Stay. Sit. Down. [Mino]

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spring 24th, 514 AV

The puppy before Spirit was one of the middling puppies… older enough to be away from the mother, but not old enough to be full grown. She was about half a year old, and still getting bigger. She’d decided to work with this one today, because… she was causing problems. The Luvanor was picky, and seemed to always want to cause trouble. She also didn’t seem to like the ‘no’ command… something that needed to be enforced.

The Frostfawn crouched before the dog, and stared into the dark eyes. The puppy looked away. At least it wasn’t a dominance problem, then. There was a few moments like that, where the creature looked awkwardly around… until it found her boot. Immediately, it darted forward and tried to take a huge bite out of the thick leather. This would be the start of the training, then.

“No,” Spirit firmly ordered, but there was no reaction. She grabbed the Luvanor’s jaw and pried it off and away, repeating the order. The puppy tried to nibble on her fingers. “Noo,” she said, stressing the word now, and giving the dog a light tap on the nose as a scolding. It whined at her, mostly to gain her sympathy. She didn’t have any. Though she loved dogs and puppies, she’d become mostly immune to the infamous ‘puppy dog eyes’.

She’d gotten it’s collar now, and held on tightly, while the puppy started pulling away. The Luvanor apparently thought it was a game… that was always their first reaction. “No. Sit.” The puppy stopped for a few moments, then the pulling continued. “Sit,” she repeated, and was rewarded with success… she’d spent the last few days drilling the simple command into the puppy. She’d brought Mino in a few times, but she knew the puppy got on the Kelvic’s nerves… it was basically teaching a person who didn’t want to learn. Anyways, Mino was busy with her sled training… which was probably more important than this.

The Vet sighed, then rubbed the puppy’s head as a reward. This was something she’d have to work one steadily, every time she saw the puppy doing something wrong. Associate ‘no’ with bad, and the actions with bad. “Good girl,” she muttered, scratched an ear, and stood up. The puppy jumped up to follow her. Actually… this would be a good time to practice something else.

“Sit,” she started with, and the dog sat. “Stay,” was the next order, as she took a few steps back. The puppy ran towards her. “No. Sit. Stay.” The Luvanor followed the first two at least, though was at her feet by that time. She decided that the puppy’s problem with the ‘no’ command wasn’t that it didn’t understand it… it was just that the creature didn’t want to follow it.

“Stay,” she repeated, and moved back even more. She held out a hand for the desired effect. The puppy began standing up… “No.” It stopped halfway through the movement, looking at her pathetically. “Stay.” No movement. “Come!” The puppy, after a moment’s hesitation, raced towards her, running into her legs with a crash. She hadn’t actually worked on that word, but it was the more relaxed tone, compared to the earlier hard ones, that made the meaning more obvious. She scratched the Luvanor’s ears again, muttering compliments.

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[Minosayaa]

Mino watched the two pullers-in-training with some humor. She had put the pups in their small harness. The male half of her trainees was still rolling about the snow trying to pry off the sled harness or roll out of it at least... "C'mon, Tim (she had decided to give the puppies names, even if they weren't official names) you've been at that rolling tactic for how long? If it was gonna work, shouldn't it of worked by now?" Mino got down on her knees ask she questioned the pup. Seeing that Mino had come into close range Tim got to his feet and happily ran circles around her seeming to forget about the battle of the sled harness. It wasn't long before Tim's sister Tina joined in the game. Tina had taken to the harness like a fish takes to water. She would be a natural at this. "Ok, ok, I get it you want to play chase with me. Fine, one thing first though." She got to her feet with pups not far behind as Mino went to get the needed equipment two children's sleds. It took some time to get both pups properly connected to the sleds. "That's right, if you wanna run... You're gonna do it while harnessed to a sled. Get you use to the feel of pulling and build up your endurance too. I won't put anything on the sleds today because it's the first time we've done this, kay?" Mino readied herself and took off running. Tim and Tina took off bounding after the Kelvic girl. This exercise also tested Mino's endurance and enhanced it. Although to anyone else it would look like a girl running circles with two puppies tied to sleds. But Mino had done this all her life and knew that the main issues of sled pulling was getting use to the feel of everything in general. Mino had become very close to these two pups, even going as far as sleeping with them in their kennel in her dog form. The two seemed to recognize Mino from form to form. Understanding that the big furry dog who slept beside them was at the same time this human girl. How? That was unknown to both of them she simply was. She was not their mother, yet she cared for them like they were hers. In their minds she was their Big Sister. And so that was her name to them Big Sis. It was a title Mino was proud of.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit had spent the next few chimes reviewing the ‘stay’ command. She knew she was at the point where repetition was pointless, however… she was actually working on something else. Giving food, to be exact. A well-behaved dog wasn’t supposed to steal or snatch food wherever it found it. Rather, you gave a command to allow the dog to eat. This pertained to meals as well as treats… and at the moment she was giving the latter.

The Luvanor came to her after a successful order, attempting to stand on its hind legs in order to grab the treat that was visible (and smellable) in her hand. ”Sit,” she ordered instead, and was rewarded with nothing. She repeated the command, pushing down on the dog’s hindquarters to reinforce the word. Luckily the puppy sat, and stared drooling at the strip of meat. ”Wait…” she said, holding it in front of the Luvanor, before finishing with ”Release.” The puppy, probably sensing the relaxing tone of voice, darted forward and snatched up the tidbit. In moments, it was gone.

”He looks rather well trained,” said a voice she didn’t recognize. Spirit glanced up in surprise, spotting a Vantha leaning on the stone wall around her land. She knew it was rude to correct people, but… she couldn’t help it. ”She’s a girl,” she said, as politely as she could.

”My apologies then… she looks rather well trained.” The dark haired man grinned widely at her, then reached down to touch… something. Spirit’s gaze followed his hand and spotted a dog’s head, apparently with both paws on the wall, staring over at her. It was Kalean Spicecoat, a breed she recognized after Apple. This one’s coat was slightly duller, more of a reddish-brown than a true orange, but the breed was still familiar.

”Thank you,” she replied, standing up and leaving the puppy to lick it’s lips after the treat. ”Uh… how can I help you?” It was said with a tone that was a question all in itself… wondering if she was even needed to help, or if it was something else. She could think of many reasons someone would want to speak with her, from her Veterinary work to this business of her own.

”Well… I was hoping you’d take Spider here on. He’s sort of a companion and hunting dog of mine. He recently hurt his leg, and has been sitting doing absolutely nothing while it healed. During that time, he seemed to have lost all his manners… I was thinking you could try and re-teach him. I know older dogs are harder, if the saying is right, but I can give extra.”

It was an odd request, but Spirit nodded, eyeing the Spicecoat curiously. ”Alright,” she said carefully, running tactics through her head. She was hugely thankful that she had Mino at her side… puppies were readier to take in new knowledge and commands, and she was more used to training them. An older dog would be a… challenge, to say the least.

”One more thing, though… his front leg is still hurting him. The White Elk Stables Veterinarian woman said he’d need therapy… and offered to do it herself. However, I’ve heard you work with her, correct? Could you try and do the therapy as well? I’m sure the Vet woman would be better at explaining it to you than myself.” He gave an apologetic smile, in response to the young Frostfawn’s frown.

How much would this cost? She didn’t want to overcharge, but it would be… complicated. Five gold for the basic training. Another ten or five for the fact that he was old? And for the therapy… probably another ten or fifeen. All around it came up to 20 to 30… so 25 was nice, right in the middle. ”Okay, I’ll do it,” she announced, reminding herself that she needed to tell Mino as soon as possible. ”It would be twenty-five mizas in all. Is that alright with you?”

The man nodded, looking rather relieved. He passed her the mizas when she approached, and added his name to the mix… ‘Onyan Iceglaze’, apparently. With that done, they said farewells, and Spider was passed over from owner to trainer.

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[Minosayaa]

Mino slouched to the ground huffing and puffing looking to her small students she found them panting just as bad if not worse than her. "Good run you two, but you kept tipping your sleds. We gotta work on that, throwing your riders is never good." Tim climbed up over Mino's legs and cuddled close to her. With a sigh she unharnessed Tim and then moved to Tina freeing them of the sleds. Tina shook out her fur before joining her brother. Mino tried to think of how to stabilize the sleds, she could borrow some Vantha children. That might actually work! But for now some mid-weight items might work. Cuddling a pup in each arm, Mino looked around the training area. Nothing. She couldn't find anything that would work. Maybe Spirit had something she could use. The Kelvic got to her feet with pups following close behind as she went to ask Spirit for a bag of potatoes or something of the like. Approaching where Spirit was training a puppy who for the life of her just didn't want to be trained. Seeing the other puppy Mino's entourage were about to make a run. "Tch!" Mino made a noise and oddly they returned to her, because making big Sis made was not something a good pup did and Tim and Tina both believed they were good pups. "Hey Spirit do you have a bag of potatoes I could weigh the sleds down w-" The was a new dog here. She didn't have to see it, she could smell this new person. "There's a new dog." She simply stated looking at Spirit.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit glanced up at Mino, and smiled at the arrival of her friend. Spider was sniffing around, exploring his newfound surroundings. He completely ignored everyone and everything, until he ran into the first puppy. He stared at that, sniffed it too, and even growled a little. The puppy scampered away, not wanting to face someone so big and old.

Hearing the unfriendly noise, the Frostfawn whipped around, her expression quickly turning into a scowl. ”No!” she said, though it was no use… Spider was too far, and had already continued his wanderings. This would be a painful training indeed….

She turned back to Mino again, looking a bit surprised at the question. ”Oh, yes,” she finally said, understanding. ”The owner just came and talked to me. He’s old, but apparently has forgotten most of his training after an injury. I don’t know why, though. I think he just doesn’t want to follow or something. On top of that, his injury is still a bit of a problem, so I’m expected to do physiotherapy or… something. I need to ask Lusina about that, as I’m clueless.”

She grinned a little awkwardly, knowing the whole thing was more than a little confusing. This would be a new experience, however, and hopefully she’d learn something from it. She’d certainly learn about physiotherapy, if Lusina understood what it was. If not… she could probably ask a Whitevine? From what she knew about dog anatomy, technically the basic bones and joints weren’t completely different… so she could try adapting it. Only Morwen would know how it would go, however.

”As for potatoes… I don’t think so. I’d offer up Spider here, but I don’t think he’d stay. I don’t think any but the best trained dog would. Even Wind… However, am I good enough? Maybe too heavy?” She grinned at the thought, taking it mostly as a joke. She was probably too heavy and large for a pair of half-grown puppies to pull, unless Mino helped along.

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[Minosayaa]

Mino puffed out her cheeks and thought. "Physical therapy is just muscle movement, right?" She turned to Spirit's unwilling student pup. "And she just has too much energy to learn.... Spirit I have an idea, but I need you to make it work... Bring Spider and miss 'I don't wanna learn' to the sled area. Do you know how to mush? After all the dogs were herded to Mino's sled area, Mino fetched a team harness to tether the team to a sled. She brought out three training harnesses out and two for grown dogs. "Let's get these two dogs on our level. See Spider can work his leg as the pup won't move very fast and Miss Energy here will be more willing to learn once she's a tad tuckered out." Mino got Tim ready and began his ritual of rolling around trying to escape. Tina took to the harness with no trouble as normal. The new puppy whined and flopped over. Spider was a bit more of a challenge but was finally set to go. She set up the team with Spider and Spirit's pup closest to the sled, with Tim and Tina leading them, leaving Mino for the lead. "Okay! I'll change and you can harness me up. Lean with the sled, but you know that." Mino kicked off her boots and was about to remover her dress when she paused, "Ah! I almost forgot!" She reached into her bag and pulled out a crochet shoulder bag. "Here, I got this for you, cause you don't like bones and A-mary said girls like things like this. See? It's the same color of your eyes when you're happy." Mino handed Spirit the bag. "Okay, I'm going to shift now!"

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit nodded at Mino's inquiry about physical therapy... though that was basically the extent of her knowledge as well. It seemed the Kelvic had an idea, however... which would hopefully turn out to be interesting. By the girl's statements it probably had something to do with Spider'sFor some reason I feel like Spider is just an awesome name for a dog. For the right dog, though. I don't know why. physical therapy, and the puppy's constant energy. She, however, didn't know how to 'mush'... unless it included saying the word. She could do that.

Instead of saying this, however, she simply followed silently, wanting to see what the plan was before commenting. Maybe it would be explained along the way! She was interested to try, however... hopefully it would turn out educational and productive. If not that, hopefully fun.

They ended up gathering where Mino liked to do the sled training, or at least start it. Two more puppies had joined the group, the two Zypherians for whom this training was... actually what the person had paid for. There was no harm in giving the dogs a bit of exercise however, as sometimes running around and chasing each other in the half-acre field they had just wasn't enough.

She listened to the plan patiently, brightening as it came to an end. "Smart! Two birds with one stone, then! Or... three, depending on what you count." She grinned, standing back as Mino arranged the harnesses. She didn't exactly want to get in the way, considering she really didn't know anything about this. The whole sledding business was Mino's, not her's.

When the request came for her to do the harness on the Kelvic, she was less sure... and almost a little worried. But it couldn't be too complicated, could it? Not as complicated as which way was up on a bridle... something that had thoroughly confused her when she'd first started learning. Saddles and stirrups were all well and good, but bridles and halters had so many bits and bobs it was hard to keep track of them.

This was interrupted when Mino pulled something out of a bag and handed it to her, giving it as a gift. Spirit stared at it in surprise, having not expected something like this in the least... but again she smiled, eyes indeed matching the color of the bag she'd been given. She liked that turquoisy-blue color, especially in Avanthal... it always seemed to match the snow. That and lilac.

"Thank you!" she said, leaning forward to hug the Kelvic happily. She wasn't sure what use she'd put the bag to, but... she'd always figure it out. Bags were useful, weren't they? When she pulled away she looped the bag around her shoulder, as a good place to keep it whilst they worked.

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[Minosayaa]

With that Mino took to her four pawed form. Going from dog to dog she greeted them before bringing a harness over to Spirit. She stood next to Spider so that Spirit could see how his harness was done and copy that onto her own. Mino gave a mental laugh, Just realized you have almost no idea what you're doing, right? Don't worry, it just means it's training time for you too and a chance to learn something new.Who knows, this could be your calling or a fun new hobby at least. Once harnessed up Mino headed to the lead position waiting for Spirit to rig her up to the sled.Don't worry you'll do fine. Making sure all was good to go with the dogs, Mino waited for Spirit to climb aboard the sled. She gave Spirit ample time to get situated on the sled. It was hard to imagine a sled being foreign to someone in Mino's mind. Mino gave a bark, which worked as a sound off, then a yodel and the sled began to move slowly at first it then peaked at what Mino would call park strolling pace, the pace in which she pulled people around to see the sights, not too slow but not a full on run. More like a dog's version of a trot. Mino smiled mentally as the bells of the harnesses began a soft melody of chimes. Tim and Tina romped happily behind Mino followed by Spider who seemed okay with this activity and Spirit's hyper student who still seem unsure whether or not she liked this, not that she could stop this merry little trot all by herself. We'll go round the fence once and then see how everybody's doing.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit took the harness from Mino's mouth when the Kelvic took her dog form, trying to find the right orientation of the harness. Which way was up? Conveniently, the Zypherian was standing next to Spider... so she could cheat off of that. She paused for a moment, getting a good look at how the older dog's sat, noting that the padded part went around the dogs neck, and it tapered down towards the tail.

After much fiddling and fussing she finally had it on straight, though there'd been a few times where she'd adjusted it in the wrong direction, or attached two parts together that actually weren't supposed to be. "There," she finally muttered to herself, straightening and following the Kelvic to the position at the front. Once again copying the way the other dogs were set up, she clipped Mino onto the sled, a step that was much simpler than the harness itself.

She headed to the sled, finding a nice handle and place to stand up, and gripped tightly. Seeing the Kelvic's head twisted to look at her she nodded, indicating that she was ready. She'd seen some sleds go amazingly fast... but she didn't think today was one of those days. There were only five dogs, after... three puppies, one injured, and the last the only well trained one. She doubted she'd have trouble holding on, at whatever speed they'd be going at.

They set off, heading at a nice speed, and Spirit found herself able to relax on the sled, despite having a new surface to stand on. She gazed over the dogs, noting that all three Zypherians were doing very well (though it was hard for her to tell what 'well' meant), but that was to be expected. They were all naturally sled dogs. The one who'd given her quite some pain looked unused to the motion, to working with other dogs... but that wasn't the one she was worried about.

Spider, the one with the leg injury, was running rather well. She couldn't see any obvious problems, even when staring at his leg, except... she saw it twitch a little, a vibration from strain. When they went over a small bump she saw him limp a step, loosing his gait for several moments before re-finding the pattern. As she continued to watch and watch and watch... she saaw more trembles, more limps. This was good exercise, it was obvious, but it seemed like his leg wasn't fully healed. She didn't know if this was the right kind of thing, running, but it gave her a good view of how Spider was doing.

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[Ayviss]

Minosayaa

Please update your Character Sheet:

• Update your ledger with seasonal expenses of 514 (Spring and Summer) and your income, if any.
• Link all the threads that you have done after Winter, 513 on your CS
• If you haven't, please update your ledger and your skills.

Once you have corrected these issues, please PM me, and I'll post your grade.

Spirit Frostfawn

Spirit, if you become active with your characters again, please PM me so I can give you your grades!