New platforms and new places!
- Jun 22, 2025
- 6 min read
Still knowing that I don’t have all the time in the world to work with Seraphina, I tried to make the best out of the time we have available together.
I started the week with a 2 toys session.
I combined signals and rewarding with toys - along with maintaining the pattern we’ve been working on.
I was so happy to see how she is starting to think about the toy as a reward and not just as some fun tool that we enjoy, because this means that slowly I could make the transformation from food rewarding to toy rewarding.
After finishing with the toys I started to work with food.
I did some spins to warm her circular motion and then started to train the centre position with transitions.
The centre position is super important for me because I use it a lot in my routines and it teaches my dogs to work and move I sync with me. So on the one hand I need her to know it well, but I also need her to love it so she does it with pride and not in low energy, that’s why sessions have to be short.
When she was already a bit more tired I decided it can be a great opportunity to train staying in place; first without my movement and just rewarding her for duration and releasing with OK.
I slowly started to combine minor moves, like stepping in place and she did absolutely great!
I then tried to combine motion into static waiting and she was able to do it too and for me that was the end of training, but I didn’t finish before I made sure to pet her twice by command and rewarding her for staying calm when she felt my touch.
The next day - We finally got a platform delivery and Seraphina was very excited to explore to say the least 😊
After celebrating the new platforms it was time to use them. So I started with introducing the high box and trying to create confidence while moving on it. The session was split in three parts; first is reacting to going up on the platform. 2nd - building confidence while I move with her around the platform to make her move on it in a circle, and last thing was luring her for spins on the platform.
I feel like this is going to help a lot in building her confidence and body awareness (that she definitely needs).
The next thing we did was working on accepting my touch and learning to ignore it. It’s something super hard for her because she get’s so easily excited about everything and anything but this is something we will have to do together if I want her to be able to work with me with clear mind, I just need to take it slow (exactly like I did with her dad😅 )
On Tuesday that week we started with toys again, improving our playing patterns and working on concentration and focusing on me rather than the toy when stopping - and she was amazing!!!!!!
I slowly started combining commands and tricks and rewarding for focus before and after the commands which will be our key skill for sequences when she grows up. Finally she was too excited about the toy and it became harder to make the tricks as I requested. So I had to show her that she can do it and gave a mega reward by throwing the toy and then just tugging a lot.
For me it’s good that she makes some mistakes from time to time; this way I can show her that it’s not the end of the world and that I believe in her that she can do it right! :)
When we were done with the toys, I took out the new platforms to work with her on some body awareness.
I placed 2 low boxes so that she would have to separate her front part from her back part. For a speedy dog this can be very hard because she wants to do everything now and quickly, so she has to think more about her body, so I had to make the session very short and be happy for minor success rather than expecting many repetitions with good quality of performance, but I was really happy on how she did, because I know it’s only the beginning and she has a lot of time to learn this skill and improve in it!
The next day I took Seraphina to where the dog dance competition in Israel would take place during the following week, because I wanted to make sure she can handle the environment there before the competition.
So I started with some introduction to the environment outside the field, making sure she is interested in toys or foods even while the environment is super exciting because of the people and dogs and I was really surprised with how well she managed the whole situation.
And then,
It was time for magic!
Seraphina and I walked into a ring with music for the first time together.
Not in competition, not with judges, just in training. But it made what I already knew more clear.
This dog is going to be amazing with me in the ring.
Yes she is crazy and speedy and sensitive.
But she is also social and brave.
So it’s clear now - that we would be able to dance together when she will truly be ready for it!
The morning after I had limited time to work with her because I was going away for the night so I wanted to have a really fun training with her but also something that I can leave her to think about while I am away so I decided to do a training for self control with toy and choosing me over the toy.
It was really fun for me to see how she can think and understand what I want her to do and I was so happy that she is even able to pay attention to me when the toy is on the ground.
If she can learn that even when the toy is on the ground she should choose me, and I can be fair enough to only ask for something that she is still able to do with success it will make our bond super strong and healthy for anything I would ever want to do with her!
My original plan was to also work with food after, but I felt it will be too much for her brain so I just fed her in the crate and sent her to sleep after this session.
When I came back the next day it was already super late so our next session was on Saturday and it was a lot of fun.
I started where we stopped in the last session and had a few successful repetitions of eye contact while the toy is on the ground. I was even able to combine one spin before she told me to chill because it’s more than what she could do. So I picked up the toy to my hand and started to work some moves she already knows well with the toy as a reward.
And yes, we had some mistakes, but I love that she doesn’t lose her motivation to try when it happens and I can reward her for the small things too!
When I switched to food I chose to work with the platform to keep improving the skills we started earlier this week. So we had some spins on it to make sure she collects her body in the right way.
She was already much better than in the first session we did on this and I could see how she thinks about using her body properly but I think I did it for too long this time because she did got distracted and more physically tired than I expected. When I noticed that I decide to just use the box to work on stay and basic positions with duration instead so that it would be easier for her to be successful.
It was really a great week for the our bond.
I feel how we are slowly getting closer and how miss crazy monster is turning into a crazy partner ❤️