Nakina spent the week traveling, socializing, and meeting new challenges with confidence — she’s becoming quite the little world traveler.
🐾 World Traveler
Nakina is incredibly flexible with change. It makes taking her everywhere so much easier.
Training
With the holidays and family visiting, we didn’t make huge training strides this week — but we made some. I’ve removed the lure for “sit” and “look,” and she’s doing well with both. “Down” still needs a lure, but she’s progressing.
Socialization
On Saturday, we took Nakina to the Thanksgiving Cluster — the largest agility event in New England. She wasn’t thrilled about the noise at first. But after meeting a 4-month-old Belgian Sheepdog, she settled in, especially when Trevor held her. Overall, it turned into a very successful socialization experience. She even went over a 6-inch jump!
On Sunday, we took her to a PetCo she hadn’t visited before, where she met more teenagers and even a few middle schoolers.
On Monday, Cody arrived in Connecticut, and Nakina genuinely seemed to understand that having the whole family together makes life complete.
On Tuesday, we introduced elevators. This is definitely something she’s uncomfortable with — which means it’s something we’ll be working on consistently.
On Wednesday, Trevor had a new TV delivered, and Nakina handled all the noise, movement, and commotion like a pro.
On Thursday, it was Thanksgiving. We weren’t quite ready to leave her alone for an extended period, so Guy stayed with her at Trevor’s and then met us at the restaurant afterward. Nakina joined us at my cousin’s house later and was a perfect guest.
After all of that activity, Friday was a quiet, relaxing day at Trevor’s.
What's Next
- Sit — lengthen duration; more locations and distractions
- Look — more locations and distractions
- Down — begin removing the lure
- Continue socialization with teenagers and middle schoolers
- Continue elevator socialization
I’m looking forward to being back home where we can focus more deeply on her training.