Swept Away

So it wandered around a little bit more. It watched Kadin worked with the other houluh kind of not really knowing what to do.

It was the same game they had been playing before and having fun with, so the houluh took to it just like they had with the others, searching high and low for the treat or the object he’d given them the scent of. They had already performed the behavior, now he was just making sure that they got used to the word for it and more of the nature of what was being asked of them. So Kadin continued to have them practice for a little bit longer. He continued to do the same thing. He’d have the houluh tied up, he’d hold a treat or a toy in front of them to sniff, then he’d drag it around the obstacle course, eventually hiding it. Once it was well hidden, he’d tell them to “track!” and release them to find the item. Once again, Elk continued to be quicker to pick this up.

It was also a little bit bored and upset because it wasn’t happy it wasn’t being paid attention to. Tex really wanted to play too especially since they all seem to be having so much fun. So Tex decided to get a little bit closer. Of course Kadin couldn’t really pay much attention to Tex while he was working with both Elk and Pepper. He had to ignore the puppy looking for his attention in favor of the other two puppies that were already doing the same thing.

142

Track: 5

Kadin presented the houluh with the rags that had fish smell on them once again. Then he told them to track. Elk and Pepper were both use to looking for treats or even toys that Kadin had run through the obstacle course and hidden for them. Now they were being told to track down fish, so they were a bit confused and unsure how to do this. Kadin lead them over by the water and had them sniff at the rags some more, telling them once again to “track!” Luckily, Kadin actually had hidden some fish around the river earlier, so he wasn’t asking them to go on a wild goose chase. The houluh sniffed at the rags some more before putting their noses down and getting to work. Elk and Pepper were off sniffing around all over the place in order to try to find the fishy smell that they were told to track down. They could smell fish in the area. They knew what the fish they were searching for smelled like. They just needed to go find them! And since this was a fun game, even if they didn’t completely understand yet, they at least understood what they were supposed to be doing.

Tex, on the other hand, wasn't sure what he should be doing now. Elk and Pepper were running around with Kadin and he sort of wanted to get in on the fun. He trotted over, wagging his tail and yipping at them to see if he could get any attention.

144

Track: 7

Kadin noticed the houluh who didn’t seem to know what to do with himself and walked over to scoop him up into his arms. Tex yipped and whined and wiggled, but Kadin laughed and held him carefully until he settled down. “We’ll do something soon, I promise.” He told the pup, still holding him in his arms while he watched the other two search. “Once they’ve got this down we’ll be moving on to learn something else.

She was trying to figure out where what she had smelled was hiding! Kadin smiled at that and followed along, encouraging her and Elk both to keep tracking, puppy in his arms and all. It took a while but eventually both pups were able to find some fish each after following their noses. He praised them for their hard work and made sure that they had plenty of treats for all of their effort. Then he tried the same thing all over again with some different fish. He wanted to keep practicing until he was sure they had it down. In order to mix things up, he didn’t have them search for fish every time, either. He’d have them try to sniff out different plants and even treats sometimes, too. Each time he’d tie them up, set up the course, then give them something to smell, tell them to “Track!”, and let them loose. He continued practicing this until he was satisfied that they would be able to figure it out even if it was something he was asking them to find out in the wild.

146 *level up

Track: 9