Nakina reached exciting new milestones this week, including submitting her AKC Fit Dog Bronze title and beginning work toward Fit Dog Silver.
🐾 Fit Dog Bronze
Nakina and I had a strong week together, with several meaningful milestones and a lot of steady progress.
Training
We officially submitted Nakina’s AKC Fit Dog Bronze title application and are now waiting for it to be awarded.
We have also completed enough tricks for AKC Novice Tricks, although a few still need to be evaluated before we can officially submit the title to AKC later this week.
Because our training club was between sessions, we didn’t have any structured in-person classes this week. That gave us the opportunity to complete both 5Ks for AKC Fit Dog Silver. We now have four additional weeks of class requirements remaining for that title.
Nakina also spent a very long day at home alone while I worked a Rally Trial at our training club. She handled it exceptionally well and remained calm and composed throughout the day, which was wonderful to see.
Socialization
There wasn’t a great deal of opportunity for focused socialization work this week, as most of our time was centered around training and title work. Hopefully we’ll have more opportunities to focus on that again in the coming week.
She also becomes highly excited when seeing people she loves, which will continue to be an area of focus through structured, consistent training.
What's Next
- Emergency Stop & Hand Targeting — reintroduce and build consistency
- 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
This week felt like an important reminder of how much progress Nakina is making. While there is still plenty to work on, it’s exciting to begin seeing that work turn into real accomplishments.