Over the next two days, Aster kept reinforcing that routine, and he began wandering around the pens again to come at them from different angles.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:38:42 GMT -6
That got the Sarane to start tracking his movements, and not merely anticipate the balls from the same place. It took a little time for them to get acclimated to this change, but not as much as it had taken them to get down the initial concept. And with repetition and reinforcement, they were soon doing it consistently once more, just as Aster had hoped they would.
That was good. It was probably a good time for them to move on.
The next time Aster took them down to the pens, he set up visual obstructions around the walls. This way, the Sarane had a harder time seeing what was going on, and therefore, where the ‘attacks’ - if they could be called that - were coming from. That was the key aspect of this skill, the ability to be aware of one’s surroundings and anticipate what was coming. Aster had done it this way with some younger whelps, and even with that Laredo he had trained for a particular tournament. It ought to work with these guys too, given a little time and effort.
The panels he attached to the fences were fake foliage, and rather sparse at the moment. He didn’t want to go all in with completely blocking off their ability to see outside the pens right off the bat, especially since he had no way to explain to them why this was happening, the way he might have with a creature that he was telepathically connected to.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:39:19 GMT -6
He gave the three of them some time to explore this new set-up, sniff around, and get settled in. This was a change to their environment, and he didn't want them still fussing when he expected them to pay attention. Once they seemed to have settled, Aster began his work.
The procedure was the same as it ever was: lob some soft balls at the Sarane, and feed them if they dodged. They could still see fairly well at this point, so Aster didn’t really see a reduction in their dodge rate.
But the next session saw the visual obstructions get more dense, and then the three Sarane dodged less well all across the board. Right, this was where the real work would start again. Right away, he saw Arnica and Dustdevil both on high alert. The two of them began listening more intently, and their rates improved more quickly. Axchel was slower to adjust, but eventually the desire for treats finally motivated her enough to begin trying to pay attention in other ways. After all, she could smell the meat, and the fact that she wasn’t getting any when it was clearly right there had to be infuriating for a hungry hen.
They continued on in this manner, with Aster intensifying the visual obstruction after the Sarane were dodging consistently again, until they had worked up to a point where they couldn’t see him anymore - nor he them, which naturally made his aim worse, but they were pretty big targets.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 0:42:35 GMT -6
The pens weren’t claustrophobically small, especially because they needed room to be able to dodge in the first place, but they weren’t so big that Aster’s chances of throwing wide were too high either. He practiced with them a few more days after that, then finally pronounced himself satisfied. It would be enough, he thought.
Now he just had to work on desensitizing them to intimidation tactics. It was time to pay Grunty a visit. Or at least it would be soon, anyway; probably not today. The three Sarane that Aster was training had all earned a break.
They were, all of them, if not fast learners, then at least not terribly slow either. Arnica was probably the sharpest of them, as befit the stronger, cleverer third tiers. Aster would have chalked it up to being one of Avander's descendants, but Axchel had the same claim, and she was clearly the most sluggish of the bunch. Aster wondered if she was lazy, or if it was genuinely a matter of intelligence. Having only taught her the one thing, it was hard for him to say either way at present. It could simply have been that he had another Grunty on his hands - she was at least motivated by food, which gave him an angle to work from.
And then there was Dustdevil. Poor old boy. Aster suspected that some of his attentiveness to his surroundings came from the fact that he had fought so much in the past.
11 (temp exit for Arnica)
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:22:58 GMT -6
Dustdevil was aware of danger, and of the fact that something coming his way might be an attack. That sense of priorities was useful for training up a creature who was going to see more fighting somewhere down the line, but also spoke of his long experience with these things. Aster could only wonder what he would make of Grunty when the next session came.
With their reflex tune up out of the way, Aster ended the session and led them all back to their respective stalls. The lot of them didn’t return again until a few days later, after an interesting trip into the mines with Arnica to test out some experimental measures. It wasn’t that what they were doing was going to be particularly strenuous, but Aster didn’t want to tire them out over much, or stress them out when they were already feeling not at their best.
Thus, by the time he led the three Sarane out to the area where Grunty was penned, they were bright eyed and bushy tailed - in a manner of speaking, of course, since none of them were fur-tails. All the energy was proving to be a bit of a distraction, if the way that Arnica and Dustdevil were glaring at each other were any indication. Fortunately, Aster was able to intervene before they could cause too much trouble, but he was going to be glad for Grunty to give them something else to think about, that was for sure.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:23:20 GMT -6
Not that Grunty had to do much. Simply being in his presence was enough, which worked out for everyone; the Gug liked it best when he had to expend no effort, and he was placid enough that there was no risk of him doing anything that was genuinely threatening. Azalea, who was more active, might make a gesture that the other creatures interpreted as some sort of attack by sheer accident, but Grunty was like a bump on a log.
He never did fail to unnerve the creatures that came into contact with him though, and unfortunately for the three Sarane, they were no exception. As soon as they came close enough to the pen for the Sarane to get a good look at what was in it, Aster could see them starting to react.
Dustdevil hissed and mantled his wings, immediately readying himself for a fight. Axchel simply froze on the spot. Arnica flattened herself, also hissing, but more softly. It was clear none of them wanted to be around the big, intimidating creature with the ominous looking crest on his head. It was a reaction that could be overcome given time, but nevertheless it was a potent thing, and right now the three of them didn’t know any better.
Aster found that the best solution to the problem of being frightened by a big creatures was to distract the pet being desensitized. If they could focus on something else for a while, they could forget the presence of the creature that was freaking them out.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:23:32 GMT -6
And if this happened enough times, and nothing bad happened, slowly the creature being desensitized would adjust.
There were a variety of tactics he’d used before to achieve that level of distraction, but at the moment he figured food would be his best bet. The two hens both knew some commands, but they were fight related, and he didn’t really want to put them in a combative state of mind right now. “Come on you guys, look here. I’ve got a treat,” he said, and held up a little piece of meat. Axchel looked over to him, and he could see that Arnica was torn, but Dustdevil was still focused hard on Grunty. Aster supposed it would make sense that he would be the one on high alert, all things considered.
Sighing, Aster stepped over to Dustdevil and waved the meat around right under the old drake’s nose. If that didn’t get his attention, Aster didn’t know what would. Fortunately it was enough, and Dustdevil finally allowed himself to be pulled away. Seeing that it had taken some effort to get his attention, Aster decided this was enough to reward Dustdevil for now.
Having seen one of their fellows eat, the hens began jostling to get fed too. This normally wasn’t behavior that Aster wanted to encourage, but they weren’t paying Grunty much mind, and so for the purposes of their training today, he could praise them for it and give them a treat.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:23:50 GMT -6
They would have to work a little harder from that point on though, because now that they saw that there was a possibility of getting fed, it was much easier for Aster to get their attention. Aster led them around with meat, not very close to Grunty, but still within sight of him - otherwise, what would be the point of this? And so long as they stayed distracted, he would feed them every so often. If one of them became fixated on Grunty again, or froze up or otherwise seemed to be freaked out, he would wave a treat under their nose and talk to them in a soothing tone until he could get their attention again. He didn’t really have any backup plans for if this tactic failed, but luck was on his side, and it managed to do the trick every time.
In this manner, they carried on for a little while. It wasn’t perfect, and the Sarane did occasionally still have to have their attention redirected, but they had definitely improved a little. This desensitization also took time, and Aster knew better than to rush things. He didn’t want to stress them out too badly, so he ended things there.
They came back the next day for another session. This time it was clear that the Sarane had mixed feelings about what was happening, since they remembered the frightening creature that had been there the previous day… but they also remembered getting fed there.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:24:07 GMT -6
Aster leaned into that, coaxing them forward with meat until they began to balk. He set that as his perimeter for that day, taking them no closer to Grunty than that, but also not letting them wander any further away.
Beyond that, it was more of the same. Lead them around with the promise of treats, and actually feed them every once in a while so long as they stayed calm. They seemed to have an easier time of it today, marginally; he thought, at least, that they froze up less, and he didn’t need to directly intervene quite as much as he had the previous session.
Aster ended it after a little while though, because it still did look like a stressful experience for the Sarane, and he didn’t want to cause them undue hardship.
From there, it was a series of similar sessions. They would go to Grunty’s pen, and Aster would see just how close he could coax the Sarane each time. The distance did gradually shorten, especially since there were three Sarane in the group. When they were all being cowed by the same ominous beast, the petty squabbles that Arnica and Dustdevil had suddenly didn’t seem so important anymore. And even if the three of them weren’t friends, at the very least they were familiar with one another, and none of them were as scary as that thing.
In this, Aster’s champion turned out to be no other than Axchel, of all of them.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:24:39 GMT -6
She was the least bothered by Grunty’s intimidating aura - or maybe she just liked food the most. Once again, it was hard to say for sure. But whatever it was, she had the most gumption out of the three of them, which was funny because she had been the least apt when they had been learning to dodge. She would come further than the other two, and then Aster would make a big deal of rewarding her. Arnica and Dustdevil would see it, and eventually become hungry or jealous enough to come to where Axchel was being fed, and so all three of them made the same amount of progress, which was definitely more than Arnica or Dustdevil would have made of their own volition.
As the sessions went on, the Sarane also definitely got distracted less frequently, and it became easier and easier to get their attention back if they were. They were getting used to coming out of their fear, and allowing Aster to redirect their attention. And because nothing ever really seemed to happen, slowly the fear itself started to wear thin.
Eventually, Aster could get them right up to the edge of Grunty’s pen, and could lead them around without much issue. Slowly, they were getting closer to having the three Sarane fully desensitized to Grunty's presence. From there, Aster began to start weaning them off the treats, feeding them less frequently to see whether they really had gotten over their fear of Grunty.
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Post by Noa on Mar 23, 2021 21:25:54 GMT -6
At first, they still had moments where they still froze and stared at him, or slunk away before Aster intervened. But over the course of another few days, as they went through it more and more often, they slowly stopped paying any attention to him anymore.
Seeing that they were able to be calm around Grunty, Aster asked the Thundergug to test their limits a little further, but waking him up and asking him to move around a bit. Aster was desensitizing the Sarane to intimidation tactics that may well see use in the course of fighting, so it would do them no good if they balked the minute the object of their fears started moving. Grunty obliged reluctantly, thudding around in his pen… And the Sarane looked up, wary, but when they saw that he wasn’t coming directly at them, Axchel put her head down. The other two seemed to take their cue from her, and while they didn’t exactly relax, they also didn’t have that deer in the headlights look that they had had before Aster started them on this whole process.
It looked as if they would be able to react and keep their wits, which was about as much as Aster wanted to see from them. It was about time too, since this whole process had taken the better part of two weeks, and Aster was more eager than the Sarane were at this point to have it over with.
Finally, they were done with the desensitization.
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