Thank You:) And a Few More Details About CGC

Beryl and I were totally blown away with all the congratulatory comments about her CGC success:)  We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to write something.  It means a lot to us!

As a matter of interest to hopefully some readers I thought I'd copy and paste the New Zealand requirements for CGC (Canine Good Citizen) as they seem to differ slightly from country to country.

But before I do that, in Saturday's Post I forgot to mention that the handler also has to do a short written test before the tests with your dog start.  The questions were all quite basic but the one that had me thinking was "describe in one word how dogs learn"!  It's hard to narrow it down to just one word, lol.  At least it was for me.  I ended up putting 'repetition' and it must have been near enough:)  And also I forgot to mention a test we had to do where Beryl was supposed to play with a toy and then calm down again.  Well, she wouldn't play with the toy that was her favourite the night before!  Typical Princess, lol.  It's OK if they don't want to play though, that's not a fail.

Since the 1950s, Dog Obedience Clubs have been at the forefront of dog training throughout the country. Clubs provide basic Domestic Dog training classes for responsible dog owners. They teach the owner how to train the dog while showing people how to ensure their dog becomes a great lifetime companion.

'Canine Good Citizen' goes a step further. Dogs are trained and then tested in simulated everyday situations in a relaxed atmosphere. Dogs and their owners are identified and rewarded for the training and demeanour to be reliable family members. Canine Good Citizen ensures that dog can be a respected member of the community because the dog is trained to be well mannered at home, in public, and around other dogs.

Testing requires an assessment by a recognised New Zealand Kennel Club Assessor.

Canine Good Citizen Foundation
1. Appearance, handling and responsibility
a. Responsibility and care
b. Public cleanliness and identification
c. Examination of the dog by handler
d. Grooming and inspection of the dog by the assessor
2. Food manners
a. Person eating
b. Dog eating
3. Accepting a friendly stranger
4. Accepting being patted by a friendly stranger
5. Walk on lead through a door/gate in a controlled manner
6. Return to handler
7. Walk on lead
8. Controlled walk through people and distractions
a. Pedestrian traffic
b. Distractions
9. Stay tied on lead
10. Meeting a stranger and their dog
11. Supervised separation
12. Playing with the dog
Canine Good Citizen – Bronze
13. Responsibility and care
14. Food manners
15. Stay in one place (untied, handler in sight)
16. Stay tied on lead (handler out of sight)
17. Staying still and return to handler
18. Stationary vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle
b. Out of a vehicle
19. Control at steps2
20. Walk on lead and reaction to distractions in a public area
a. Walk on lead
b. Distractions
Canine Good Citizen – Silver
21. Responsibility and care
22. Examination of the dog by a stranger (handler at a distance)
23. Stay in a down position (untied, handler out of sight)
24. Return to handler (with distractions)
25. Stop the dog
26. Advanced vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle
b. Vehicle is moving
c. Out of a vehicle
27. Staying still and return to handler in a public area
28. Calm and controlled behaviour whilst in a busy public area
a. Walking
b. Staying in one area
c. Accept being touched by a stranger
Canine Good Citizen – Gold
29. Responsibility and care
30. Walking beside the handler, without a lead
31. Sending the dog to a known article and staying
32. Parked vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle and leaving dog
b. Distractions outside the vehicle whilst parked
c. Out of a vehicle
33. Delivering a dropped article to hand
34. Another person (other than handler) walking the dog in a public area, with distractions
a. Handing the dog over to the nominated person
b. Person walking the dog in a public area
c. Distractions whilst person walking the dog in a public area
35. Stay in a down position (untied, handler out of sight) in a public area
36. Stop the dog and recall in a public area
37. Stay tied on lead (relaxed isolation) in a medium-busy public area
38. Walking, with distractions, in a busy public area
a. Walking
b. Distractions


Obviously this is just a very brief summary.  A lot of the tests are timed, it's a bit unnerving (as if I wasn't nervous enough!) having the assessor standing nearby with a stop watch while you're doing the 'meeting a stranger and their dog' and 'not molesting a stranger eating' tests and having no idea how long you have to make small talk, lol!  


Oh, and for the recall at Foundation level you can ask the assessor to hold your dog's collar while you walk away, which is what I did.


Hsin-Yi from Honey The Great Dane wondered if Beryl and I are going to carry on with the CGC levels.  Apart from not being at all good at staying, I think Beryl is capable of passing the Bronze so that's my training mission, work on stays.  I'm fairly sure a 'down stay' is OK.  If it has to be a 'sit stay' then we're pretty well sunk, lol.  As for going any further, hmm, I'll wait til we pass the Bronze to make that decision.  A couple of things in Silver are quite tough.  And I don't even know what some of the tests entail.


Honey was the first Great Dane to get her Gold CGC level in New Zealand.  I wonder if any others have got it since then?


Well, it was break up night at CGC training tonight.  A fun night with some games and having time to chat to people and just relax.  We both enjoyed ourselves and poor Frankie sat home by himself for the third time in 4 days:(  But I was given some chicken frames and I gave him one when we got home and he was pretty happy with that!  No more training for 2 weeks until after the school holidays.  But there are plenty of doggy things lined up for us to do.    


Yesterday afternoon Beryl and I went to the horse riding establishment where Rachel works with Fatima, Louie, Lucy and their 2 foster Greyhounds, Hugo and Snow.  They all got to run around in a big paddock with Benjamin, the resident Corgi, who loves Greyhounds, especially Lucy:)  I didn't get any real good photos but here's one of Beryl

Running by herself (and looking slightly Kangarooish?)

She still isn't confident about running with the pack since her tumble when she was with them a month ago.

She wanted to but she didn't!  That's Benjamin being a Greyhound:)

After Beryl had a couple of hours rest she and Frankie and I went to the river where I threw a few sticks for Frankie to make up for leaving him by himself earlier.

He enjoyed that:)

And we have to have a 'Beryl is pretty' photo, don't we?

Today we went to the park with the same crew and Frankie and Lucy (his BFF) had a blast

Frankie and Lucy having a breather after doing lots of 

Wrestling

Notice how Lucy's always on top!!

And running ... I couldn't get them both in one photo!!

Beryl and I have had a few quite busy doggy days lately and I've tried to keep Frankie from feeling too left out.  Tomorrow night is Rally O fun night before the break over the school holidays and I think I'll just take Frankie along.  He's due some 'just me and Mum' time:)


I hope you've all been having fun with your dogs too:)