Seraphina’s first photoshoots
- Jun 1, 2025
- 5 min read
This week was a special week for us because during this week we got to have a visitor from Europe for the first time since Seraphina stayed with me and all of her siblings left.
Only problem is that my schedule was extra busy because of some events that were under my responsibility so I had to try and juggle between hosting, working and training - and most difficult part - doing it while I am still not at best health.
Our week started with some new exciting exercises before I had to leave to work.
I started to introduce her with delayed rewarding in a more suitable way. More freestyle, less self control. So I harnessed her joy and excitement into working without knowing when the reward will come.
She was totally great and it was really fun!
When she was already a bit more tired from that concept and her mind was in a good place, I could start to try some stay repetitions with her. something she would have to master for sure in the future but there is no rush because I would like that she would find it extremely fun and motivating and not de-motivating like some dogs see it.
And best part was with the fur ball!!! She loved it.
Retrieving it - not so much.
But this is all part of the growing together process that we are going through.
We have to learn to work as one.
That means that my job is to learn for this time, what I can and what I can’t ask from her if I want her to always be able to perform what I am asking.
After this great session I left for work and when I came back home, my visitor already arrived; a top photographer from Europe who I invited to take photos of Seraphina and the rest of the pack.
We drove with all the dogs for 1 and a half hours before arriving our destination and finally, just moments before the sunset it was time to see how she will handle the concept of photoshoots.
Dog photographers normally do many noises to get the faces and attention from the dogs, which is great for photos but not so good for the training , so lucky that we are not yet training the “ignore all sounds” concept.
Pup was so good and it was really nice to see her reaction for a new environment in a scenario she never experienced before.
We used the light we had until it was dark and drove back home.
The next day started with a morning session that was not amazing but not bad. my head is really not enough there to be accurate enough so I was slacking.
She was really doing her best but my energy was so off that I feel bad even watching the video from that session.
After some luring I placed the platform for doing some Zen training and I could see how she’s improving in it since the last time we tried it. She is really learning how to master the self control and I even started to combine some physical touch for distractions but it was clear that my energy is not helping her enough and I had nothing I could do about it because sometimes our body is just too weak so at some points I had to fake energy but I really think she felt it and knew.
I finished this training with some nose touch from movement and I really liked how she started to put power into it.
I left for some meetings and classes and later that day we had one more training at the evening with the toy and I started to really combine some commands that we are already working on and to build foundations for playing with disc in the future
At first she was a bit shocked but it didn’t took her long before she was like “a yes I like this” :)
The next day I went with Seraphina and Rhythm to another photoshoots session, unfortunately there are not many videos from that session because it was way to hard to film anything so I hope to at least have the photos soon.
After coming back from the photoshoots I rested a bit and then took Seraphina out for a real training.
We started from follow up with delayed toy reward and she was SOOOOO good! I could feel my energy slowly coming back to me and I really loved her reactions. I tried to combine some nose touch with the toy and then some other tricks because I want her to really learn that the toy is also a reward and not just a joint game.
Her retrieval is also improving a bit more every day and I feel that soon we would be able to run around in open fields and I will be able to trust her to come back with the toy!
After I put back the toy I changed to food and did some focus games to change the energy slowly from toy to food.
Then I asked for some tricks but also rewarded quite much and released her for sniffing a lot. I gave her a break for drinking and pee and got back to the training with a platform to work on the zen with touch some more because I feel this is a weak point with her that I want to make much stronger.
My energy was super good and I was finally able to enjoy training again.
We also did some platform work from different directions and I feel like I need to learn better what is good for her and what is the right timing for asking commands.
Finally we did some sit and stay with the platform while I tried to change my position. It was very difficult at first but finally she was able to hold the position so there was nothing left for me to do besides being extremely proud of my little pup!
in the next couple of days we didn’t train at all because I was out of the house so after a 2 days rest for her we headed back to training and I challenged her big time! we drove for the first time to Tel Aviv (the major city in Israel) and we went to a climbing gym where Seraphina got to see many people and kids and also very weird looking activity.
Unfortunately the videos from there are not so clear so I am showing here only the ones who are not completely messed up with my hair disturbing the lens.
I was really proud of her for how she handled the environment and the people. At first she was a bit crazy and wanted to say Hi to everyone but it didn’t take long before we could play and use food for training her state of mind in the situation.
After the visit to the climbing gym she was absolutely done and went to sleep until the end of the day and that was the end of the week for her.
Inthe next few posts you will see mainly the week summary because we did train less every day. However, you can expect to see her performing in the ring for the first time in the Israel dog dance championship…..
No spoilers about how that went 😉
This puppy is getting me so excited!
Just thinking about all the possibilities she brings and opens for me….
Ahahah I can’t wait to share it all with you!
❤️