Sacred Grove ladies and gentlemen

On the return trip, Borlla did her best to note the path...You know, just in case. Two cherries dangled from her jaws, swinging in such a fashion that caused Borlla to occasionally look down at them and lose her balance because of it. She liked how they made her paws red, and decided to use them for target practice around the dens. Her brothers wouldn't have fancy red cherries, and she certainly wasn't sharing.

When the reached the thick of the forest, however, she did her best to pay attention to what was around her. Indru promised that he show her how he hunted. The Orchard didn't have much in the way of living prey though, so they were to find prey on the way back. She wanted to be the one to find it and point it out. However, she was reluctant to put down her cherries, which were giving her quite a bit of trouble. Since home wasn't too far, she decided to bury them and come back later. Hopefully they wouldn't attract any greedy prey. She'd have to use her newly honed skills to teach them a lesson.

Unhindered now, she sniffed the air, ears perking up. "I think I smell something." She hissed towards her big brother, her nose high up in the air. What she could smell she wasn't sure, but hopefully it was something he could hunt.

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As they walked home Indru couldn't help but glance at the small pup by his side, grinning at the swinging cherries and how the attention they drew from her caused her to wobble. He laughed occasionally, he couldn't help it, he felt happy and carefree, a day with a puppy was just what he had needed. She wandered of and Indru watched her curiously, wondering what she was up too, but it was soon revealed as he saw her little paws digging and her come back without the cherries. Watch you don't lose those, he smiled, remembering many a things lost where he wasn't able to find the location again as a puppy with an unexperienced nose.

She sniffed the air next, and Indru followed suit, lightly scenting the air with an experienced nose. He was pleased when she picked up a smell, though she wasn't sure what it was. Indru ducked down, keeping closer to Borlla's height, trying to encourage her to do the same by attempting to nudge her lightly with his shoulder. It's a rabbit. He told her, hoping that with rehearsal she would remember the smell and link it and the species of prey. Instinctively Indru crept forward, before stopping, having an idea. Here, drop down like me, low to the ground, see? The boy whispered, peering over his shoulder at her, now, follow it with your nose. Quietly. When you see it.. pounce. He smiled at her encouragingly, keen to have her experience her first attempted hunt. It was unlikely to be successful, but it was a great learning curve.

(This post was last modified: Aug 03, 2010, 02:05 AM by Indru.)

After Indru's caution towards the cherries, Borlla took a moment to sniff at the air again, noting a sweet note to the air. Fruit scent was a lot different from prey scent. Well, not too different, but it didn't matter what the fruit was, it couldn't hurt you. Prey was unpredictable. If you didn't know the scent, it could be the end of you. "I won't, they smell really sweet." She smiled, and turned away from the cherry scent.

So that's what rabbit smelled like. She sniffed again, trying to dedicate the scent to memory, ignoring the already archived scent of the cherry, which proved a tad difficult. "Rabbit." Borlla repeated, hoping that vocalizing it would help her remember it. When he moved for it, she immediately got quiet, watching the excitement, but he'd stopped, and she tilted her head in confusion. But she didn't say anything, strictly listening to him and following orders. Down the on the ground, tail down, legs tensed, like he'd said. Rabbit, she thought, when he told her to go for it. Carefully, she moved forward, searching for the scent path.

It was out of the way of the place where she'd buried the cherries, although it occasionally sneaked back into her nose, and she had to completely refocus. Since she'd only really hunted inanimate things before, she wasn't sure how to move her paws, and became a bit self-conscious about it. There wasn't much leaf litter about, but she still tried not to shuffle, or lift her paws to high. Her movement wasn't far from a train that looked about ready to jump the track; shuffling along, but if you looked close enough, it had a strange bounce to it. Her mind went completely blank though when she saw the rabbit. Her stomach clenched, and she was frozen to the floor.

She wanted to look back at Indru, but was afraid that any movement would scare the rabbit away. A few more paces forward she shuffled, before making the leap. When she landed though, there wasn't anything beneath her paws. A frustrated growl became her post-hunting exhale, and she sat, half-flopped. She hadn't even heard it run off.

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Pleased that she instantly prepared herself to hunt, instead of hesitating and showing fear, Indru found himself wondering whether she was more ready than he thought, and it just confirmed his plans to take her to a pack hunt with her siblings soon. He took point behind her, watching her movements with a critical eye, and was impressed with her despite her untrained skill, that could come later. She remembered to watch where she placed her paws, something which a lot of puppies often forgot to do, and he made a note to praise her later. Her movements were smooth but she'd have to practice removing the slight bob she had to them, the unnecessary movement was capable to drawing attention to her.

It wasn't long until the rabbit came into sight and Indru saw her hesistate for a movement, unsure, before she started moving again, but this time her haste and previous pause gave her away and just before she pounced he watched the rabbit dart away to live another day. At Borlla's face, peering down between her paws Indru couldn't help but chuckle, walking over to her and trying to nudge her. You missed, but don't worry, you learnt.. Maybe you won't next time. He smiled, trying to encourage her though he knew she would be annoyed, but the result was not really the important thing, the learning that she had done was the key factor. You did great, Borlla. Your movements were good, though you must practice trying to move sleeker, you bounce slightly, he smiled apologetically, hoping she knew he was trying to help. The thing that gave you away was your hesitation, but don't worry, with practice you will know what to do for next time.

(This post was last modified: Aug 03, 2010, 02:41 AM by Indru.)

She carefully soaked up all the advice he gave her, just like she had before. Apparently she'd been bobbing. That must have been when she didn't know what to do with her paws. Less bobbing, more shuffling. And if possible, no bobbing at all. And no hesitating. She sat up straighter when he spoke, trying not to feel so let down. There were more rabbits in the forest. In fact...

"There have to be more rabbits right? Let's find another one!" Borlla quickly jumped to her paws, sniffing the air again. It smelled strongly of rabbit where she stood, but that was for obvious reasons. So, where did it go? She did a three-sixty, but couldn't find the path. "Grr." She took a few steps away from Indru, utterly determined to at least get her paws on something furry, even if she couldn't get her teeth into it.

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Her eagerness was infectious and with a nod Indru agreed. The male watched her try to follow the rabbits scent, turning around in circle without any success. Her small growl of annoyance made him smile he stepped towards her to offer help. When they get scared, like it did, they jump really high to help push themselves away from danger. He explained, walking away from her a good few steps and allowing his more trained nose to guide him to the spot the rabbit had landed. Smell here. Moving his paw to just above it, not touching it so it wouldn't damage the scent, he indicated where it was and on closer inspection it was clear to make out small indent of its feet where it had landed with force.

The trick is to widen your smelling range, take in more smells at once and pinpoint the rabbit one that is further away. Reducing the range of smells you took in at one go was handy if you had found a trail and were following, but if you wanted to find something it required you take a lot in and sort through them. It's hard, but with practice you will find identifying them easier. Indru could distinguish smells much easier than Borlla, but he knew as she aged so would her technique refine, especially if she practised lots. Now see if you can track it.

Really high? Well that would have explain why she hadn't heard it run off. Because it really didn't. Her eager eyes followed Indru as he sought out the rabbit scent, and she rose when called to sniff, carefully sniffing where the indentation in the earth had been. That was it all right! Borlla turned, grinning again with excitement. Back on the trail. She'd get that rabbit. It wouldn't have time to jump when she got her paws on it.

"More scents?" Her voice was a mixture of exclamation and whining. "I can barely focus on the rabbit scent, and then the cherry sneaks in there, and...More?" Her face twisted, and her shoulders slumped. For the time being she'd have to do her best just following the rabbit scent. He'd found it for her anyway. And a bit of hope had been given when she was told that it would get easier over time. Maybe if she worried about it less...

"Okay, I can do this." She half-muttered to herself, nose hovering above the earth again as she prowled, belly-low. The scent was strong in general, so she switched her focus between sniffing, and searching out the prey with her eyes. There was a small rustle in the bushes, and she shifted her weight slightly, angling herself towards the bush. A few more steps forward, and she was peering into it cautiously. She could still smell the rabbit, but..."I smell something else too, Indru. But it doesn't smell like cherry or rabbit." It had been around the bush. She lost her focus, and was quite intent on this scent being identified.

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You got my 50th post too! :3

At her whine he laughed quietly, nodding. Yes I'm afraid, little sister. It was not so long ago that Indru couldn't remember the difficulty of being overloaded by scents and having to learn to break them apart and decipher them into individual ones to find what you wanted. Many days under the encourage meant of his father as he found them more and more things to find and locate, it was hard, tiring work but Rihael had pushed them hard, knowing that if him and Ruiko wished to lead the pack they needed to be able to teach it to the pack's future later on. It will get easier, I promise. Though it could take a fair bit of time he knew, even Junai was still struggling over the difficulties of it. Just try to ignore the cherry after you have identified it, hone in on what you want. He suggested, finding it hard to think about now, so use to it being instinctual to him.

He grinned at her next words, her reassurance of herself a good tactic. You can, he whispered so not to break her concentration. As she paced forward Indru followed a few steps behind, stepping silently and as smooth as the tide, his nose allowing him to check she was still following the right trail. She paused at a bush and Indru scented the air again, the rabbit's smell was lingering, but it was not inside, something else was. Pleased that she had noticed the different smell he nodded to her, stepping forward and lowering himself down so he was next to her ear. That smell is a Woodchuck. He was unsure if she had encountered one, they weren't exactly rare, but they were fast and good at digging to get out of danger. Like a squirrel. He offered, knowing she knew what those were.

:D!

Woodchuck. She took a deep breath, taking in the scent again. She'd never seen a woodchuck before, but according to Indru, it looked like a squirrel. Squirrels were fast. Faster than rabbits. "But squirrels climb trees. The woodchuck is in the bush." Maybe it wasn't so fast. The bush was still making its crinkly noises, and squirrels were jumpy too. Okay, so maybe it just looked like a squirrel. It didn't necessarily act like one.

Her ears swiveled back, and she poked her nose into the brush, wriggling it about, when something hit it. Leaping backwards, Borlla yelped, ears twisted back in fury. "The woodchuck hit me!" Placing her paw on her nose, there didn't seem to be any blood, but it really hurt. "Stupid thing." She leaped back into the bush, but the branches were rather tightly intertwined, preventing the growing pup from actually getting to her prey. Wriggling out, she peered around the side of the bush, then looked at Indru, "Can I get it?" The prospect of the rabbit was still in her mind, but this woodchuck hurt her! She needed to get it.

(This post was last modified: Aug 03, 2010, 01:21 PM by Borlla.)

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It's a ground squirrel. Indru explained, not taking his eyes of the bush in case it darted out. It has strong back legs, it's good at digging. Luckily for the them the Woodchuck was in a bush and hopefully the bushes roots would help to stop it digging to far if it managed it at all. Indru saw her leap backwards after sticking her head in and he suppressed some laughter, not wanting to upset her or disturb the woodchuck. He made no comment at her words, just a small grin curling his muzzle showing signs that he was listening.

He watched her leap back into the bush then wriggle back out, unsuccessful. You can. He answered her question, but now he moved silently, walking around the opposite side of the bush so he was facing Borlla. Indru peered in from the top of the bush, able to just make out the slightly mottled fur, as of yet it was unaware he was behind it, or he wrongly saw Borlla as the biggest threat. I'll chase it out, wait there. Be ready, it will run out, okay? Pounce and grab it in your jaws. Indru kept eye contact for a moment, making sure she understood and was listening in the thrill of the moment, before he looked away, reassured. Quietly the boy dropped down to his belly, peering in the bush checking the Woodchuck's location before darting his paw forward in a dash of speed, claws scrabbling at it, knowing that the fear of being caught would drive it forward, straight to Borlla. Now! He shouted, warning Borlla.