Saturday, April 9, 2011

It's Been a Nerve Wracking Morning!

When I got up this morning I saw that it was going to be a gorgeous Autumn day, not cloudy and wet like most of the week has been.  My heart sank a little ... now I had no excuse to not take Beryl to the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) Assessments being held at our local dog training club!  It would have been a waste of time if it had been wet as she would have been very miserable.

So I packed all our gear up and off we went.  I've been a nervous wreck since last night but I managed to take everything we needed.  We got there early enough for Beryl to have a good wander around and go to the toilet.  Then there was a lot of standing around waiting.  There were 5 dogs going for Foundation and we went 4th so I had a bit of an idea of what we had to do, although most of the steps were done in a little garden that you couldn't see inside from where the rest of us were waiting.

Our turn came and when I went to pick up my bag holding her food bowl and food in a sealed plastic container she stuck her head in the bag and started sniffing.  Hmm, I thought, that's odd.  Normally I have to coerce Beryl to eat her tea and just to be on the safe side I'd given her a small breakfast this morning which she doesn't usually have.

Anyway, we went down to the garden and did everything asked of us in there, let a stranger say hello and pat her, walk politely up and down steps, stand quietly while I talk to a stranger and her dog, not molest another stranger sitting on a bench eating biscuits while we talked.  I thought she did good with all that:)  Outside the garden I had to pick up a bag and go through a gate, shut the gate, walk a ways into that area then go back through the gate, without Beryl impeding me.  That was pretty good considering we hadn't really done it formally before.  Then I had to give Beryl a physical type examination like would be done at the vets, easy peasy.  And the assessor had to do the same thing, easy again.

After that came the 'wait for your food' test.  I'd brought along pretty much her usual type meal, cooked chicken mince with rice and gravy but hadn't added the secret ingredient, home made beef stock, which makes it yummy so she will eat it!  I don't know if it was because it was fresh cooked last night or what but boy, did she want some NOW!!  She ended up doing a beautiful sit and wait for 5 seconds but sheesh, she had me worried about this test and I thought it would be a piece of cake.  And she ate most of it when I told her she could!

The last exercise in this set was the recall.  And this did have me worried as I had to walk quite a distance away and turn and call her with about 20 acres of empty park behind me!!!  I could see Beryl tearing past me and running laps around us all:)  And I think she had ideas of doing that too but she slowed down enough when she got to me so I could grab her collar:)  Whew.

After that we had to walk through a 'quiet crowd' of maybe 8 or 9 people and then the people had to be a 'noisy crowd'.  I think Beryl enjoyed the noise the most:)

The last exercises were a couple of stays, the first one is with the dog tied up and the owners walk about 20 paces away and just talk or whatever for 5 minutes before returning to our dogs and the dogs mustn't jump on us or be excited when we return.  That was fine.  Next one we had to hand our dogs to a stranger to hold while we went out of sight for 4 minutes.  We hadn't really done this before, Beryl had only been tied up while I went out of sight.  And the last time we did that she did get excited and jump on me when I got back, lol!  But she was great.

Oh, so you're wondering if she got her CGC?  YES, my Princess now has a little title and is the 4th Greyhound in New Zealand to have it.  (All 5 dogs passed)  I was thinking she might be the 1st Greyhound to go for it and fail:)  But boy, am I glad it's over.  So was Beryl, this is what she did for half an hour after we got home
Frankie is very proud of his big sister:)
She didn't leave him much room on their couch though!
See the little smile:)  
You all know Lucy, Frankie and Beryl's BFF.  Well today she not only got her Bronze level but also her Silver!!  She's a legend:)  Again the first Greyhound in New Zealand to get them.
Go the little Ferret:)
So, that's been our excitement for the day, did you do anything exciting today?


And it's Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop time. Please join us in wandering around pet blogs and making new friends. The instructions can be found at all of the first three sites listed:)

25 comments:

houndstooth said...

CONGRATULATIONS! I knew you and Beryl could and would do it! I'm so happy for both of you. Beryl, you deserve a long nap on the couch after that!

The girls mostly rested today, since tomorrow is a big day for them. Bunny was kind enough to go and do a little photo shoot with me for that Daily Shoot project that BZ Training got me hooked on. Oh, and we did work on Lilac's cart that we're going to use for her when we go on our trip at the end of the month! It sounds so much more exciting here as I write it than it actually was! lol

24 Paws of Love said...

Congratulations! Looks like all your hard work paid off. And Congratulations on being the 4th greyhound to get the certificate!! Enjoy your weekend!

Kristin G. said...

Congrats!! A greyt accomplishment! We didn't have anything too exciting happen today, but we're ready to get this weekend started! Have a good one.

Sue said...

Well done Beryl.

Song thinks that sofa looks very comfortable:)

2 dogs + 1 cat + 2 humans said...

well done Beryl (AND Sue!), that's awesome :)

Unknown said...

Congrats to you and Beryl - great job!

Unknown said...

Oh, Congratulations!!! Great achievement - and way to go for Greyhounds! YAY!!!!

Reading your description of the tests sure brought back memories! :-) Do you think you will go on and continue with the other levels? I think they're really good - not so much for the titles (you know I don't really care about those!) but more that they are very useful exercises for any dog to know - like the Instant Drop on Command when running - that can save a dog's life! And the Send to a Bed/Mat is always useful...

We were very lucky to be in a great class of friends and to go through the levels together so it was a lovely social time as well as training - we used to so look forward to our CGC classes! Honey is actually the first Great Dane in NZ to achieve the CGC at Gold level!

Hsin-Yi

IHateToast said...

Being a good citizen is exhausting. Take up all the couch you want, Beryl.

jet said...

Congrats!!! We didn't have to do the 'wait for food' test ;P

genji said...

Congrats! A well-deserved sleep on the couch. My kids skipped the testing, and went straight to the couch.

Carrie, with Tanner and Oliver said...

Congratulations! And I do understand your nerves. Funny how we interject our own desire for our dogs to pass. Often our nerves get in the way of what we're trying to accomplish, when the dogs absorb our nervous energy and lose their own focus. Sounds like you did well.

Next weekend while I'm playing on this hop, I'll also be hosting one at my blog. I'd love to have you join in to help homeless bunny friends find furever homes. Check it out http://www.allthingsdogblog.com/2011/04/easter-rabbit-adoptathon-blog-hop.html

georgia little pea said...

OMG, CONGRATULATIONS Beryl! To your mama too! Those tests sound tough. I don't think Georgia has much chance of being a good canine citizen.

Great pass-out-on-the-couch pics too :)

Anonymous said...

Great job on BOTH your parts! Meant to be for sure!!

Hiking Hounds said...

Yea, Congratulations to you and Beryl! It sounds like she did a really great job. Your CGC seems a little more intense than the AKC one in the U.S. We don't have to do the wait for food or pick up an object, and the stay and come seems a lot farther away than ours. She definitely earned her nap. :-)

Sage said...

Well done!! That's such an accomplishment and a wonderful training We haven't started CGC yet with Sage, although it's coming.

BZ Dogs said...

Congrats!!! I was incredibly proud of getting CGC with my two older boys (Beau and Zachary) as they were/are afflicted with that common Golden malady - Obsessive Compulsive Friendless Disorder (particularly Beau) - although Zachary also struggled with supervised separation (being a momma's boy.) :)

I definitely understand "nerve wracking"! Great job for both you you!

Never Say Never Greyhounds said...

Awesome day for greyhounds! You guys did the breed proud!

Eliz said...

Congrats!

Karen Friesecke said...

Nice work! Looks like Beryl is celebrating in grand style on the couch :)

Karen Friesecke said...

Just noticed that you had me on the blogroll. Thanks a bunch and I added you, too!

Pamela said...

Congratulations! We're working toward the CGC too but I think Honey's just a little too young yet. I have no hope of her being calm when a new person comes up but I hope it will happen with time.

I'll read to her about Beryl's test so she has some encouragement.

House of Carnivores said...

Congrats! After reading all of that, I realize that if I were to go for that with Argos, we have a LOT Of work to do.

Michelle said...

Yay!! Yay!!! Yay!! Awesome job!!! congrats. :)

Jay at The Depp Effect said...

Well done indeed, Beryl! You did do well! And well done also to Lucy, because the silver looks quite difficult for a greyhound!

The gold .. Mmmm... not sure Sid could do that in a million years! Pick something up and bring it back? Ha!

Anonymous said...

Well done, Beryl, what a superstar you are, and a great ambassador to all sighthounds out there. You've definitely earned the right to put your feet up!
I bet your mum is happy now that she took you to take the test.

Didi x

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