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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 7, 2021 22:14:00 GMT -6
Sevyrn wasn't content with leaving things there - she'd only got one affirmative response while at ease and that could easily be a fluke. What the woman needed was to see a pattern of behavior consistent with what she wanted the pups' response to be when called. As such, Sevyrn allowed them to go about their business some more, calling out to one of them at random here and there. Over the span of the next little while, she she was able to see that both of the pups had in fact picked up what word was associated with them, and knew it meant that Sevyrn wanted to have their attention. Sev had to give Moony a little more credit, too - she'd picked it up just as well as Ash had, even if she'd seemed like she would be a little harder to get to focus. Perhaps that trouble would come when they were working on harder tasks.
Stay, come, follow - those were the commands that Sevyrn liked to have all of her animals trained to listen to. It was a safety precaution, after all - she needed to know that she would be able to recall her pets, keep them where they are, and get them to not wander away from her - especially in a place like this.
"Ash, Moony!" She called, catching both of the pups' attention just as planned.
11 Name - 5 (Both)
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Post by Jack on Feb 8, 2021 19:39:59 GMT -6
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 8, 2021 20:46:32 GMT -6
"Moony, Ash - come here!" Sevyrn crouched down and called to the pups with an excited tone in her voice, hoping to lure them back over to her of their own will as she started to work on the next task at hand - getting the pups to come to her when called. The two might not have known exactly what they were responding to but they saw their girl's excitement and man did they ever want to be loved on! Moony yipped as she reached Sevyrn's feet and Ash whined by her feet for attention that she gladly offered the pair - in fact, they were even going to get a treat for such good behavior! The houlou pups were more than happy to get their mouths on some yummy snacks, and then Sev was ready to go again.
She walked away from them this time, rather than letting them wander off - only to find herself feeling a strange pull towards the fenced in patio that lined the front of the mansion's Victorian exterior. She'd been around crystals before - carried a node tucked in to her pocket. At this point she knew the pull of something magical when she felt it. Was it worth interrupting the task at hand to collect?
12 Come - 1 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 8, 2021 20:57:33 GMT -6
It would just be a quick detour, and then she could get back to what she was doing - Sevyrn may have done more research and decided that if she were ever to go for another node (which... unlikely, unless the one she had would start getting along with her better) it would likely have to be of the earth variety, and she didn't think she would be finding those fancy earth crystals around here, but there would be no harm in holding on to any crystal she came across... Once atop the stairs she glanced around the porch, following the sound of a gentle thrum towards a small wicker basket beside a still porch swing. Yeah - there it was. Sevyrn scooped the curious little find up and put it safe in to her backpack, and then walked back towards the pathway.
She sat on the staircase, feet against the solid ground. Her knees were opened away from each other, and she rested with her elbows atop her mid-thighs. "Hey Ash, Moony - come here!" She called, hoping to get the pops to come back to her. They seemed to be pretty occupied with each other again, but when Sevyrn repeated herself with the lure of treats that was enough to get their attention.
13 Come - 2 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 8, 2021 21:03:36 GMT -6
Perched atop the rafter, a small black bird watched the scene below it - pups running about, some strange girl seeming to be in charge of them. Curiously the bird swooped down and perched itself atop the railing, to which Sevyrn paid little mind - she had two young houlou coming over to her looking for snacks in return for good behavior. She would follow through, of course - she wasn't the kind of person to offer an animal something yummy and then not hand over the deliciousness they deserved. After that she got up to her feet, and started walking back and forth along the pathway that lead up to the grand doors of the mansion, calling the pups towards her - first together and then, when she started to feel more comfortable, focusing on one of them at a time. She didn't need them both running towards her when she was only calling one, after all - they needed to be able to listen to her properly and not just assume that everything was always directed at them.
Ash seemed to understand that concept relatively easy. Moony, however, seemed to have a harder time realizing that not everything was about her. She was going to need a bit more work than her male companion was going to.
14 Come - 3 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 8, 2021 21:26:30 GMT -6
Luckily working with animals was one of the few times that Sevyrn seemed to have boundless patience - she wasn't even this way about her art, she loved to get pissed at both canvas and paper if it wasn't working the way she wanted it to, and she loved to create as much as she loved to care. Perhaps it was because there were lives outside of her own involved - lives she had to be responsible for.
"Ash come here," she said to the male as the pups played about together. She'd spent about half an hour now working on getting Moony to stay back when she wasn't the one being called - Sevyrn felt rather bad about the way she'd essentially ignored the young lady when she didn't listen but the message had seemed to get through her head that she wasn't going to be rewarded when she was not being addressed.
Once the male houlou had stilled by Sevyrn's ankles, she called to Moony. The black and white female's head cocked to the side as she heard her name being called, and as soon as Sevyrn summoned her she bounded towards her favourite person. Yeah - Moony was pretty alright. Sevyrn was definitely happy to have the little lady as part of her pack.
15 Pups - Level 3/Loyalty 8 Come - 4 (Both)
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Post by Jack on Feb 9, 2021 10:49:32 GMT -6
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 10, 2021 10:04:39 GMT -6
Another bird joined the first, watching the scene before them with strange curiosity. These beings did not seem to want to bring harm to anything, but the birds were wary. Sevyrn only even noticed them because of the flapping of wings - she needed to be more focused on the task at hand. The pups had a couple more things to figure out, and then Sevyrn would feel safe wandering in to the mansion knowing that her companions would - ideally - be as safe as possible.
Next up - getting them to stay put when they were told to. Sev was sure there would be at least a moment or two inside the mansion in which she wished to scout ahead, make sure there was nothing potentially harmful. In moments like that, she needed the houlou pups to simply stay put. She'd been there and done that a hundred times by now, and it was generally a really easy command to teach - at least compared to some of the stuff she'd been training her other animals, both houlou and otherwise.
The pups already being with her made things easy enough to start, but Sev wished to give each of them a little bit more love before she got to work.
16
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 11, 2021 18:41:28 GMT -6
This would be easy enough, Sevyrn figured. Okay... maybe not easy, but not the hardest thing in the world. The pups were already at her feet and from here she would just need to back away, put distance between her and the houlou and reward them for not moving as long as she was telling them to stay put. Sevyrn often paired this with a hand gesture, and as such she brought an open hand up in the air as if to signal 'stop'.
"Ash, Moony - stay," Sevyrn said, emphasizing the hand gesture and repeating the single word as she started to step back away from the pair of houlou pups. They didn't seem to understand what was going on as they looked towards her with curiosity, but that was okay. Sevyrn continued to repeat the call and they weren't moving, so it seemed right to...
It was as Sevyrn was reaching in to her pocket to grab some treats to toss to them that the pups started moving. "No," she corrected, though the pups reached her. They were quite disappointed when they didn't actually get a reward from her.
"No, stay. Stay." Once again she signalled for them to stay where they were and continued to retreat from the pups.
17 Stay - 1 (Both) No - 1 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 11, 2021 18:45:56 GMT -6
They would figure it out with time, but that time was not now. That came as no surprise, but Sevyrn pushed through as she knew that with time the two pups would come to understand what was being asked of them. It was a good opportunity for them to work on the meaning of 'no', so it was almost like a two-for-one deal, trying to teach these two to stay where they were instead of coming at her. For the first little while they had a really hard time with it, they both wanted to come to Sevyrn as soon as she was about to offer them a reward which... it was counter productive to say the least. They'd been about to get a snack, but she couldn't really reward them when they weren't listening...
She figured out a way to work around it. If they moved prematurely, they got no snack. If they didn't move until after Sevyrn had called for them to come to her, then they could get a snack. Sevyrn was worried that she was simply reinforcing the command that the pups already understood, but within a little while she was starting to see a bit of improvement in how long the two were waiting before running to her.
18 Stay - 2 (Both) No - 2 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 11, 2021 18:56:03 GMT -6
"Alright, you two - stay," Sevyrn said as she went about another round with the two houlou pups, who really did seem to be starting to understand what was going on. Once again she started to back away while repeating the command, though she was starting to push the limits of what she could get away with. She couldn't have to repeat herself ever two seconds and just call that that, the pups needed to be listening to her the first time. Because of that she started to space out her repetitions, putting more and more space between her and the houlou before calling out to them each time.
Okay, good. She'd kept her eyes on them and they'd waited semi-patiently within at least a three-foot range of where they had been to start. That was pretty decent - they hadn't come after her as they had been earlier long before now. Pleased, Sevyrn crouched down and called for the pups to come over to her, offering many treats and love to them once their little paws pattered to a still right in front of her.
"Yeah - it's not that hard, is it? Just gotta stay where you are for a little while."
19 Stay - 3 (Both)
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 11, 2021 19:04:47 GMT -6
A few tries later, Sevyrn was starting to feel really confident about Ash and Moony's capabilities - she was proud of her two little pups. She should have given them a bit more faith a little bit sooner, but it was better to be safe than sorry - Sev wasn't the type to slack. Really all that ended up meaning was that the two got a few more treats than they would have otherwise, and they definitely were not arguing with that any.
Figuring it was time to give it one last shot and then they'd be good to start checking out the inside of what the mansion had to offer, Sevyrn called the pups over to her and ended their short break. Once they were with her, she signalled for them to stay put and then turned her back on them to walk away. She didn't repeat herself this time, and simply walked towards the front doors with the plan to call them over once she was there.
She stepped up the stairs until she was atop the deck, and then looked to see where her pups were - right where she had left them.
With a pleased smile on her face, Sevyrn called the two over to her. Another job well done, she figured.
20 Stay - 4 (Both) Pups - Level 4
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Post by Jack on Feb 11, 2021 19:48:55 GMT -6
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 12, 2021 10:58:31 GMT -6
The pups would need a little more work on figuring out the meaning of 'no', but Sevyrn imagined that there would be many opportunities to set the pair of young ones straight early on during their adventure, and then they would get the chance to properly figure the word out. Even by the end of working on stay, Ash and Moony had started to realize that no meant they were doing something wrong,so yeah... they would figure it out. Houlou in general were quick learners, and even Moony here had shown a lot of promise with her ability to take in new information.
With the pups up on the deck with her, Sevyrn sat on the top stair with her feet resting flat a couple stairs lower, looking back and forth by the pups who had swamped her from both sides. "What do you guys thing?" She asked, knowing full well that she was not going to get a proper spoken response in return. "You wanna go inside? See what's in there?" Her excited tone seemed to be enough to get the two going - Moony was the first to start barking, but Ash quickly followed in his adopted cousin's footsteps.
21
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Post by Sevyrn on Feb 12, 2021 11:02:11 GMT -6
It was at that point that Sevyrn heard a rustling behind her, and her head swivelled around lightning fast to see what in the world had moved - out of the corner of her eye she swore she caught the slight movement of... a bush? She'd sworn that it had little legs and had dropped the ground to camouflage itself as soon as she had tried to notice it. If it weren't for the fact that a few moments later she noticed the slight peeking of little orange eyes, she genuinely would have thought that she was going crazy.
What a strange little critter - though Sevyrn had come to find many strange little critters during her few visits. Back in October she'd found strange little creatures that looked like diseased spleens... a sapient rose bush was much more digestable than that kind of thing. She shifted her weight on to one of her arms, and held a hand out to the curious critter. Had it been scared by the pups starting to bark? Hopefully she would be able to get it to understand that she was friendly. The roses on it were a beautiful shade of purple and purple was her favourite color - such a little thing would be just at home in her garden.
22
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