|
Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 9:24:25 GMT -6
The houlou was willing to drop her bum the second time around, so Sevyrn offered her a little treat as a reward. With the first attempt down, it was now just a matter of getting Sweetie to the point that she was able to listen without the physical touch. It took a while, the houlou not fond of being handled like that, but eventually Sevyrn felt comfortable trying without the touch. The first time that Sevyrn tried without physically urging the houlou to sit, it took a few tries to get her to do as she was supposed to. With each round it got a little bit easier, though.
"Sit," she repeated herself as she stood tall beside the little houlou, and she didn't listen. Sevyrn didn't consider it regression, simply a natural part of the training process. Even with a treat in hand Sweetie didn't seem to want to listen, though, so Sev placed her hand on the houlou's hips once more. Sweetie tried to play nip her in response, which led Sevyrn to crouch down and repeat that firm 'no' from earlier until Sweetie calmed down.
16 Sit - 2 No - 3
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 9:29:22 GMT -6
After that little incident, Sweetie seemed to be back to her normal excited but interested self. Sevyrn was able to go back to focusing on getting her to sit on command, and things seemed to be progressing well. With time Sevyrn needed to repeat herself less and less, and as she felt more confident Sevyrn decided that maybe it was time to start training without treats every go around the block. Sweetie looked like she had been betrayed the first time that she plopped her bum to the ground like she was told and Sevyrn didn't whip a treat out for her! Wanting what she felt was rightfully hers, she barked at Sevyrn, waited a couple seconds for that snack, and then barked again when it still didn't come. "No," Sevyrn said between the pup's little woofs until she finally stopped. At that point Sevyrn waited to see if she would stay sitting, unsurprised when the pup ended up climbing back to her feet only a few moments later.
17 Sit - 3 No - 4
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Aug 25, 2020 9:33:09 GMT -6
On and off for the next little while, Sevyrn let the houlou have some time to herself. Sweetie's attempts to play were interrupted once in a while when Sevyrn would call to her and test her understanding of what they had learned here today, from simply responding to her name to taking a squat right in front of her - she even wondered if Sweetie would respond to a 'sit' right where she was, or if she would feel the need to come over to Sevyrn in order to do so. When Sweetie bounded over to Sevyrn only to end up skidding in to a sit right in front of her, Sevyrn took a little while to focus on getting Sweetie to do as she was told wherever she might be at the time. In those moments she would stop Sweetie with a firm no as she moved, repeat the 'sit' command after, and repeat if needed. By the end the houlou only needed one command - maybe two if she was really distracted.
18 (Sweetie - 5) Sit - 4 No - 5
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 4, 2020 2:30:43 GMT -6
Sevyrn wanted to stop and play for a bit - so that was what she did. She had several of the houlou's favourite toys in her backpack and it was a great time to stop and let her run around and play with them. She might not know how to fetch but, but the little thing surely did love chasing after a ball! Knowing that Sweetie was about to go wild, Sevyrn got a good grasp on the houlou's favourite ball and then chucked it - she didn't need to have the pup's attention first, as soon as it flew past her head the houlou was on high alert, chasing the unknown object until it landed on the ground. Sweetie snapped it up off of the ground and started to run circles around the training pen, ball locked in the strong muscles of her jaw to keep it as safe as could be.
19
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 4, 2020 2:54:18 GMT -6
Sevyrn got a giggle out of watching the little pup rip around, ever so happy to have her favourite toy with her! She really was going to have to teach Sweetie to fetch given how much she loved to run around and after that ball - maybe later, though. Right now Sevyrn was tuckered out from the work they had already done even though Sweetie seemed to still be as enthusiastic and energetic as ever. All of the young ones in the kennel seemed to have infinite energy - she didn't understand how they seemed to never tire. Oh, what it must be like to be young - Sevyrn could barely even remember being a child, but she likely once had energy like the young ones that she cared for now did.
"Sweetie, come here!" She called, wanting the pup to show up so she could toss that ball around a little bit more.
20
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 15:46:58 GMT -6
After a while it was time to get back to work - follow, shake and fetch after this maybe? Sweetie was so in love with that ball that it only made proper sense to include some play time in the list of tasks at hand. She'd never put so much energy in to 'basic' kind of training - what she'd taught Sweetie so far was more than she'd trained Disceva before she'd started working on mount skills, or Bez before she'd started working with him for his tournament. She couldn't really teach a houlou how to carry a rider, and it seemed wrong to teach a show animal how to fight - would the people in charge of the debutante shows even let that qualify as a valid skill in order to be able to show her?
"Sweetie come here!" Sevyrn called, only to begin walking off towards the other side of the pen as the canine got close to her. "Follow me," she said with every few steps.
21 Follow - 1
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 16:28:03 GMT -6
She'd noticed that creatures had a tendency of getting a little confused in moments like this, but that was okay. She'd seen it with Kika, with Bez, with Rachet - it seemed to be innately strange to them that someone would call them over and then just walk away. To someone who didn't understand the motivations behind what was going on it was easy to be confused about it - Sevyrn had the patience to deal with it... in her pets at least.
When Sweetie stopped to bark at her, rather confused, Sevyrn returned to her and kneeled down, giving her a good pat. "Follow me," she said as she palmed a treat in to her hand. She held it out as she walked, motivating the houlou to keep coming, and continued to repeat the command. After a short distance she gave Sweetie the little snack, palmed another, and went right back to it.
22 Follow - 2
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 16:36:33 GMT -6
Practice, practice, practice - repetition was key. With time the houlou seemed to be doing a better job with her, not that it was particularly difficult with a treat hanging just far enough above Sweetie's head that she wouldn't be able to reach it. The real question was whether or not Sweetie would be willing to work with her without the reward in play. It was worth a good test, though. One time after she rewarded the pup for following her, she went back to moving - this time without the treat in hand. "Follow me," she beckoned, keeping a watchful eye on the houlou to see what Sweetie would decide to do here. She cocked her head but rushed towards her woman's side, tail wagging a mile a minute.
The safest bet was to keep going like this for a little while, Sevyrn calling her every little while and after ever few calls pulling a hidden treat from her pocket.
23 Sweetie - 6 Follow - 3
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 16:51:28 GMT -6
Continuing on, the amount of time that Sevyrn put between treats and then calls grew longer - and the houlou seemed to be doing rather well after that initial confusion. Progress was progress was progress! If she remembered correctly they needed to work on about fifteen tricks before they were ready for the debutante show and they were at like... six now? Six seemed about right, Sev couldn't completely remember. Oh well. What would come next? Maybe this was when they could work on fetch next up? Teach her to lay down?
There were so many different options... and given that Sevyrn tended to lack motivation when it came to the basics, it was hard for her to pick something. She definitely wanted something cute to show off - that was where 'shake' would be a good touch. But beyond that..?
Preparing herself for one last test of the houlou's capability, Sevyrn summoned her to follow along and this time she didn't turn back, call again or offer any treats. When she reached the other side of the training pen and turned to see how it had gone, Sweetie was only a few steps behind her.
24 Follow - 4
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 17:11:41 GMT -6
Catch! They could do something cuter next. Why not? Plus it would be an excellent precursor to teaching fetch. It should be easy enough, and Sevyrn had never done anything like that before. Her focus had always been on practical rather than cute.
For now they could just hang out for a bit, wear off some of the puppy's residual energy. "Come on!" She said to the pup on an incredibly excited tone as she immediately burst in a dash across the training pen. Sweetie barked at her before taking chase, zipping all the way past her towards the other end of the pen and then making a u-turn once there to run back to Sevyrn. As Sweetie ran back towards her Sevyrn took a play stance, encouraging the pup to come towards her - and Sweetie zipped right past her once again. They were both having a hell of a time right now, though.
25
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 17:23:39 GMT -6
After a while Sevyrn fell to the ground with her lungs heaving, and she burst in to laughter as her bum hit the ground. As soon as she fell to the grassy ground Sweetie ran over to her, barking and licking at her arms. Sevyrn only pushed the houlou away when she started to try to lick her face.
"Okay okay," Sevyrn heaved as she tried to get her breath back, giving the little thing a really good rubbing. She talked soft and sweet when she started to pet her lighter, hoping to calm the pup down a bit. Once everyone was back to normal, she reached in to her pocket and held up a treat.
Sweetie watched her, now intent on getting that from her. "Catch it!" Sevyrn said as she tossed it towards the pup. Sweetie tried to catch it but missed and it landed before her paws. The pup eagerly ate it up.
26 Catch - 1
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 17:35:04 GMT -6
Sevyrn laughed at the pup's eagerness - there would likely be a lot of missed treats between now and when they properly got this. It was a great way to start, though - and once she was doing a better job of catching some snacks in the air, they could switch to the ball. Once they were catching the ball with relative success, then they would have the first stage to teaching her to fetch done. It would probably be better to teach her to reliably drop the ball before they moved to catching from farther distances, though. The less they needed to work on at once, the less confusing that things would likely be.
"Catch!" Sevyrn said as she pulled out another treat and tossed it to the houlou. Sweetie managed to catch this one mid-air! "What a good girl, Sweetie!" Sevyrn praised, leaning in to give the happy houlou a good pat.
27 Catch- 2
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 17:50:19 GMT -6
Sevyrn was loving this little girl so much when she excited and happy like this! She loved the houlou in general of course, but she was so happy and that was wonderful.
"Catch!" Sevyrn said after the little pup finished up her treat and looked back towards her girl. She was already expecting another little snack it seemed. Oh well, there were worse things in the world and worse times for Sweetie to want a treat. She missed this time, but that was okay. They could try again.
"Catch!" Sevyrn said again. Though Sweetie missed, she did naturally seem to want to try to snap the snack up from mid-air. It was a fun mixture of learning, snacks and play! It was exciting! After trying again, Sweetie did manage to catch the treat again. She absolutely loved the way that Sev spoiled her upon success. She wanted more and more!
28 Sweetie - 7 Catch - 3
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 10, 2020 18:12:56 GMT -6
Sweetie was getting better and better at this with every try. More and more of the treats landed in her mouth rather than on the ground, but it was stsrting to reach the point where Sevyrn was going to have to wean her off of the treats and on to something more practical. The good thing was that she loved her ball, and some of the other toys that Sevyrn had brought along with her. It wasn't going to be hard to motivate the pup to catch something that wasn't crunchy.
After one last successful attempt Sevyrn clambered to her feet and walked back towards the front of the pen. After grabbing the ball she sat back down and called the houlou over to her, stopping the girl when she was about a foot away.
"Catch!" She said as she gave the ball a gentle toss towards Sweetie. That was her favorite toy!
29 Catch - 4
|
|
|
Post by Sevyrn on Sept 11, 2020 0:25:48 GMT -6
Sweetie nipped the ball out of the air and caught it between her jaws in a rather good catch. Great! The hard part was going to be getting her to put the ball back down now - she got so excited to have her toy that she ran off and started to zip circles around the pen. Sevyrn called the pup back over to her.
"Drop it," she said, holding her had beneath the pup's mouth for her to place the ball in to. When Sweetie didn't hand the ball over her, she grasped the sides of it and pulled with a gentle pressure while repeating the call. Though it took a bit she eventually freed the ball from the houlou's jaws. "Good girl," she praised even though the pup hadn't given it up willingly.
She tried again with the ball, and a few more times to be safe. After a few ball catches she switched to a toy that the pup didn't enjoy nearly as much... and she still caught it.
The hard part was getting it back after.
30 Catch - 5 Drop It - 1
|
|