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Post by Kadin on Nov 12, 2020 0:14:44 GMT -6
Kadin would stop when he did that and get his attention back on him. Once he had it, he started saying, "Walk on" before starting walking again himself, leaving Skip and Elk with no choice but to follow. After every couple of feet of them walking without a problem, he'd stop and praise them and give them treats, Skip especially to keep his attention. Skip certainly didn't have a problem with that! And as always, Elk was just happy to be walking with friends. After each stop, Kadin would tell them "walk on" again before starting again. Every time Skip got distracted and tried to pull the wrong way, Kadin would redirect him with those same words and praise him when they got it right. He was still pulling the wagon, too, at this point, so there wasn't much difficulty with the houluh knowing which direction they needed to go on. They kept practicing this for a while, Skip becoming distracted less and less. Elk even started to help now and then, yipping at Skip when he was veering off and was going to make them stop again. He liked walking like this! It was fun! Skip would yip back, tail wagging, and go back to following Kadin.
Pull Buggy: 5
103
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Post by Kadin on Nov 12, 2020 0:19:32 GMT -6
After some more practice to assure himself that they sort of knew what they were doing, Kadin tossed the handle he'd been using back into the wagon and started just walking with the houluh. Over time, they been taking more and more of the weight of the wagon on themselves so he had to pull less. He felt confident that they'd be able to pull it completely by themselves, especially over sand like this. "Walk on!" He encouraged, just like he had been doing time and time before. Elk started walking after him, easy enough, and Skip followed a moment later, but they hit a bit of a snag once they go rid of all the slack. Skip yelped in surprise when he suddenly had to try to pull the weight of the wagon. Elk wuffed and buckled down into it. "Come on, walk on!" Kadin encouraged, giving their harnesses a small tug to help them get going. Once they go over the initial strain, it seemed to be business as usually. Surprisingly, it seemed to be Skip that really liked this part. He finally started to focus more on what they were doing now that there was resistance in the harness, something he could pull against.
Pull Buggy: 6
104
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Post by Kadin on Nov 12, 2020 0:23:25 GMT -6
Kadin was pretty relieved to see that. They kept on with what they had been doing before. Kadin would tell them to walk on, have them walk a few feet of varying intervals, stop them eventually for praise and treats. He also started directing them to go in different directions, to the right and the left, mostly, by walking in that direction himself and having them follow him. He didn't really need them to be able to pull him, after all, just follow his lead while they were pulling something behind him. They kept practicing for a while more, especially getting started again. "Walk on!" Kadin kept encouraging them until they could get the wagon going on their own, throwing their weight into it better each time. He was sure to give them plenty of praise and treats for that as they following him around on the beach with the wagon, directing them where to go by simply walking with them and having them follow his lead. It was a lot like leash training, he reflected, getting them to just pay attention to where he was walking. Only, instead of directing them with a leash, he was directing them while they were pulling a wagon.
Pull Buggy: 7
105 *level up
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Post by Silver on Dec 8, 2020 1:52:46 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 8:44:16 GMT -6
Now that each of the pups had learned something a bit more advanced, Kadin figured that it was a good idea to teach them something easy next. It was time to fall back onto some of the basics. He released the houluh from the cart and watched them run around for a bit before catching their attention with a bag of treats. “Skip! Elk! Come!” He called, pleased when they looked his way at the sound of their names, and even more pleased when the charged over at the sight of some treats. Kadin shook his head, but still offered them treats for coming over when he called. That was something, at least.
Neither of the houluh were entirely sure what they did to get the treats, of course. They just saw that Kadin had treats and they wanted them so they came over! Skip charged over first, yipping in excitement and dancing around Kadin to get his treat. He deserved this treat! He was a good boy! And he accepted it with all the grace you’d expect from a houluh pup. That was to say, none.
Elk was a bit better, at least. He charged over, too, but stopped right in front of Kadin.
Come: 1 106
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 8:44:47 GMT -6
He stared at him with big, big eyes, asking and begging and hoping for his treat. He was a good boy! He was a very good boy! He deserved his treat! And, just because he was extra cute that day, he did a little happy dance once he did get his treat, zooming around in circles because he was so delighted.
This time he was going to teach them how to both stay and come. Teaching them together should make it a bit more quick than teaching them alone. He figured that stay was probably going to be the harder of the two, especially considering how… enthusiastic they were at the best of times. Still, it was time to give it a good old college try. “Skip, Stay. Elk, Stay.” Kadin encouraged, holding out a hand in front of the houluh to give them a signal to focus on, too. He maintained eye contact with him, holding perfectly still, hoping that they would do the same. He only waited a couple of second before going, “Good! Good stay!” To the houluh, offering them both treats even though they had done practically nothing. They were just starting out, alright? They had time to improve.
Stay: 1 107
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 8:49:50 GMT -6
Skip had no idea what was happening at ALL. Kadin was saying words at them and staring at them, so he stared back because he couldn’t think of anything better to do. He shifted a bit, back and forth, where he was standing, wondering if he should jump at Kadin and run around and be cute so he could get some treats. But before he could do any of that he was getting treats! Score!
Elk tilted his head at the human, wondering what all of this was about. Kadin seemed very serious, it was the same sort of serious look he got when he was trying to teach them something new! Was he trying to teach them something new? It sure seemed like it. He stared back at Kadin, still wondering what all this was about, when he got a treat! Yay! Weird? He wondered what he did right. Who knows!
Kadin repeated the same thing a couple more times. He just stood there while the houluh just stood there, all of them not moving. Elk and Skip seemed pretty confused about what was going on, but they were being fed treats so who were they to complain about it?
Stay: 2 108
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 8:50:23 GMT -6
That was, until Skip decided that it had been enough waiting and jumped towards Kadin a bit, tail wagging like crazy. “Nope.” Kadin said, shaking his head, “Stay, Skip.” And put his hand right in front of the pup’s face again, trying to get his point across.
Skip couldn’t take it anymore! There was all this standing still he wasn’t sure what to do about it! So he did what he did best and jumped at Kadin, trying to look at cute as possible to get more treats! Sadly, the plan seemed to backfire. Kadin was NOT happy about Skip coming forward! He didn’t even get a treat for it! Instead, he got a hand in his face and he huffed about it, upset.
Elk, on the other hand, was watching all of this in fascination. He didn’t really see the point in running around when Kadin wasn’t and the human also seemed like he was trying to keep their attention! Then Skip got told off for moving so…. Elk… didn’t. Kadin gave him a treat for it, too, eventually! So that was the right thing to do! Obviously he was getting the hang of whatever the heck Kadin was trying to teach them.
Stay: 3 109
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 8:53:08 GMT -6
Wait a minute! He didn’t get treats this time! Skip was obviously confused. He huffed about it, but before he could squirm away again, Kadin said, “Good!” and gave him and Elk, who had been staying in one place while he watched all this time, a treat. Even if it wasn’t perfect, Kadin was still going to take what he could get. “Good, Skip, Elk. Let’s try again. Stay!” Skip seemed to be a bit less squirmy after that, at least. He didn’t jump forward again, but this standing around doing nothing seemed to be getting pretty boring.
He got scolded the last time he moved around a lot, so Skip was a bit more cautious this time. He stared back at Kadin and thought about bouncing around, but he wanted to get treats and that hadn’t gotten him treats before! So instead he just stayed put and waited to see what would happen. Hopefully he’d just keep getting treats for doing nothing, that seemed pretty easy for him to do.
Elk, meanwhile, had practically mastered this standing around and doing nothing to get treats thing. He had it DOWN. All he had to do was stare back at Kadin and wait for him to give them the treats.
Stay: 4 110
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:11:03 GMT -6
This was easy! He could do this in his sleep! In fact, he considered sleeping on it since nothing much was happening! But he couldn’t eat treats when he was asleep, so maybe it’d be easier to stay awake instead.
Looks like it was time for Kadin to go on to the next step. He told the pups to “stay” again and backed up one step. This time, Elk sprang forward right away to follow him, tail wagging the whole time. Apparently he was under the impression that this was a game of follow the leader. Since Elk sprung forward, Skip did, too. Kadin shook his head and tried again. “Elk, Skip, Stay.” He said firmly, holding out a hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. He took a step back again, slowly, watching them the whole time. They seemed more uncertain this time, probably because he didn’t give them a treat and repeated the phrase.
Skip wasn’t the one who went forward this time, but he was still a little shocked! So they couldn’t move at all?? Was that what they were supposed to be doing?? He watched as Kadin made the weird gesture and waited, trying to see if he was right.
Stay: 5 111
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:13:16 GMT -6
It shouldn’t be too hard if that was all it took!
Elk was sort of embarrassed. He was just trying to follow Kadin! He’d thought that was what he wanted! But apparently not. He didn’t get any treats! He pouted about it a little, watching Kadin cautiously as he backed away and said the words again. All he wanted was a treat! It was so unfair that he didn’t get one…
After waiting for only about 5 seconds, Kadin said, “Good!”, stepped forward, and gave them both treats! Skip and Elk were both thrilled about this, of course, even if they were still a bit confused. Time to repeat and try again. Kadin did the same thing a second time, giving them the command and stepping back only one step. He waited five seconds, then praised them and gave them treats. Then he repeated it again. He didn’t want to take too big a step and confuse them further, it was all baby steps from here.
Stay still seemed to work! Skip was overjoyed when Kadin called them good and gave them treats. He wagged his tail super hard so that everyone knew it, too. He didn’t even mind that they started doing the same thing, again and again.
Stay: 6 112
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:14:53 GMT -6
With them just standing there waiting for treats. This was easy!
Elk also grew more confident once he saw that all he just needed to do was wait and the treats would come to him. This wasn’t too bad, even if he was still a little upset about not getting a treat before. That feeling was quickly covered up with all of the treats he was getting now! All they needed to do was just wait and Kadin would let them have treats!
After repeating that a couple of times, he started to wait longer. Ten seconds, fifteen, twenty. He’d go back one step, wait, and then praise them and give them treats if they did well. They seemed to be finally catching on to this whole ‘stay still and don’t move’ thing after so much repetition. Once they seemed to master that without messing up, Kadin stepped it up to taking two steps back. Then three. Then four. There were still a couple false starts, of course, but he took them in stride and just reset the pups to have them try again.
The waiting was getting more boring, but they were still holding on. Skip and Elk were almost making a game of it.
Stay: 7 113
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:17:29 GMT -6
Waiting to see how long they had to stand for before Kadin would give them treats. They sort of liked it! The tension, the anticipation, the promise of treats at the end. Waiting wasn’t so bad as long as they knew they’d get a reward if they were good and they were both very, very good!
By the time they were reliably staying still when he was five steps back he started to reintroduce ‘come’ instead of just having them stand there. “Good stay! Come, Skip, Elk!” He called, holding up the bag of treats and shaking it for them. The pups were cautious, at first. They didn’t want to break their stay! But Kadin had said they were good and that meant they could have a treat, right? Eventually the call of the treats won out and they ran forward, charging to him to accept their prize.
Something different? Kadin said something different this time and he had treats! Skip wanted those treats! But Kadin had said stay earlier so he wasn’t sure what he could do…. He glanced over at Elk, but he seemed unsure, too. But Kadin kept making a new gesture and shaking the bag of treats, surely he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t want them to move?
Stay: 8 Come: 2 114
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:19:14 GMT -6
Elk glanced back at Skip, both of them equally unsure. Kadin hadn’t been happy when they moved before. But before he was always coming to them to give them treats after they were good. Not he was calling to them and showing them treats! Clearly this was something different. He glanced at Skip again and saw that Skip was already looking at him. Almost by mutual decision, they ran forward to get their treats!
Time to go at it again. Kadin told them to stay, backed up, waited, then called for them to ‘come’ again. They were obviously just charging in for the treats, but he wasn’t too worried about that just yet. They knew that they were going to get a prize for coming to him, so they came to him. He was just using this tool to get them to know the command. He had them do it again a couple more times, always telling them to stay, then backing up, then calling them over with a come and showing them the treats.
This wasn’t so bad! There was plenty of familiar stuff, with the stays, but now at the end Kadin would show them treats and they were supposed to go and get the treats themselves!
Come: 3
115 *level up
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Post by Kadin on Feb 9, 2021 9:21:00 GMT -6
It was pretty fun, actually. Skip was sure that he could run faster and get his treats first, but Elk wasn’t going to let him win easily. They both waited in more and more anticipation for Kadin to call them good and then call them over for treats. They were going to be the best at this!
He kept repeating the same thing for a little while longer before he decided to hide the treat bag away and still call them to come from a stay. Of course, they still knew he had treats, so they still charged over to him even if they couldn’t see them. They just knew that he told them they were good and then gestured them over to get their treats so they ran over to get their treats! There was no downside to any of this! Kadin repeated that a couple times more before letting the pups just wandering around, letting them think that they were on a break.
They kept practicing for a while. Skip and Elk were trying to get to Kadin faster and faster together. Sometimes they even almost broke their stays! Sometimes they even almost went forward too soon! Only sometimes, though.
Come: 4
116
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