Chapter 25 Teaching

Rowan stared at his cell phone screen, his eyes growing heavy.

He had noticed Selene's use of the word "face-to-face", but how could he tell her face-to-face in his current state?

Even if he could turn back into a human, it seemed like the two of them wouldn't be able to see each other. After all, it wasn't the same time to turn into an animal.

That kind of thing wouldn't work at all.

Rowan thinks for a moment, and replies slightly sheepishly:

[I'm not at home right now, so if you have something to say you can say it now.]

The opposite side returned quickly, barely leaving him room to breathe.

[Selene: So when are you going to be home?]

Rowan's head was starting to hurt. At this point, it wouldn't be for him to say he'd be there in the evening, because Selene had a twin sister, and she could get the other Selene to come to him for her.

Unable to think of a better way to put it, Rowan had no choice but to "tell the truth".

［I'm traveling for a week, and I'm not going to be home.]

[Selene:...]

[Selene:What about your dog? Who will take care of it?]

Faced with even more difficult questions to answer, Rowan wanted to run away almost the first instant.

If only there was an interdimensional black hole that swallowed his cell phone right now, but fantasy is just fantasy after all, reality must be faced.

--The opposite side was still waiting for his reply.

Rowan deliberated for a moment and cautiously replied:

[I've asked a friend to come over and take care of it.]

Rowan originally thought that when he said this, Selene would stop asking questions, but he obviously underestimated Selene's persistence in this matter ...

[Selene: (cat tears.jpg) Why don't you ask me to take care of it? Aren't we friends?]

The golden retriever holding the cell phone froze completely, a few moments of surprise showing in his eyes.

... So Selene thinks of him as a friend?

Rowan carefully typed an explanation.

[It's been too long, and I was afraid I'd trouble you.]

.....

Selene was completely surprised that Rowan was so polite to her.

If she remembered correctly, they were neighbors who had exchanged gifts, so rounding up could be considered friends.

It is said that a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor, but he didn't ask for her help. ...Mason seemed to have complained to her before that he didn't have any good friends, so did she still have a chance?

No, she had to fight for the right to take care of the dog again.

[Selene:No trouble, no trouble at all]

[Selene:Let me take care of Pigeon, mostly because I need him too, please!]

[Selene: I need it too, please!] [Selene:I need it too, please!] [Selene:I need it too, please!

Rowan remembered that Selene had approached him earlier and said she wanted to discuss something with him. Was it something to do with the dog?

［Neighbors: Why do you need it?]

Selene had wanted to talk to Rowan in person, because she felt that the dog wasn't hers, and she wanted to teach the dog some strange skills preferably in front of the owner, and if Rowan was interested in that, then even better, with the owner's help it would be half the work.

Now that she couldn't talk about it face to face, she could only talk to Rowan through online chatting to explain the cause and effect of the situation to Rowan.

After listening to Selene's voice, Rowan finally understood what was going on.

He originally thought that Selene was just trying to utilize the cat status to do self-promotion, but it seems like that's not the case.

And rightly so, one never knew when this strange ability of theirs would go away, and budgie blogging was too risky as a long-term career.

Smart choice.

Since Selene's attitude is so sincere, Rowan eventually can't resist saying yes.

[Neighbor:I know, the dog will be in your care, and you can teach it how to use the buttons, but I can't guarantee with you that it will learn.]

Selene's whole body was happy when she saw this message.

[It's up to me if I can't teach it, I won't blame it! Thank you!]

[Neighbor: I'm the one who should say thank you, I've been troubling you for a while.]

It was from the bottom of his heart, and although Selene herself said she had an agenda, he knew that her love for dogs was all true, very pure and unadulterated.

For the first time, he felt that he was quite lucky to be a dog.

-

Selene was so happy that she was even humming as she mopped the floor.

"What, found the money?" As soon as Faye, who was back early on rare occasions, opened the door, all she saw was her sister looking fluttery.

Little flowers were sprouting from her head.

Selene spun around and said prettily, "Didn't pick up any money, but Rowan surprisingly didn't come home for a week eh~"

Faye was confused by Selene's words, "Huh? What does his not coming home have to do with you being happy?"

"Of course it has something to do with it!" Selene stood up straight with a serious face, "If he doesn't come home, his dog belongs to me!"

Faye: "..."

"Ahem, it's under my control ... accidentally exposing the true thoughts inside, but it's really so cute!"

Faye shook her head helplessly, "I really can't see how you can see the cuteness in such a big dog."

"By the way, take care of it, you don't take care of it at home ..."

Faye felt a cold sweat on her back once she recalled what that big golden hair looked like.

Selene took a brisk step and then bent down to mop the floor: "That's for sure, don't worry, I'm not so heartless."

"That's fine, by the way, I bought some cupcakes on the way, do you want to eat them?"

"How do you know I want to eat a cupcake, being a cat is so miserable, I can't eat many things!"

"Then how about some milk tea?"

"Faye you're so nice oooh ..."

"... Damn it, don't stick around, it's hot!"

"Heh, why wasn't it hot when I turned into a cat? Women can be so double standard."

"... Shut up!"

-

After enjoying a delicious afternoon tea, Selene couldn't wait to go next door with the communication button.

"Tick-"

With the door lock unlocked, Selene pushed open the front door of Rowan's house, and as expected, she met the big blonde she had been longing for behind the door.

Selene didn't come empty-handed this time. She had also brought along the freeze-dried beef she had bought.

The price of this brand of freeze-dried staple food is really expensive, but after her own test, nothing is added. It is fragrant pure beef, delicious and healthy.

Like the staple freeze-dried this, in fact, a lot of them are universal for dogs and cats. After all, are meat, is a good snack option.

Rewards that were essential when trying to teach a critter a new skill.

Selene shook the jar of freeze-dried in her hand, trying to get the Golden's attention with the sound the freeze-dried made when it clashed.

However, to Selene's surprise, the Golden Hair in front of her acted plainly even after seeing the freeze-dried in her hand.

It could be described as an unfavorable experience, but Selene was not discouraged.

She was ready to start teaching.

When you're just starting out, you need to learn gradually, so Selene doesn't bring over many buttons.

She found an empty place in the living room, took out a few buttons from her handbag and set them on the floor, then she set the cell phone holder on the coffee table and put the cell phone on to adjust the shooting angle.

The filming was something she also talked to Rowan about, as she was trying to prove to Emily that she could teach the dog to use the buttons.

But because it was in someone else's house, Selene was also more cautious. In order to protect the privacy of the homeowner, she could only try to keep other things out of the camera. Luckily Rowan's home decor was also more streamlined, allowing her to find a good angle for the camera.

At this point the only things in the cell phone lens were the floor, the walls and buttons, and Golden and her.

Selene sat down on the floor and placed a button in front of Golden.

The first step was to teach the dog to push the button.

Don't look at this behavior as simple for a human, but for an animal, they do not quite understand what this little button is and why they need to press this thing.

To be honest, it was a bit difficult for her and to go to a dog to introduce the principle of how the audible button works . That was indeed a bit difficult for her and the dog.

Luckily, the dog seemed to understand human language.

"Dog, look at me."

Selene shook her hand to try and get the golden's attention and it did look at her.

Okay, the first step worked, probably because she had spent some time with it before. The golden retriever was still somewhat obedient to her.

Being able to focus its attention on her was all that was needed, just in case the dog didn't want to interact with her.

Selene picked up the yellow vocalization button and waved it in front of the golden, "Let's play a game, shall we?"

The color of the vocal button she also deliberately picked, according to research dogs have a stronger perception of yellow and blue, so she chose a brighter lemon yellow, in an attempt to mobilize the dog's interest with a scientific approach.

I don't know if the scientific approach works better, or the golden retriever was originally a reasonable dog, it was very facetious and expressed its interest in the button.

It looked at her and nodded.

Good, the second step to success has been taken!

What followed was the more critical step.

Selene placed the two buttons on the floor, then reached out and pressed the buttons in turn with her fingers.

"Brother." "Snack."

The AI female voice rang out all at once.

Selene poured a freeze-dried beef from the snack jar into her palm and handed it to Golden Hair, signaling it to eat.

But the Golden Hair didn't show any excitement, it just stared blandly at the freeze-dried in her palm.

Selene pondered, "... Should we still use apples?"

After all, the apple was the dog's initiative to ask for it, so there's no chance that he just really likes apples.

As soon as Rowan heard Selene's words, he immediately felt that it wasn't too good, and not caring that he would touch Selene's hand, he directly probed his head and took the freeze-dried food into his mouth.

The apple was even, it was too time-consuming to handle, and he just wanted to hurry up and end the process.

Although, Rowan was very tempted to just reach out and paw at the button to show that he would press it, ... That obviously wasn't normal.

It has to be gradual.

Dogs could be smart, but not beyond their species.

He secretly sighed: it was kinda hard to be a normal dog, it tested his acting skills too much.

Selene's confidence returned when she saw the dog eat the freeze-dried food, and she pressed the button again, then passed another freeze-dried food over to Golden.

The Golden Hair ate it.

After repeating this three or four times, Selene felt it was almost time before she spoke again, "Brother, do you want to 'snack'?"

After a dozen seconds or so, Selene saw the dog in front of her move, and it lifted a paw to press on each of the two buttons.

"Brother." "Snack."

Selene was faced with a scene that would have brought an old mother to tears.

The dog's name was "brother," and Selene always felt weird calling him that.

She was prepared to be unable to teach him, but she didn't expect the dog to be so competitive! She didn't expect her dog to be so competitive and understand what she meant so quickly!

It was really a big golden hair, very smart!

Selene hurriedly took out another freeze-dried and put it in front of the golden hair.

When dealing with small animals, it is important to respond positively, otherwise they won't be able to connect the behavior with the reward.

However, Selene now wonders how the Golden Hair understood this interaction between her and him.

Because, there are two internal logics to this whole thing.

The first is that the dog's brain probably just thinks that the behavior of "pushing the button" is a way to get a treat.

The second is deeper and what she wants to teach, that is, the dog understands that the "sound made by pressing the button" expresses its need for a snack, and that is why it can eat the snack.

However, Selene was happy to be able to complete this entire interaction so quickly.

She reviewed this "knowledge point" with Golden Hair for a while before adding another button.

This time, Selene didn't give a snack to Golden when she pressed "Snack", but pressed a new button "End" after she pressed "Snack".

"Snack, over."

It's a trick she learned from watching some dog communication button videos, where actions and tenses can be taught together, making it easier for the animal to understand.

Selene put the can of freeze-dried food in her bag and pulled out two more buttons, this time for "Groom" and "Now."

She'd noticed Goldie's messy coat yesterday, but she hadn't seen a brush at Rowan's house, and hadn't asked because she thought Rowan might come home in the evening and brush him.

She didn't realize that the guy didn't come home straight away, and as the night went on, the dog's hair got even more messy.

Luckily, she had brought her own brush with her today.

Before she became a cat, Selene didn't understand how comfortable it was to brush her hair. For example, it was comparable to a full body massage for humans.

She thought it would be nice for the dog to be groomed as well.

Rowan hadn't quite understood why Selene was looking at him with such anticipation, leaping to her feet, so to speak.

Until Selene pressed the button.

"Brother." "Comb the hair." "Now."

Rowan finally responded: Selene wanted to brush his fur.

Although Rowan was quite happy to have the chance to have his messy fur brushed, there were some thoughts belonging to humans that distressed him.

A dog being brushed doesn't seem to be any different than a human being having his hair brushed.

Even his appearance as a dog didn't change the fact that he was by nature a real man, and Selene was an uncompromising member of the opposite sex to him.

As far as he could remember, not even his mother had brushed his hair a lot, let alone anyone else.

Being combed by the opposite sex, this kind of thing ... doesn't seem to be a little too ambiguous?

But this matter is not ambiguous at all in Selene's eyes . That is, after all, he is just a dog. Yes, that's right, he is a dog now, he doesn't have to think that much ...

Wait, why was he kinda looking forward to this?

...

Selene didn't see the inner turmoil that was going on in front of her. She was just full of anticipation and reached out her hand to drag the golden fur to her body as soon as she could.

Selene took a deep breath and ceremoniously placed the brush on the dog's matted, straggly blonde hair and brushed it down decisively from top to bottom.

All she heard was a swish.

The brush was like a rice cutter, traveling freely across the golden rice paddies, instantly curing the messy and vigorous straws into submission, leaving behind only a neat and flat area.

One person and one dog exhaled a long breath at the same time.

--It's really too much pleasure to brush the dog's hair!

--The hair is really so comfortable to be combed away!

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