It’s time to level up
- Sep 29, 2025
- 9 min read
And no, I am not talking about Seraphina, but about my self.
It’s time for me - to be a better handler for her.
The first session after coming back home was a fun session. Not so serious but super good. She wanted the ball, and I wanted her paw. Everybody won!
It was short, and it also reminded me that training should come out of love, and out of wanting to enjoy the time with your dog and not because you have to prove yourself as a trainer or your dog as successful dog.
Because it’s about the team.
The same night, I worked with the ball again. I started with delayed reward and some eye contact exercises so that I can reward her focus on me and I was so excited because she started out so well! I just wanted to keep enjoying and having fun with her without challenging her too much but also, I didn’t want to say “she can’t do this or that”. So the line is very hard not to cross. I had to decide all the time; what am I trying to reward? Her concentration in me? her indifference to the environment? Her execution? Keeping flexible is a key to success with any dog, but with Seraphina I feel it even more and I am hoping to slowly be able to work on the pace she needs me to work in.
It wasn’t a perfect session, but it felt good. It felt as if we understand each other, and that is the most important thing for me with her, because it’s also my biggest challenge at this time: the feeling that I don’t understand her well enough.
After working and playing with the ball I assumed her mind would be more clear to do something with me and I took out the food to work on the early stages of crossing paws.
Her state of mind was quite good and I was able to reward her often, but I also need to learn her natural reach at this moment and not to over stretch her before I work not hose muscles.
Her ability to keep static is definitely good for this age and I was really proud of how she did it, even though we didn’t really “crossed paws”.
After crossing paws, I wanted to work on the nose touch and to my surprise - it was like magic. I feel she is really starting to understand it and enjoy it, and I feel how it’s also affecting our communication in other places in life. After a few repetitions of nose touch I tried to get her in a heel position, just out of curiosity to how she would do that, and I felt we have an opening for something so I changed the whole session.
I decided to try working on heelwork without the pressure of heelwork training. It’s a 50-50 session between shaping and rewarding a nice position of the dog, and luring hints to bring the dog to that nice position. The advantage of the session is that there is no real demand in it, so it doesn’t put pressure on the dog and Seraphina could choose if she wants to try to get the reward or not, and to my surprised she was super engaged and it went great. Unfortunately I got greedy by the end and tried to do more with her when she was already tired so the session didn’t get the ending it deserved, but at least it was a good lesson for me to learn.
The next day I took out the frisbee and wanted to give her some good time. I worked on multiple stuff; focus, followup, eye contact, delayed reward - and she was super great with everything. I sometimes get the feeling she would like to be a disc player more than she would like to be a dancer and I can already fear the amount of hours I’ll have to spend training with the disc without her…..
But watching her work with the disc, well, she looks so happy and motivated and I just enjoy it so much!
After we finished with the disc - I took out the food and did some heelwork again, I am not sure why - but it’s as if I am trying to figure out what she enjoys the most and train only those stuff mostly.
This time, I did it with luring and she was absolutely amazing. Her steps and position were beautiful and I felt so proud of her!
I could also feel her motivation to work with me and that was really nice for me too, considering the amount of times she told me “hmmmm not sure I’m interested” - so I finished this training super positive and with hope for what’s coming for us!
But as we know, dog training is never a straight line upon but a curvy line that drives you insane.
The next day we had a long session.
It started with me testing her concentration in my hand signals and I wanted to make sure she is really understanding what I am trying to ask for. She started well, but she couldn’t keep concentrated for the full time and she broke out of the session unfortunately.
The good part is she came back when I called her, but the down point is that she already knows she can choose to leave me.
We trained some spins in both directions, and some around me. And when we trained around me - I figured out the command is really not placed well for her yet, and it makes it harder for her to perform the trick. So that’s something for me to think about.
But before I could do anything really, she already showed me - she is not with me. The environment was too interesting for her, she was obsessed about what was happening in the street and I was just trying to keep my happy face and pretend as if I am not heart broken.
I decided not to give up - and to keep training, fighting what’s happening and hopefully - I can win and show her that I am more fun than anything else she thinks about! I brought a platform to make it fun and engaging for her and trained the positions from heelwork that we already know she enjoys. Without demand, just choose well and get rewarded.
It was not easy at all! But it did help us improve and she was able to get back to concentration for brief moments. I just had to make sure to reward A LOT and free her before she does it herself.
I was eventually proud of us as a team, because we bounced back.
I was able to control my emotions - and she was able to control herself. Of course, it doesn’t mean anything because the next day can be completely different - but she it teaching me to celebrate the small wins with her.
We finished with some dog catch training and she was pure perfection with the jumps! She was a bit crazy by the end of the session and I had to calm her a bit, but finally we did it - and we survived this training :)
After a long time she didn’t see it - it was time to bring back the cone, so the next day I brought it back and we trained going around it.
She started off with a great start and I felt super happy that I am able to reward her for that, because I am more used other draping the cone and crushing my face so - it was super refreshing to start this way :)
After a few successful repetitions I changed to the other way around and I was wondering what would happen and surprise surprise - while she didn’t perform perfectly - my face was still good so for me - it was major success!
After performing so nicely with the cone - I took out the toy and worked with her on delayed reward. Which is starting to become a favourite training for her! I think it’s something about the clarity of it:
There is a toy on the ground
You come to me and not to to the toy
You get a word that sends you to the toy
I think for her - it makes it super nice and easy.
She enjoys work, but she doesn’t enjoy when she is not sure - so maybe something about being so sure of the process it’s what makes it so much fun, because I can see how excited she is to “leave” the toy and come to me. I slowly started to combine turns in the front position to make sure she can keep the concentration while the toy is not behind her and she was doing that pretty good too.
After the delayed reward I worked on ZEN and I wanted to take it a bit more difficult - so I combined longer wait with keep going signal and touching her, at first it was bit hard but then she made it!
The last 3 minutes of the video are literally fun and rewards on the ground those are my favourite moments with her.
This felt like the best session ever!
The following day I was hoping for more of the same energy, I started with just a basic front position to reinforce her concentration and engagements and she was super excited to start but unfortunately she got distracted very fast. I kept calm, changed my place in the environment and gave her another chance. I was thinking maybe she has to pee and gave her some time for that and once she did I brought some cones to work on backwards and see if we can make some small progress with changing places.
Again, she started super nice with the front position but suddenly got interrupted by something. She went to check something and came back.
Normally I would say “if you don’t want to train - we don’t have to” - and take her back inside, but I was really trying so I gave her another chance. And finally she decided to sniff again, and again until I said it was enough and took her back inside.
It was a lesson - of being clear and setting up my boundaries in a clear way, but it also broke my heart and I couldn’t bring my self to train with her for 2 days.
Her reactions made me doubt all the progress we’ve done so far. And I decided to focus more on her attention to me in the environment and less on the tricks.
For me, I love teaching dogs tricks that makes them confident and feel good about the communication because I feel it helps them with distractions, but I feel maybe for her - she needs another attitude.
When my boyfriend spent the afternoon with his friend building some stuff in our garden I decided to take the opportunity and work with her on choosing me over the distractions.
I can’t say that it was perfect with the food, but it worked.
And she had the leash on to make sure that even if her mind is thinking about choosing the distractions - she can’t.
Then, I changed to the toy, which I know has more power with her, and she did it much better, even though she was a bit tired by that point.
With the toy she is having no problem to engage, but in my way of thinking it should be the reward and not the reason. And that’s what I am trying to show her. So after a few times of rewarding her with the toy after choosing to get back to me from watching the environment, I decided to take it in a different way; delayed reward: there are people who you want to go to, there is a toy you want to go to, but if you choose me over anything - you get the toy!
This part was beautiful in my opinion.
Training Seraphina is a roller coaster, one moment she is this sharp puppy who knows exactly what you want and the next moment she is the devil. And of course, she is only just a puppy, not even one year old, but there are moments I would like it to be easier. the last session on this blog entry was a type of session that makes me wonder about my handling and if I am doing the right way with her.
She did everything I asked for, but I felt she was absolutely confused and unsure, and that’s not something I want for her.
I wish she could always be sure of her self, and that I would always be clear to her.
But since it is not the case, I need to learn to find solutions for the “not so good” moment we share. So the heelwork is a nice fix to get her in attention with me, and the front is. But in general, I need something more - something that would make me feel I have a clue on what I am doing with her! I also need to learn what’s pressure in her opinion and what’s not because I feel that I am not giving her the credit she deserves and that this is part of why my boundaries are not clear.
I will give you a spoiler though, in the next entries you are going to see me break down, before growing back up and taking our bond to a whole other level.
There is a major process here, and while it may not always be fun - we always have to TRUST it !