The longest post yet!
- Jul 9, 2025
- 7 min read
After the pressure from organising and competing in the competition has settled down, it was time to give a few days of work with Seraphina before I had to travel to Europe again.
So when we came back to training I wanted to have as much fun as possible so I won’t feel like this time was focusing on the wrong stuff.
Our first training after the competition started with a toy.
I wanted to try to incorporate some elements from our usual training with the toy, like normal commands but also some stuff with the platform and besides one time when she didn’t do the circle around me on her weaker side she was absolutely great with everything.
Afterwards I brought some treats and started some work on the platform with her.
The first set was for self control and touching and she was really awesome! We did 2 repetitions for each side and I could see the when she is facing to my left side it’s harder, but not so much that she can’t handle it.
The next thing we did was a balance exercise on the platform to build more confidence in movement on something high as preparation for spins on the platform. We were disturbed with my boyfriend arrival and she barked a bit but was able to disconnect from the situation and get back to work easily before we started to work on the other side.
The reaction to people is something I really need to start working on, but I am having some inner conflicts about how I would like to work on it still, so I am giving it a bit more time and hoping that the behavior doesn’t turn worst.
I finished the session with some eye contact and ignoring the treats in my hand (self control from a different type) and some nose touch, with treats throwing in between and she was a bit distracted when we changed to the nose touch because it is not her favorite thing…. Yet! Finally I was done and just wanted to cuddle her a bit :)
The next day started with Fin Fin choosing her new toy and running with it like a boss :) but we didn’t have a session afterwards because I was in a hurry, so she had to wait until the evening for a serious training.
When the evening finally came, I chose a real toy and started to think about repetitions of moves with the toy so I tried some of her basic moves with a double repetition for each. I also combined some floor work (to change my position and generalize the moves.
The next set was with treats.
I want to teach her some easy and fun stuff but also skills that we will use later in dog dance. So I started with some paw raising and she did wonderful work!
Then, we did some straight line luring as preparation for heelwork in motion. Super easy and fun - and I get to see her movement and enjoy it!
After that, some work on a default front position with static eye contact and motion followup. She was super nice in her position and I think she really likes the position and stating to understand it well so I am very happy about that.
The last thing for the session was some static ZEN in different positions of the hand. A bit challenging but she did it and I am proud of her. We finished with the new centre position finally - cuddlesssss!!!
The day after I had a wedding and was nearly at home so I didn’t train her at all and felt really bad about it, but I am learning slowly to give my self less pressure. I was not planning to have a puppy this year originally and I didn’t clear up my whole year calendar to raise one, so I cannot expect my self to work with her as much as I did with Rhythm. And that’s ok, as long as she gets what she needs to be happy, and the sessions are good.
So when the next day came, I wanted to be extra good and took her to a park where she will get a new and exciting environment to work in.
This is the largest park in my area and there are many people, dogs and basically any possible distraction, so I didn’t expect much and made sure to reward her for every small thing.
It was very hard for her to concentrate but I was happy she has enough food motivation to even take the food in front of everything happening there. We did the reinforce and release game (a bit more challenging with a leash but never mind), and once I felt she had enough I took the toy out because I knew we must work on her retrieve in new environments with more distractions as well.
When I had her full attention, I took a few more moments with food for basic luring and finally I finished with the toy for the last time and searched for a place for her to pee.
I was REALLY(!!!!!!!!) proud!
Our next serious session was only 3 days after because I had a lot of work to get back to after the competition so she only got some time out with the other dogs to get out energy and feeding toys for her brain.
It was a Saturday morning, and she started with being distracted with my boyfriend again but this time - no barks and fast return so thank god for that.
We played with a toy and I combined empty hand luring to make sure she is focused on me and not only on the toy and I was really happy with her work and reactions.
When I felt she had enough of the toy, I changed to food, and started some new things with her.
The first new exercise was the back wave.
At first it was a bit confusing because she was thinking about going around me, but as soon as I added more serious luring to it - she was able to get it. I think she was even wondering why am I not challenging her 😅
Next we did a preparation for a fitness exercise where she needs to learn how to stand with 2 sets of legs on 2 different platforms but my phone got overheated and stopped filming, so unfortunately you can only see the first moments of this session. But trust me, she was good!
That night we also went to buy something at the shop and I took her for a short walk with a stop for a mini sequences training in the street. there were many noise distractions but eventually she was able to overcome it all and it was a really fun moment for me because I could really imagine for the first time the fun we will have dancing throughout the streets of the world together in the future!
The next days were a bit chaotic, there was a holiday in Israel and I had to fly out for one week for one of my seminars.
I tried my best to work with her but honestly - I just didn’t have enough time so the trainings were at weird hours and I was not focused enough to make them that good.
One night I started to move with her while she has the front paws on a low platform to introduce her with the concept of pivoting, but I thought it may have been a bit too early and I wanted to try it again when she has better understanding of the front paws platform commitment, so I changed to that in the middle.
Next, we did a full body sized platform to start working on half turns and I saw we have to work on her movement accuracy because she was all over the place so I changed my position to a side one to make it more clear for her and easier for me to twist her properly. It was still a bit hard for her, but she had a few good ones.
And finally, we did the first steps of backwards! It was a nice session and it also gave me a clue what I need to work on more before we go ahead and really start to work on it, because her standing is not ready yet and she prefers to shift weight backwards into a sit.
The next day we drove to the north and took her to the sea of Galilee. It was her second time with water and at first she didn’t like the idea, but slowly she got used to it, and we even played with the toy inside the water. We went out and back in until finally she showed that she is comfortable about it and then it was just time to run and jump over the waves, and of course by the time we arrived back home - she slept like a baby for hours!!!
Before my flight we had one last session together, but it was not about training any skills or tricks, it was just to support my need of actually cuddling my puppy… so we set down for a couple of minutes and I just wanted to get some love out of this crazy puppy….
I cannot say she fully enjoyed it or that she wanted it, but common, I give her everything I can, this one was for me 😂
A couple of hours later I left the pack at home (Rhythm came with me) for one week when I traveled abroad and the story of what happened when I came back was already on the news all over the world.
But I promise, soon you will see here how we handled the situation and what a hero Seraphina was 🩷