A week of camping gave Nakina plenty of real-world socialization, and now we’re getting back on track with obedience training, CGC preparation, and building calmer greetings.

🐾 Getting Back on Track

This week was a camping week, so formal training was limited. The upside was that Nakina gained a lot of real-world experience and had plenty of opportunities to practice greeting people without jumping in excitement.

Training

We finished the 14-day focus program and will now return to the 28-day obedience challenge.

We will also be resuming both the hand targeting class and the emergency stop class.

Nakina began an Advanced Beginner class this week, and the trainer was impressed with how well she is doing given her age. We also started our CGC (Canine Good Citizen) class. Her focus was a bit more difficult in that environment, but that’s something we will continue working on now that we are back home and returning to a more regular routine.

I believe Nakina now has a calm, cued entry from the car. Recently she has been traveling in a harness instead of the crate, so I will need to retest this behavior once we transition back to using the crate again.

Socialization

Nakina encountered a lot of people, dogs, and wildlife during our camping trip. She handled all of it well, although her excitement level can still be a bit high at times. We will continue working on calm and polite greetings.

With the travel crate, I can now zip the crate about a third of the way closed without any stress. We’ll continue gradually building on that progress.

What's Next

• Down vs. settle — continue creating a clear distinction
• Stay — increase distance, duration, and distractions
• Recall — continue on leash in more distracting environments
• Travel Crate — zipping with no stress
• Grooming — begin grooming desensitization on the table
• Continue elevator desensitization

After a week full of new experiences, the goal now is simple: get back on track and continue building consistency in our training routine.