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Writers: AL, Miriah
Date Posted: 4th August 2013

Characters: Karhal, Zathris
Description: Zathris and Karhal work with the canines
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 2, day 18 of Turn 7

Karhal

Zathris

Late in the evening, and making sure that the pups were settled,
Karhal waited for Zathris to arrive with his newly acquired canine.
They had worked a little on basic obedience, and thankfully the new
canine was easily trained, if a little stubborn. A newer canine, a
young medium sized short haired male sat by Karhal, already antsy to
get started.

"Sorry I'm late, Karhal. I had a matter I couldn't leave." Zathris
was glad to be there though. He'd enjoyed the time they worked with
the canines and already his was learning fast.

"I figured that's what happened." He nodded and moved to walk out
towards the practice yard, a small bag of treats and a rope toy
hanging from his belt. "Did you ever figure out a name for him?" He
nodded to Zathris' canine.

"Alik." It had a nice, strong sound to it, which fit the canine,
Zathris thought. "His name is Alik." And the creature already
responded to it for he twisted his neck to look up at his owner.

"That's a strong name." Karhal nodded and handed the small bag of jerky
strips to Zathris. "Show me what you've been working on."

"He's a strong fellow." Alik received pat, then Zathris took the bag of
jerky from the guard. "Sit." The Lord Holder commanded. The canine
didn't hesitate and immediately sat. "Good boy." The praise was
immediate as well. Then Zathris told the creature to stay and backed
away. Alik's head tilted to the side, but he didn't move, though it was
obvious he wanted to. Zathris went about fifteen paces, then grinned.
"There's a good boy. Come!" And of course, Alik immediately trotted to
his master. It probably helped that there was jerky waiting. "He's a
quick learner." And the Lord Holder was certainly proud.

Watching both canine and Zathris, Karhal's eyes were intent, but
finally approving. "You've done well with him. You'll have to do the
same every day to keep it fresh in his mind. I knew that you were a
good match." Karhal nodded to himself in satisfaction. "What does
Benani think of him?"

"She likes him. We went back and forth on names before we settled on
this one. He responded pretty well to it right off." Zathris ruffled
the canine's ears. "He's a good boy, and smart as a whip. So,
anything new today?"

The Captain nodded. "We're going to start exposing both of these
canines to situations that they will encounter on a daily basis.
They're going to learn how to differentiate between someone simply
approaching you to someone being aggressive. Alik and Fero can't be
allowed to snarl at anyone approaching and will have to learn commands
to hold themselves back but still watch." He gestured to the practice
yard, where a guard stood waiting, Livie by the man's side, watching
with interest. "He'll be our 'strange person',"

"All right." Zathris moved over to give some space and waited. The
canine by his side pricked his ears forward and his eyes were trained
on the other creatures. There was no hostility, simply awareness of
something happening, and curiousity.

Karhal trotted over to the other guard and surprisingly, exchanged
canines. As a demonstration, he backed away with Livie and nodded to the
other guard. The younger man sighed and nodded. Karhal looked down at
Livie. "Watch." Livie's eyes turned to the guard with intensity and as
the other guard moved towards Karhal, she stiffened; Karhal's grip
tightened on Livie's lead as the man suddenly lunged towards Karhal.
Livie answered with snarling snaps, held back only by the grip that
Karhal had on her. The guard backed away and Karhal gave the command
for calm. Livie obeyed, but kept her gaze on the guard. Karhal turned
back to Zathris and walked towards him, Livie in tow. "That will take
time, Zathris. Right now, we'll teach Alik to 'watch'. I think it will
come naturally to him. Now, draw his attention to me and should he
take it off of me, correct him and say the command again."

"All right." Zathris stepped forward to get a little less distance
between him and the guard. He commanded Alik to 'sit', then motioned
toward Karhal. Once the canine was finally looking at the guard, he stated
firmly, "Watch."

Alik tilted his head, one ear swished one way, the other in a different
direction, then looked at his master. "No." Zathris motioned again to
Karhal until the canine was looking at him once more and issued the
command again.

This went on multiple times. Toward the end, though, Alik gazed at
Karhal longer than originally, though he still had the tendency to want
to look at his master.

"Hold him." Karhal handed Livie's lead to the other guard and gestured
for him to back her away. "Hold his lead tightly, just in case. I'm
going to move quickly towards you. I want to see his reaction." Giving
the warning to Zathris, he suddenly made as though to lunge at the Lord
Holder.

It wasn't exactly what had been taught to Livie, but it was obvious that
the canine was protective of his master. Despite Zathris' hold, the
creature thrust himself against the legs of Zathris, then bared his
teeth and growled at Karhal.

Karhal stepped back and spoke softly. "Okay, calm him and let him know
that he's not in the wrong. What I'm going to do next is approach him
again, but in a non-threatening manner. He has to learn when to
protect and when to not."

"Down boy, easy. Good boy." Zathris soothed his companion. The
canine had done well. While he hadn't gone after Karhal, he had
definitely reacted in a defensive manner, which was definitely a good
thing. As Karhal backed off, the canine relaxed a little. His mouth
closed and he sat back down, but his eyes remained fixed upon Karhal.
Watch? Oh yeah, he knew to watch that fellow.

Karhal stepped forward and glancing at Zathris, slowly presented his
hand towards the canine in a peace offering.

Alik growled, his teeth flashed briefly as he did so. Zathris placed a
gentle hand upon his neck. "Easy, boy. Easy." The canine relaxed, but
he kept eyes trained upon Karhal at all times.

"You'll need to be firmer with him, Lord Zathris." Karhal's voice
remained soft. He moved to the side, letting the canine's eyes follow
him before offering his hand again. "I'm not a threat now. Let him know
this."

How? Zathris wasn't sure other than soothing him. "Is there a specific
command I should use?"

"Tell him no. Firmly. He'll listen. There's a time to growl and a time
not to. " Karhal knelt and offered his hand again. "He's only to growl
if someone is threatening."

The creature did growl and immediately Zathris said 'no', his voice
firm. He was used to bossing people around, so it wasn't difficult to
get 'that tone'. The canine stopped, glanced up at his master, then
looked to Karhal, uncertain.

"Good lad." Karhal spoke softly. He had began training the canine before
he bonded with Zathris and relied on that to allow him to slowly touch
the canine. He continued to speak softly. "We'll have to do this again
and again until he realizes the difference."

There was a flicker of a snarl, but Zathris quickly admonished the
creature and allowed Karhal to touch him, though he remained wary.
"Practice makes perfect." The Lord commented. "How about tomorrow
after dinner?"

Karhal nodded. "That would be a good time for me as well."

"Good. I'll work with him a little more tonight on the commands he's
learned and on the new one - at least the watch one." Zathris doubted
he'd have any other volunteers to help him with the other. "And we'll
see you tomorrow."

"Well, most of the guards will help you out if I'm not available." His
lips curled upwards. "They're used to it and they can't exactly refuse
you. But I'll see you tomorrow and we'll work on it more."

"Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow." Zathris smiled at his Captain,
then patted his companion. "All right boy, let's go home."

Last updated on the September 3rd 2013

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