Preparing for CGC
 

Jaeger is almost 7 months old and I would like to have him CGC tested when he is close to a year old. Our trainer recommended waiting that long because dog's temperament change enough from puppy to adulthood that some organizations require retesting CGC over 1 year of age if the dog passed CGC beforehand.

We do not have any decent pet training group classes nearby. Petco has them, but they just run the tests in the store with no designated training area and leave the dogs/owners to their own devices for most of the lesson as they walk between owners spaced through the store, doing things one on one.

Petsmart atleast has its own area, but it's a crapshoot whether they have a good trainer or not. They don't offer the direct CGC class anymore-if they did, I'd consider it.

We have a dog trainer we like who said to call her when he's a bit older and she'll help up with the training for the CGC. She always answers my emails promptly and is helpful with advice, but suggested we not meet with her for a few months because we were doing a good job on our own and didn't want to just string us along and take our money. She said if we had any problems, to call.

I figure I'd schedule some training with her when he is 9-10 months old but want to continue preparing him on my own.

He currently has trouble with:

Accepting a friendly stranger-he gets too excited, or doesn't pay attention at all (in the, i'm going over here to sniff this) kind of way

Sitting politely for petting-again, too excited. We practice this at home when Sir comes home from work-he either jumps up or won't sit, or won't hold the sit. The neighborhood kids help some, too.

Out for a walk on a loose lead-he'll do this SOME of the time, and if I keep the lead short (not tense) he'll do it most of the time, but i usually can't just let the leash hang without him getting in front of me

Reaction to another dog-if he sees one across the street or down the street, he goes nuts, wanting to meet them, let alone if the dog was right there next to him.

Supervised Separation-He always whines and is fixated on when I am coming back/if i am

Walking Through a Crowd-Im honestly not sure if we've done this. Any suggestions on where to practice?

Does anyone have suggestions on how to get him ready for CGC?

Kudoos to you for wanting to do this, it is great! Okay think of pet stores on busy weekend to get him used to strangers.

Or a busy park. Outside dog shows are also a great environment, as most exhibitors will "get" that you are training your dog. Trust me I take Razzle there and will more often, as most exhibitors just go a gaga over a Yorkie being obedience trained! And will be more than willing to work with you to help him be okay with strangers.

The greeting Sir when he comes home. Leash your dog; have treats in Your hand. Command sit. If no sit, place in sit. Say stay, if no stay, bring dog back to the very same spot they broke sit/stay from. Keep working this until your dog successfully sits while Sir comes home.

Before I hand feed him, I make him sit and let me pet him in between bites. I had to start with him in the corner so he couldn't back away or lay down, but he's getting the hang of it.

Does anyone know if they're allowed to lay down for pettings? Or if they can break from a sit to a lay down?

AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program

Here is the booklet that describes all the testing When placed in a stay position - they can't break it. You choose whether they Stay in a Sit, or Stay in a Down position.

I'm not worried about breaking position during a stay-as long as I put him in a sit, he'll stay sat.

However, when "sitting friendly for petting" he'll start in a sit but sometimes he'll ease into a lay down during the petting.

I think that is fine, just so long as he doesn't put his paws up on anyone. The booklet I linked for you describes each exercise in detail.

Good luck with the training

From my understanding when we took the class, the dog has to be over a year to receive their CGC. What about doing STAR puppy first? They are really similar. STAR puppy is a lot about learning how to be social and a little more relaxed about what you can or cannot do. For example, I think in STAR you can use a treat, but in CGC, you cannot.

We did both STAR and CGC at the same time. One at 5:00, one at 6:00, on the nights they had class. I was unsure of Snickers exact age, but knew he was somewhere around 1-year, more or less. Since STAR puppy was only 6 weeks, we took that test first and then CGC after 8 weeks. We passed both, but he actually did better in the CGC test, even though it is more difficult.

Getting to excited around strangers is partially an age thing. Also, if you have people who greet your dog in an overly excited way, it reinforces the behavior of them getting excited. It would be good if you could practice "meeting" some people, maybe friends or neighbors and ask them to just kind of ignore the dog when they come to you. They can calmly acknowledge him when he is calm and that will reward the good behavior and not reinforce the other as much.

I mostly just took my dog for a lot of walks in the weeks before the tests and made sure we followed all the guidelines every time, all the time, to get ready. Just a lot of repetitive behavior. I tried to take him to different places to walk. Walking on a leash around a high stimulus area, such as the dog park helps. Walk in places where there will be lots of distractions. I felt the worst part about both the classes and the test was that there was other dogs walking around the same area. Of course, that makes it REALLY easy for them to get distracted. I had the smallest dog there, who was unfortunately so close to the ground, it made it easy for him just just drop his little nose and start investigating. That's why I think the dog park might be good. You can get him used to focusing on a time when it is difficult to do so.

Get a friend your dog is not super familiar with to help you with the supervision test. I would maybe go in a parking lot and you can walk 50-100ft away (not sure if there is a requirement on how far you have to go) and hide behind a car. You can watch your dog's reaction, but make sure they can't see you. Just act like it's no big deal and he will feel less anxious. I think also not making a big deal about it when you come back will help. Especially if he seems anxious, don't "baby" him or greet him super excitedly like you might when you come home at night. Just be casual and nonchalant about it.

I didn't know if we would pass, just because Snickers was so young and so hyper active. He had all the "book" knowledge, if you will, and could do all the requirements and then some, but the age factor is big, I think, Especially for active little dogs like Yorkies. Interestingly enough, we were the ONLY people in our class that passed! I was really surprised at that. There was one dog who was a Golden Retriever, about 4-years-old and really calm and laid back. Her owner actually trained search and rescue and cadaver dogs. She did everything perfectly in class, but when she did the test, she screwed something up...I don't remember what, but I was shocked that dog failed. Just had an off night. I guess just like us, they can know what the answers are, but still make mistakes.

Thanks for all your help-I've read the brochures and stuff, but I find sometimes talking to people who have been through it helps me a lot.

Our trainer didn't think we'd get much from a puppy class as he already knows so much. The only other place nearby that teaches dog obedience/training has gone down hill a lot in the past few years-Ive heard several accounts of people complaining the trainers recommend that you hit the dog, and that a lot of the trainers chain smoke as they teach-no thanks!