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Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:46:51 GMT -6
It was the most odd look that Morgan had been given by a non-sentient creature. It was almost as if Morgan was asked a question of some kind, in that moment. They weren't able to completely parse out what exactly was asked before it was gone in an instant. The human was somewhat baffled by this, for only a moment before pushing it away. Kaodie was indeed wearing an RoT, but Morgan didn't exactly believe in their usefulness at this point. They chocked it up to a fluke or a strange passing fancy, and then they continued on with the process of trying to get Kaodie to perform the behavior that they wanted. They gave the hand signal to Kaodie that they'd chosen, and was quite pleased when they glanced up and realized that no one had really noticed Morgan give the hand signal (at least to their knowledge). Hopefully it would continue to be a little bit low-key.
[10]
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Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:57:38 GMT -6
Though Morgan may not have known that the RoT that they'd tied about Kaodie's neck was actually working (quite well, in fact), Kaodie was indeed getting some instruction across in the form of what Morgan was hoping that he would do. He understood that Morgan didn't feel comfortable with lots of people around, and that they wanted him to do something about it. He also understood that this circling behavior was intended to keep people away from Morgan. That was not an idea that he'd previously had, but as soon as it came across the RoT he understood immediately that instead of avoiding the people around him rather skittishly, it was going to be his job (his VERY IMPORTANT job) to keep people away. That changed his behavior the next time he was given the hand signal that he'd began to associate with the behavior being requested- this time he widened his circle out just a little bit, and didn't move whenever someone got close to him.
[11]
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Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 14:11:03 GMT -6
This was the most difficult part of the process, though of course neither Morgan nor Kaodie were actively thinking about that. Kaodie needed to learn how to use his confidence rather than his form to keep people away from Morgan. Most people actively did not want to hurt such a small creature so they would move out of the way of him as he circled the bespectacled human. He wasn't necessarily afraid of being kicked, but he didn't really want to cause any trouble. Morgan spurred him on, however, as they continued to repeat the training process. Each time that Kaodie did well, it was like he could feel rather than hear Morgan's words of praise and encouragement (thanks to the RoT, though he didn't really know that). That spurred him on to do better. He pushed the circle out just enough to keep people from coming up on Morgan very closely, but stayed quite close to Morgan to ensure that no one would step within that distance.
[12]
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Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 19:33:04 GMT -6
It took quite a few tries to get Kaodie to do what Morgan wanted him to do. They spent most of the next hour working on getting him to circle just right, and by that time the large amassment of people going from one place to another or spending their meal break picnicking in the area had dissipated. Today was probably not the day that they were going to finish working on Kaodie's circling behavior training. They spent thirty more minutes out making up for the lack of tug of war during the bout of training that day, and then they headed home.
After a few days, Morgan brought Kaodie back to the park- RoT and all. They decided to start where they had left off the last time to ensure that Kaodie was going to remember all of the behaviors that they had taught the last time that they were there.
[13]
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Post by Morgan on Mar 11, 2023 3:31:39 GMT -6
There were people walking one way and then the other way. Morgan had maneuvered the two of them into the midst of the group of people heading out to lunch or for a walk, just like they had the day before. It made them extremely uncomfortable, but it was required to ensure that Kaodie would know what to do in the future to keep this sort of thing from giving them anxiety in these sorts of situations. After giving Kaodie the command, he hesitated only just for a split second before he seemed to catch himself and begin the circling behavior that they had worked so hard on the day before. Morgan was a little bit upset that he hadn't been very quick on the draw, but they knew that they were nearing the end of the process at this point. After moving slowly out of the group of people while Kaodie circled them, they gave him a round of tug of war for his troubles.
[14]
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Post by Morgan on Mar 11, 2023 3:42:59 GMT -6
This was what the next few weeks were like for the two of them. Each day, Morgan would take him to the park and they would practice the circling behavior. Each time they did, Kaodie got increasingly more confident. Morgan's nerves were quite frayed due to the stress from the consistent events, but they knew that despite their discomfort with people; this would do more good in the future than not putting theirself and Kaodie through the ringer now. However, it took a week to ensure that Kaodie wouldn't hesitate to do his job. Now, each time that he was prompted to perform the circling behavior, he did so without any question at all- confident even in his very small size to keep others from being too near Morgan. His confidence naturally moved others out of the way, despite that small size. Morgan was finally quite pleased with his progress; so they could take a decompressing breather between this work and the next behavior that they wanted to teach.
[15] - [End of Circle- the pair leave.]
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