First time in a competition ring!
- Jun 25, 2025
- 4 min read
This week was especially hard to get any work because of the upcoming competition that I was organizing but I tried my best to at least give little puppy what she needs.
So on Sunday morning I took Seraphina with me to the dog dance competition sponsors to choose some products that I wanted to bring for the competition. We took advantage of her small size to take a nice promotion video and it was also a great training for her.
Later we also went together with Martha to the Vet for her last vaccination for rabies and she was super good! She wanted to say hi to everyone and reacted super nice on the vaccination itself but we didn’t get to train much other than those daily assignments that we had to do.
The next day I felt I have to do something more for her.
I started with some reinforce and release and from there I took her to static rewards for heel positions on both sides.
Afterwards we did circles around me with duration and I noticed that on one side she has less understanding about the meaning of the keep going signal so I had to go back to more luring on that side.
I felt her a bit distracted as we moved ahead with the training. She was sniffing but I didn’t know why is I just tried to roll with her assuming I might have dropped some treats without noticing and helped with more lure to make sure she doesn’t lower her head to the ground before my release signal comes.
The next thing we did was the front position and that one is one of my favourites because it really helps dogs to gain more concentration.
When I felt I have her attention I tried some more tricks but she was really not into it.
I had to think and figure out what happened but in my mind - it was probably something about my energy so I decided to finally leave it and just end the training with some cuddling.
But truth was that this session really made me re-think about entering with her to the puppy class in the competition that week.
The next morning I tried a different approach and started with the toy.
I wanted to create a fun and engaging training for her, so I used the platform and rewarded her with the toy. So the platform became a rewarding station before I changed to rewarding her from the ground with a “get it” for not running to the toy as soon as I drop it on the ground.
The energy was so much better and I felt a serious relief 😊
For the next part of the session I changed to food and worked positions with the platform. I really enjoyed watching how she is gaining more confidence on the platform for changing positions and moving. I felt like she is not afraid to make mistakes and I already know that this is the most important part for me in her training. Because mistakes will be made - and we have to be able to move pass them. She is slowly gaining also more control of her body and understands that she doesn’t have to do everything fast (even though I am sure she will be even faster that daddy Rhythm in the future).
Next we trained the between the legs position; entering, changing and standing there. I think she is starting to like this position because I feel her very comfortable between the legs, she is not trying to escape it or find “solutions” to the situation - so that’s something that calms me too.
On Wednesday I took her for training with the other dogs and with my students before the competition but we didn’t really managed to train as I needed to give my students the extra time in training.
So I let her say hi to Viki who landed just an hour earlier in Israel and afterwards we came back home.
Unfortunately this was our last attempt of training before the competition on Friday because the next day I had to go and arrange the ring, pick up judges and take care of everything before the event.
but I was still hopeful that we would be able to do it and that she will succeed in the ring.
Friday morning finally arrived, and I took Serpahina, Rhythm and Martha to the competition field.
It was a very difficult situation for me, trying to handle 3 different dogs, while organizing an event and having to take care of everything that’s going on with competitors, judges, spectators and the sponsors but I got help from my team and we were able to do it!!!
After all the wait, the event started and I walked in to the ring with Seraphina.
I was totally shaking, I really didn’t want to fail her, I wanted to be the best handler I could be for her so I cared less about the tricks, and more about her emotions and fun in the ring.
Since I know how excited she is about the environment, I took her inside with a leash on and only removed it when I felt I have her full attention.
From that point - it was great!
We played, she took food, she followed me around and chose me over the rest of the environment as I hoped for.
It was a great first time in the ring and I couldn’t be happier about it 🤩
When we came out of the ring I was much more relaxed and Fina was super tired. So she went to sleep in the crate until the end of the competition and only woke up when we took her out for pee and then back to sleep 😂
On Saturday we attended a seminar with one of the judges so she stayed home with my boyfriend and he told me she was still extra tired from the day before.
It was a week that started with a big question mark, but eventually, ended on the best possible terms ❤️