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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 15:33:13 GMT -6
Sevyrn was quickly falling in love with houlou - as much effort as it took to train them, it seemed to be worth it in the end. Despite how anxious she had been at both her and Sweetie's first show she had walked away with a sense of pride, and couldn't wait to one day return to the hall with Spot here. He was going to need a show name... Nothing had struck Sevyrn yet, unlike Sweetie's. They had plenty of time still, though! There was a lot of work to be done and they only had one thing done so far, so Sevyrn could bond with the pup throughout the next little while and by the end she would hopefully have just the right name picked out for him... Hopefully. In reality naming things was not her forte which was why her spotted houlou was named 'Spot' and she'd once named a bunch of baby izers One through Five.
76
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 15:57:05 GMT -6
Sevyrn wanted to make her life as easy as possible, so she figured that she should probably start Spot's tolerance training early on. It had probably been a mistake to wait until the end with Sweetie, but she had been Sevyrn's first. With each pup Sevyrn worked with she would learn more and more herself, and become a more adept teacher for the young ones under her care. It made for good bonding time - getting used to Sevyrn manipulating his body would help earn her some trust from the little guy, and trust was vital to their relationship. In order to accept her wanting to work with him, Spot would need to have faith that she would not try to bring any harm or trouble to him.
"Oh come here," Sevyrn said to the pup and the sweetness of her voice was enough to bring the pup over to her. Sevyrn knelt down and tried to touch him without him thinking it was meant to be play.
77 Tolerance - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 16:03:39 GMT -6
The pup wanted to play so Sevyrn had to quell him with a firm no - which had to be repeated multiple times before he stepped away from his girl with a cocked head. What was going in? She had been the one who wanted to play with him so why wasn't she letting him? He didn't understand at all, so he barked at her so that he could have her attention rather than the other way around. As soon as Sevyrn's gaze met him, Spot was leaping towards her wanting to play some more.
"No, no," Sevyrn stopped him, offering him a reward when he finally listened. From there she started giving him scratches and pats, hushing him with a stern 'no' if he started to get rambunctious with her. It would take time before Spot understood that he wasn't supposed to play with her when she was trying to work with him.
78 Tolerance - 2 No - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 16:11:37 GMT -6
Sevyrn eventually moved on from the pup's neck and towards his head, and the bitey parts of Spot seemed to think that anything going near his face meant that it was time for play time - he nipped at Sevyrn's hand "No!" Sevyrn stopped him immediately - that was not a behavior that she was going to tolerate at all. He was going to have to learn that this kind of stuff wasn't okay.
"You don't bite," Sevyrn scolded the pup, and he looked at her with hurt in her eyes. He just wanted to play, and didn't understand that Sevyrn was trying to work rather than play.
"Alright - let's try again. I just want to touch your face - don't bite. Everything be okay," she said, trying to assure the pup with a sweet tone as she brought her hands toward him and started with a pat on top of his black and white head.
79 Tolerance - 3 No - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 16:19:53 GMT -6
Spot became better with time - not great, but better. After he had stopped trying to nip and lick at her just for touching the top of his head, Sev moved on towards the rest of his face - his cheeks, his lips, around his jaw. All the touching still made him anxious to play, but every time that he started acting up Sevyrn quelled him with another firm no. He was getting much better at understanding that command, at least - Sevyrn was able to get him to stop what he was doing with one or two repetitions. He had earned him self a good treat for doing so well with listening when he was told no.
"You are doing better," Sevyrn assured him, and gave him a good scratch under his chin. The pup's tail wagged and he barked towards his girl, happy to hear her voice. As playful as he was, he did know how to listen.
80 Spot - 4 Tolerance - 4 No - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 16:26:44 GMT -6
Sevyrn moved up the pup's face and towards his ears - raising them, lowering them, pulling them gently outwards. She pulled them up like she was going to be giving him ear drops or checking inside of his ears. Spot... did not like that one bit. It seemed that his ears were a sensitive spot for the houlou, which made it all the more important for Sevyrn to gain his trust when it came to those.
"No - no growls," the woman said as Spot started to growl at her for playing with his ears a bit more. The pup stopped, seeming to have grasped the meaning of the word no - okay, that was a good step. "Everything is okay, I promise you," Sevyrn assured him. "I just want to touch your ears a bit, but I can stop for a few minutes if you want a break."
With that in mind, Sevyrn picked a new location on the pup's body.
81 Tolerance - 5 No - 4
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 16:36:07 GMT -6
Leaving Spot's ears behind for later, Sevyrn decided that she would work on manipulating his front legs for a little while. This would be helpful for any kind of medical checks that the pup might need, if anyone in the contest hall wanted to check out his confirmation, and for if Sevyrn decided to work on anything that would mean having to work with his front legs - teaching him how to shake a paw.
Spot was pretty antsy about having Sevyrn work with his legs and feet, but not with the same kind of excitability as when she had been playing with his face, or like the anxiety he'd had when she was touching his ears like she had been before. It almost seemed to be a welcome relief to the little guy, actually. In an ideal world that would make this part a little bit easier on both of them.
82 Tolerance - 6
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 17:51:33 GMT -6
"What a good pup," Sevyrn cooed for what felt like the hundredth time over the last few days - lately her life had been pretty much devoted to houlou in one way or another. She had decided long ago that it was well worth the effort, though - she wouldn't trade these pups' affection and loyalty for the world.
"Yeah this psrt isn't so bad," she continued, assuring Spot with her soft voice as she bent his front leg at the elbow and revolved it in a circle, working the range of motion, before repeating that with the other side. It might have taken a few moment, but the houlou had come to terms with Sevyrn manipulating his limbs. It seemed that he was getting much better about being touched in general rather than simply seeing it as Sev wishing to play with him - that was the result that she was looking for.
83 Tolerance - 7
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 17:57:39 GMT -6
Alright, Spot seemed fine having his front legs handled, it was time to see how well he could tolerate having his back legs and hind end played with. That kind of tolerance would come in handy for some training - teaching him to sit, for example, would be easier if Spot didn't have a problem having his hind end gently pressed in to urge him in to a sitting position in the early stages. She worked the same way that she had with his frontegs - stretching one hind leg to its full length then squishing it up towards his body, repeat with the other side. She worked one around its range of motion and then the other.
After the pup seemed to tolerate having his back legs played with she moved to work on his paws, both front and back. Sevyrn at least would be wanting to work with his paws - nail trimmings, for example.
84 Tolerance - 8
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 22, 2020 18:04:54 GMT -6
The pup was tolerating the bulk of his body being touched and manipulated. All Sevyrn had to work on now was seeing how he felt about having his tail touched, and getting to the root of why he was so antsy about having his ears touched so that they could work through it and earn the trust needed to get past it. Once Spot was truly comfortable with Sevyrn and trusted her to be good to him, that faith would allow them to work in tandem with each other.
Spot seemed to have no issue at all with Sevyrn playing with his tail - it even came with some butt scratches! On to the ears... He was a little yippy at first, similar to earlier, but the time they'd just spend together seemed to have earned Sevyrn some trust, and the hpulou quickly outgrew his need to try to chew on his owner.
"Great job," Sevyrn said to him, and offered him a kiss on the top of his head as a reward. "Go run around for a bit! You've earned it!"
85 Spot - 5 Tolerance - 9
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 9:10:32 GMT -6
The young pup didn't need to be told twice - he ran off quite happily, making laps around the open field as Sevyrn tossed a ball for him to chase and play with. Life was good! Spot was a pretty happy little pup, always playful - more rambunctious than his kennel mate, that was for sure, and Sev had thought that Sweetie had been quite a handful at times. The woman felt pride in working with her pups, though - they were destined for great things, blessed by the goddess herself if the put enough effort in under the watchful hand of a devoted owner. They could only truly reach their full potential that way, after all - Sevyrn owed the pup the attention and training that he deserved, because of that. She couldn't wait to see what this boy looked like in his grown form - and what the next pup she trained would be like. There was one at the adoption hall that she wanted...
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 9:24:53 GMT -6
Alright... time to work with the pup a bit more, then Sevyrn figured that she would head on home for a bit. They could always come back tomorrow! She was just hoping to overwhelm herself a little bit less this time around, so that she didn't get burnt out with houlou training quicker than she was able to get working with the species properly. The next thing in line was teaching the pup to come to her when called, an easy enough basic task. Once they got through that, stay and follow everything would be in line for them to move on to stuff that was a little bit more interesting.
The pup was running about when Sevyrn first called to him, catching his attention and then asking him to come to her. He didn't relent with ease, so she pulled out a little houlou snack and repeated the command. The pup came running!
87 Come - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 9:31:24 GMT -6
"What a good boy!" Sevyrn praised the pup, crouching down to scratch behind his ears and then offer the treat out to him - he gobbled it down like she had been starving him for days... what a little glutton. Sevyrn shook her head and urged him to run back off, their current work requiring him to be at least a little bit away from her. She stopped him when he'd only gotten a couple meters out, and called for him to come to her again. Once again he cocked his head towards his girl, only to prance back to her as soon as she offered a treat out with the command. A few more rounds like this and Sevyrn would put her focus in to calling more than once before she offered him the pre-emptive snack, as she wanted him to respond to her voice rather than a delicious cookie.
88 Come - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 9:57:29 GMT -6
"Come here," Sevyrn started as soon as the pup had wandered off, hoping to summon him back to her. When he simply stood where he was she looked towards the girl and cocked his head, tail wagging - all Spot wanted to do was play, he was still learning how to be a good working dog. That was okay - the energy of the young was never ending. Sevyrn didn't chide him, simply called to him again. "Come here," she repeated in a firmer tone, pointing at the ground in front of her feet. She did seem to want his attention! Spot bounded over to his girl and came to an abrupt stop at her feet, looking up to her with that same wagging tail. What did she want? Was he going to get another treat? She'd offered him a treat the last few times she had said that.
... The houlou got the treat that he wanted.
89 Come - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 10:19:58 GMT -6
From there on Sevyrn worked on getting him to respond without the treat reward - and it would be easier to wean him off of treats than it was to get him to stop needing one to come to her, so she was on to the easier part of the task. With time and patience she worked with the pup, starting by rewarding him after every other time he came to her, and working towards longer and longer periods without treats. Spot was doing great - houlou were designed to be strong learners, and quick to take up new commands, so it didn't come as a surprise. They had a predisposition towards obdecience.
Sevyrn called to him one last time, and the pup bounded over towards her only to stop just a couple feet shy. Sevyrn crouched down to the ground and reached towards him, giving Spot a really good pet for being such a good pup.
90 Spot - 6 Come - 4
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