Thumbs up to that kind of treatment.
Rupert the Black when to work today. He got to hang out with the HOs dogs while I banged out 5 fruit tree prunes, and 9 doug-fir canopy raises (all off a 15' orchard ladder leaned against the trunk, call it cheating if you like). Homeowner laughed when I related that I figured I could finish pruning the other 4 fruit trees in the orchard, while Will chips and rakes. Hopefully, three small japanese maple prunes to add on. I told her how I heard (here, on TH) "don't lift with your back, lift with your employees!". She laughed.
I have been pruning a number of japanese maples lately. Very snip, snip, snip. Way easier than any other kind of tree work. Trying to develop an eye for it, more and more. The HO the other day said about Japanese pruning, "prune so a bird can fly through it".