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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 16:35:42 GMT -6
They had done enough work for one day - Sevyrn showered the houlou pup with affection before sending him off to run around and play. She threw balls and a frisbee and Spot was in utter bliss just running around and playing with his girl some more - he was so lucky to have her! She loved him so much and treated him so well, and Spot never wanted to ever leave her - he was definitely mama's little suck in a way that Sweetie was not.
Eventually the sun began to dip below the horizon, however, and Sev offered the pup a little drink as she packed up all of their toys. Once he had finished up she popped the travel bowl back in to her bag as well, and put him back on his leash. Back home they went for a good night's rest - they would be back tomorrow, the day after at the latest.
91
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 16:40:23 GMT -6
Spot came home with Sevyrn and got to spend the night there rather than at the kennel with Sweetie - in an ideal world they would all be able to live at home with her, but Sevyrn did not have the property nor the money to be able to build them a proper, well designed kennel area. It was a goal of hers to do that one day, though - maybe buy a bigger acreage to set up for her pups. There was no rush for that, though - she only had two houlou at the moment, and they weren't exactly paying for themselves.
Bright and early the next morning, Sevyrn hooked Spot's leash back on to his collar and the pair made their way back down to the same place that they were before. Spot was so excited to go on a walk with his girl, and even more excited when he saw the park!
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:02:11 GMT -6
What Spot really wanted was to meet up with another houlou and get the chance to play. Sweetie was fun but she used to be funner - then she got big and less excited and she just wasn't the same as she used to be when she had been a pup. Why had he not gotten bigger? Spot had grown up with that little lady and didn't understand why she had changed, having not gone through all of his vigorous training and first show to be presented to the goddess yet. His time would come, though - the pair just needed to put some hard work in to their bond.
Spot was in luck, though. Another person was a along with their houlou, and the two owners agreed to let the pups play around together for a bit before heading off in their own directions to get some work done. Spot was real happy after that.
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:10:21 GMT -6
Boy, Spot was even a bit worn out after getting the chance to play with another pup. The pair found their location and as soon as Spot was let off his leash he collapsed at Sevyrn's feet - it seemed that he was alresdy ready for a little bit of break and they hadn't even started yet! Sevyrn didn't mind letting him lay down while she got settled in so all was well. The woman plopped down beside him and gave him a scratch on the top of his head - Spot loved the affection, and his tail started to wag gently. He was so tired that he couldn't even wag enthusiastically!
"What? Did that little guy tucker you out buddy?" Sevyrn asked Spot who responded with a little bark. Yeah, it seemed the other houlou had tired him out a bit. That was okay - Sev was happy to sit there with him for a bit.
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:14:22 GMT -6
The pup definitely was tired.... It wasn't five minutes after the pair had cozied up with each other that Sevyrn heard a gentle store coming from beneath her - Spot had fallen asleep right there with his head on her lap. How was she supposed to bother him now that he was so peaceful?
The answer to that was that she couldn't bother him right now. At least she never went anywhere without his sketchbook. Careful not to move the pup around too much she tried to dig through her backpack, and once she had pulled the book out she used one of her knees as a table to start working on a little sketch of the polka dotted pup taking a snooze on her leg. It was a sweet little moment that deserved to be memorialized, she figured. Sevyrn loved having drawings to look back on, especially of when her creatures were young ones.
95 Spot - 7
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:25:35 GMT -6
Hopefully Spot wouldn't be passed out for too long, Sevyrn didn't want to have to wake him up... Like yeah the only had a couple more things to work on before Sevyrn wanted to drag him down to the river and teach him how to fish and swim, but the sooner that the basics got done, the sooner that they would be able to do something interesting like that. Sevyrn wanted to be teaching the pup really interesting, useful skills - he'd probably be a great fisherman's friend in the future, once he had time to learn how.
There was still one big problem that the two faced, though - Sevyrn had still not come up with a decent show name for him, and they were going to need one relatively soon. She hadn't even come up with anything at all, actually. Why in the world could she not just introduce him as Spot?
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:29:29 GMT -6
Luckily the pup woke up on his own accord after a short nap, just long enough for Sevyrn to have finished her little drawing of him. Great! They only had a couple things to work on now, and it would be an easy day. They wouldn't have to worry about the river business until later on... that would be an adventure for another day.
"Alrighr, Spot, just a couple things today," Sevyrn said to the little guy as she clambered to her feet.
"Stay here." She didn't mess around, just got straight to telling him to stay where he was while she held one hand up. The other was in her pocket, prepared to grab a snack for him. She stepped back, repeated the command, and was about to offer him one of said snacks when he start moving towards her.
"No." Her command stopped the houlou, who cocked his head at her. "Stay," she repeated.
97 Stay - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:39:14 GMT -6
Spot didn't want to stay there, he wanted to be with his person - why was she walking away from him like that? Whatever the reason he seemed to be rewarded for not moving this time around... last time he'd only been rewarded for moving. Could she make up her mind what she wanted him to do? The pup hadn't quite made the connection between word and action yet, and he needed to be stopped and re-set multiple times over the next little while - that was okay, he was still learning, and he had the attention span of a very excited young one. He would have to grow out of that a little bit in order to be blessed by the goddess, but that was something that Sevyrn and Spot still had time to work on. Life was good for the little pup, especially with Sevyrn giving him treats for doing nothing - literally. As long as he didn't move, he got a snack!
98 Stay - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:46:28 GMT -6
As Spot started to realize the connection between the word 'stays and Sevyrn not wanting hime to move, the woman was able to start working on not only moving farther and farther away from him, but also beginning to wean him off the treats. At first he had been getting a snack about every foot that Sevyrn moved away from him but she changed that to every two feet, then every three feet. After a while of that she started to see if he could do it on the fly - she let him run around only to call him while he was already a way from her and ask him to stay. Some times it worked, sometimes it didn't - it was a mixed bag to start with. That's okay, Sev still had many more treats... the joy of using kibble as a training snack and wearing pants with big pockets.
99 Stay - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 17:50:00 GMT -6
Spot improved over time, eventually coming to realize that 'stay' meant the same thing even if he was far off and trying to play. He didn't have to like it, but he did have to listen - it was in his nature as a houlou to want to listen to what his girl had to say to him. Sevyrn was impressed with it, and very proud of the little pup - to think just few days ago he was still only responding to his own name part of the time.
She was going to push things a little farther, preferring to continue longer than she needed to rather than cutting things short and potentially not giving him the proper baseline that he was going to need in order to succeed. After a while Sevyrn was pretty content though, and ready to move on to the next trick. She gave 'stay' one last test run before calling Spot over for a good round of puppy loving.
100 Spot - 8 Stay - 4
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 19:02:11 GMT -6
Finally! They had one thing left to learn, and then it was time to head down to the river so that little Spot here could learn how to swim and fish. That would be a fun adventure for the pair of them - Sev had taught Bez to swim and fish before, but she imagined that such things would be easier with a houlou rather than a ghaenelt and now that she was comfortable with the water, she was happy to bring her creaturws in as well. Swimming was an important life skill, after all accidents could happen and it didn't take long to drown.
"Hey, buddy," Sevyrn said to him as she crouched down low to the ground. "Guess what you get to do soon? One more basic to go and then we're ending your training down at the river - I'm going to teach you to swim and catch fish!" Spot had no idea what Sev was saying but she was excited so he was as well.
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 19:07:59 GMT -6
"Before we can do that, first thing first - we need to teach you to follow me when I tell you to, okay? You're going to want to come to me, but I'm going to be moving so I need you to keep moving until I stop or say otherwise, okay buddy?" It was a lot of instruction, none of which Spot really understood - he just liked hearing his person talk.
Sevyrn took a moment to set things up, walking off and calling Spot over to her. She asked him to stay where he was, and then called for him to come over to her. As soon as he started, it was time to go. "Follow me," Sevyrn said to him as she started to step away, at which point Spot stopped to see what was going on. Okay - that was to be expected. Sevyrn pulled a treat out of her pocket and repeated the command.
102 Follow - 1
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 19:12:54 GMT -6
Spot found it rather awkward to come towards a moving target, but as long as he kept following her he got a treat every little while, and a real good round of pets after a few treats! Obviously he was doing the right thing just tailing along behind Sevyrn, so he hoped that she thought he was the goodess boy that there ever was. He didn't quite understand it yet but he was starting to, or at least starting to see the connection between trailing after Sev and getting some delicious munchies - Spot definitely wouldn't be able to act like he was being neglected after all the love and food he had gotten over these past couple days.
Keeping an eye on the pup's reaction and as such his progress, Sevyrn continued to work with the houlou. Their current method of a treat every little while was going great, but she was going to need to start weaning off the snacks.
103 Follow - 2
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 19:24:08 GMT -6
Knowing that it was time to wean off the treats - and Spot was ready, Sevyrn could tell - Sevyrn continued to call for him to follow, and started relying less on a treat reward. If the vocal cue wasn't enough, then he wouldn't get a snack when Sevyrn finally stopped. Luckily the pup was doing pretty alright, given the distractable nature of excited pups. Then, slowly, the amount of times she called to Spot along the way weaned down, first at twice the distance then further and further.
He was a smart little egg, all things considered. Sevyrn came to a halt and turned around - upon seeing the black and white pup still trailing after her, her lips broke in to a big smile. Once Spot reached her he looked up towards Sevyrn, who crouched down to place a kiss on top of his head. "What a good by Spot," she cooed.
104 Follow - 3
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Post by Sevyrn on Sept 25, 2020 19:29:26 GMT -6
Sevyrn did a couple more rounds with the pup before she decided that she was resdy for a final jaunt to test the pup's abilities. She called him to the entrance of their little area and then started to walk off, telling him to follow her as she did so. She didn't repeat herself or offer a treat, nor did she even look back until she had reached the far side of their little area. Here it was - the test of Spot's talents.
She turned around and the pup awaited her, trailing a short distance behind. As soon as she saw how good he had done, Sevyrn crouched back down and greeted him with open arms. She took him in to a hug, arms wrapped loosely around his neck, and the pup barked at her in excitement. He had done good, hadn't he?
"Guess what, buddy?" She asked, and he barked again. "We're ready to head down to the river now! What a good job!"
105 Spot - 9 Follow - 4
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