Completed A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Tazrae learns more about training Creature.

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

Moderator: Gossamer

A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Postby Tazrae on July 28th, 2020, 1:35 am

Timestamp: 1st of Summer, 520 A.V.

Continued From: A Delivery Of The Best Sort I


The next morning Tazrae was up well before dawn. It wasn’t because she wanted to be, but rather it was because she had been awakened several times in the middle of the night by the whining of the puppy. She thought he had to go out, and in taking him outside and into the garden area, he had in fact squatted a few times. But mostly, she came to realize, he was just lonely and in the wee hours of the morning she tucked him into bed beside her and finally was able to sleep.

The only problem? He snored.

But after having her sleep interrupted multiple times, the soft sound of the puppy snoring was something she easily tuned out. In fact, she found the warm spot beside her where the pup curled was more comforting than anything else and she woke often, just to reach out and reassure herself he was okay.

Before she even let him off the bed though, upon waking up, Tazrae scooped him up and carried him outside. When he sniffed around and immediately piddled, she praised him and made a fuss to make sure he understood he’d done a good thing. Then she carried him inside, let him roam free on the new hardwood floors, and surveyed the small pantry wondering what she was going to feed him. There was ham in the icebox, the meat hanging over the block of ice that was slowly melting in the metal insulated cage for her food. She pulled a carving knife out, took off what was equivalent to a large roast, and set it on the counter.

Part of it she chopped up into manageable pieces, filling a decent sized bowl and setting it down for him to eat from. She filled a second bowl with water from the pump, then began cutting the remaining roast into thin slices. She pulled out the drying racks for her oven, laid the thin meat on it, and stoked up the fire to circulate heat. Tazrae had very little experience with drying meat, but she new slow heat applied over a long period of time would give the pork a dried smokey flavor that would rehydrate nicely. The dried meat wouldn’t spoil nearly as fast as the fresh meat would, so the Innkeeper could keep bits of the jerky about herself to offer to the pup as treats. The breeder, after all, had suggested food reward training first and foremost for the pup.

While the meat was drying, Tazrae went and fetched the scrolls the breeder had written for her. There were more helpful clues and hints on how to do the training she would need to make sure Creature had a good life with her.

Your pup will have a short attention span, so don’t make training sessions longer than a few chimes apiece. However, every action you can do, can also be a training moment. Using small pieces of food or a favorite toy, you can motivate him to perform small tasks. Providing a bit of the food as a reward is called food lure training. You should be able to prompt the puppy to give you whatever desired response you may have by showing the puppy the reward, giving a command, and moving the reward to get the desired response from him. For example, as I stated earlier, holding a bit of a treat over his nose and slowly moving it backwards should get your puppy to ‘sit’. Drawing the food down to the floor should get a ‘down’ response, and good brought back up should get a ‘stand’ response. Food held out at a distance should get a ‘come here’ response, and food held at your thigh as you walk should get the puppy to actually follow you in the ‘heel’ position. These are all easy commands for him to learn! Remember to pair a command phrase or word with each action and then slowly move past the reward of food and into the reward of praise as the puppy learns each command. It will take him a day or two.




Word Count: 688
Last edited by Tazrae on July 28th, 2020, 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
User avatar
Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
Posts: 1335
Words: 1916653
Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Postby Tazrae on July 28th, 2020, 1:36 am

Tazrae nodded to herself. What the breeder said made sense. She so sat the scroll aside and went to check on the meat drying in the oven. She ended up using a set of tongs to turn it over. Then she stoked up the fire, left the door open to vent, and went back to her reading. She understood the basics of the puppy training now. It sounded easy enough. She just had to get started once her dried jerky was ready.

She had a few questions though. How often did she need to give the command? Was it over and over again until the puppy understood or just once with a repetitive motion? The breeder’s advice was clear once she skimmed the area.

“Only give the command phrase or word once. Then utilize the food to move the puppy around. Once the little guy has done as you asked, make sure to add verbal praise and an affectionate pet or pat, which we call secondary reinforcers. If the puppy responds quickly, move on and do the next command. If the puppy has trouble and struggles, stall at that command, and go more slowly, show them again and again, until they are firmly doing what you want them to do. Never loose patience with them. They are very sensitive to people feeling anger or frustration. And when you have done a great deal of training, always be sure to reward the puppy with an equal amount of play time. The Imperial Watchers love playing fetch, so be sure they have toys you can throw that they can retrieve. They love toys that squeak. And they love wrestling with their owners.

Whatever you do remember that the puppy does not speak Common. It speaks puppy. You have to teach it the words you want it to know in common by repetition and positive reinforcement.


Okay, that certainly made sense. Tazrae glanced at Creature and smiled. He was currently enjoying his second or third nap of the morning, and while she was learning how to train him, he seemed to be perfecting how to sleep.

“So… lets see. I don’t want to have to continuously bake you jerky and treat you every time I get you to do something. Let’s see if she says anything about phasing out treats into something that’s more realistic.” Tazrae said to no one in particular. She settled at the kitchen counter, pushed open the scrolls again to move into some basic health stuff, then skimmed that reading to get to more advanced training.

Always let your puppy see the food in your hand – or conversely smell it… so you can get their attention and use it to move their body the way you want it moved… ie… sit, stand, down, up, come, stay etc. As your puppy begins to understand the rules and comply with your commands, start hiding the food in your hand, but give the command and repeat the motion or signal he has learned to follow. The puppy will always come to expect the treat each time he gets the command performed. Then, its time to slowly phase the food out, replacing the food treat with affection and praise, a pat, a hug, something to reward them physically with your whole attention. Make it so the food comes randomly, maybe as often as every third or fifth time, and the puppy should make no distinction between the food lure and the praise lure over time. They will come to love the ‘good dog’ sort of praise or the hug as much as they loved the food. And should something go wrong or your puppy get scared, you can always back track and go back to the food luring to get the puppy worked through their insecurities or fears.”


“Okay, that makes a lot of sense.” Tazrae said, then felt a little silly as if she weren’t just having a conversation with someone that wasn’t here but rather someone that was writing her instead. She could completely see how over time her commands would replace the food as the dog and person bond between the two of them grew.


Word Count: 698
Image
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
User avatar
Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
Posts: 1335
Words: 1916653
Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Postby Tazrae on July 28th, 2020, 1:38 am

“Now, how often do I do this? Maybe short sessions morning noon or night? Let's see if your breeder has any advice.” Tazrae said, looking thoughtful as she once more thumbed through the scrolls. Indeed, she found what she was looking for a few moments later.

”Don’t schedule training time for your puppy. Instead, make any opportunity to teach your dog a training session. For example, ask your puppy to ‘sit’ before you let them out or maybe give them their food. If your dog wants something, ask them to ‘sit’ before you give it to them. If you teach your dog to sit before you let them outside, it might prevent them from lunging at the door barking if someone knocks and maybe slipping out and escaping to run into a busy city road or a wild woodland countryside.”


Tazrae could see it now. “I have to invest time with you now so it will pay off later when you are far larger and far harder to control than you are now. I have to be committed to reinforcing the training daily for at least the first year of your life. The breeder says so. And the more I teach you and supervise your play, the less you will have a chance to do bad things or act improperly.” She mused, then looked thoughtful. The oven was checked once more and Tazrae pulled the jerky out of the hot box, setting it on the counter to cool.

“Looks like we have all the treats we need to get started.” She added, smiling at the stretched out sleeping form. She hoped he liked jerky and indeed would do what the breeder said he’d do for a chance at the treat. So Tazrae checked the jerky, found that it had cooled enough, then pulled out her cutting board and began to chop into fine pieces perfect for puppy treat bites. Once she had a big bunch of it, she pushed it together into a piece of cheesecloth and tucked it into her belt pouch so she could leave the pouch just a bit open – enough to slip her fingers into – and pull out a piece or two.

“There’s no time like the present to start I suppose.” She said, trying not to feel intimidated. She moved a bit away from where the puppy was sprawled on the floor and whistled to get his attention and see if it would wake him up. It did, happily, and he lifted his head and tilted his big ear as if to ask her ‘what?’. She laughed at the expression, took a bit of jerky out of her belt pouch, and clearly showed it to him. She watched him sniff the air with his bi-colored nose and then awkwardly climb to his feet, obviously interested.


“Good… now come!” She said, asking firmly, and displaying the treat. He sniffed the air, looked at her curiously, and then eyed the treat. He licked his lips, clearly thinking, whined softly, and ambled forward until his nose touched her hand where he could give a good sniff at what she obviously offered to him. He looked pleased as she handed him the bite and he bit down on it and began to chew. It was good, that much was for sure since he swallowed it in one bite, and his tail began to wag in earnest.



Word Count: 570
Image
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
User avatar
Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
Posts: 1335
Words: 1916653
Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Postby Tazrae on July 28th, 2020, 1:39 am

“Good boy!” She praised, then ruffled the top of his head with her hand and snuck a second piece of jerky out of the belt pouch. “Can you SIT?” She asked, doing as the scroll suggested, and waving the treat by his nose, but then swooping it up between his eyes. It was just that easy… making that motion caused him to collapse onto his haunches so he could tilt his head higher and track the movement of the food. “Good boy!” She praised again and immediately gave him the treat. He wagged again, wondering what all the fuss was about, and remained sitting, watching her intently to see if another treat would appear.

Another did. Soon she was pulling out a third piece of jerky and while he was sitting she waved it by his nose and then drew it downward, like it was a bug flying down to make a landing somewhere in front of him at ground level. The dog watched it curiously, not understanding her ‘down!’ command that she spoke at the same time. She paused then, tried again, and this time moved the treat much slower. He caught a good whiff of it, and lowered himself to the ground at nose level with the morsal as she offered it to him as a treat. Her ‘down’ probably fell on deaf ears, but she was pleased he would do what she wanted for a treat.

She tried again, fetching another treat from the belt pouch and slowly offering it to him from her full standing height. “Up”. She commanded and the pup clambered awkwardly to its feet and made a jump for the treat, causing Tazrae to laugh. She gave it to him, bent to hug him, and ruffled his head again which he seemed to really like. “You are a good boy… a really good boy. Let’s run through this all one more time and see if you can’t remember some of it. Then I’ll find that stuffed rabbit toy she sent with you and maybe we can play a game of fetch with it? Would you like that?” She asked, smiling brightly.

She ran through sit one more time. This one went as smoothly as the scroll described. It seemed that Creature naturally wanted to sit anyhow, not really liking to stand around on all fours when one could make perfect use of the seat beneath one’s tail. He was rather good at ‘down’ too by the time she was done with the lesson. “Up” or “Stand” was harder, partially because she caught herself switching between the two as if they were interchangeable. That was her fault and she needed to pick a consistent command. She decided on “Up” rather than stand and that went far better once she herself could be consistent in giving the command.

It was better too once Creature figured out what she was asking for. He seemed willing and able to give a lot for any food she offered him, so the trade off was wonderful. By the time she’d made the afternoon and evening short training sessions, he had sit down perfectly and would even do it without a food treat which she sometimes forgot to offer. She didn’t know if the command would hold if there was something distracting or excitable in Creature’s mind, but she hoped after a ten-day or so of practicing all of the commands, he would be a professional.



Word Count: 579
Thread Count: 2535
Image
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
User avatar
Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
Posts: 1335
Words: 1916653
Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)

A Delivery Of The Best Sort II

Postby Tazrae on June 7th, 2022, 4:29 pm

Grading!

Tazrae -

Animal Husbandry 5, Research 5, Food Preservation 2

AH: Proper nutrition for a dog. AH - Dog Training - No More Than 10 Chime Sessions At A Time, AH - Dog Training - Every moment an opportunity to train, AH - Dog Training - Bribe with food, AH - Dog Training - Go Slow, AH - Dog Training - Master one command before introducing a new one, AH - Dog Training - Commands sit down back up stay, AH - Dog Training - Make dog sit before giving treat, answering the door, playing with a toy, going outside, AH - Dog Training - Never lose patience
If the puppy struggles slow down; repeat the lesson, AH - Dog Training - Be consistent, AH - Dog Training - Use secondary reinforcement like praise pets pats, AH - Dog Training - Dogs sensitive to emotions, AH - Dog Training - Amount of taining time = amout of play time, AH - Dog Training - Play fetch as a reward, AH - Dog Training - Let puppy see and smell treats, AH - Dog Training - Every moment a Training moment
Image
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."


Garden Beach Syka The Protea Inn

"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
User avatar
Tazrae
Be savage, not average.
 
Posts: 1335
Words: 1916653
Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Syka Seasonal Challenge (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests