|

CGC Exams

Posted byJenna

I had brain fog this month; I teach classes at the Keizer Station Petco for people who don’t need private training (also I do some in-store private training for people who don’t have aggression issues, and it’s a lot cheaper than my personal rates, if you’re interested. Although my main openings are Monday afternoons.), and several people at the store had family emergencies. So I volunteered to take their normal shifts so they could deal with said emergencies, which means I’ve been working A LOT.

It also means I’ve been a little exhausted, so things have been a little neglected. Oh yeah, and I couldn’t think of what to blog about.

I did what I often do in these situations: I asked the people on my Facebook page! I got a couple of responses (the other one I’ll do a video for), and one of them was to learn about CGC exams. So here we go!

CGC stands for Canine Good Citizen, and it’s an AKC-run program. It basically means your dog is a well behaved member of society, and it’s surprisingly difficult to pass. You have to do things like walk up to someone else with a dog, have both dogs sit, shake hands, chat for a few seconds, and then walk on past them without your dog pausing or surging forward to sniff the other dog.

One of the items that frequently trips people up is the “Staying with a friendly stranger” item: you leave your dog with a friendly stranger and walk away for 3 minutes. Most dogs really don’t appreciate this, although some dogs are okay with it. Why you would ever do this in real life, I don’t know.

(Actually, I do a version of this if I’m flying somewhere with Scout, I’m on the plane, and I have to use the bathroom. Since both Scout and I can’t fit in there at the same time, I leave him tied to my seat and ask the person next to me to keep half an eye on him. So, there’s your real life situation, I suppose.)

Anyway. The CGC has 10 test items you have to pass. They are:

  1. Accepting a friendly stranger: your dog sits politely while someone talks to you.
  2. Sitting for petting: your dog sits politely while getting petted.
  3. Appearance and grooming: your dog will let someone brush them, check their paws, and check their ears.
  4. Out for a walk: your dog can walk on a loose leash.
  5. Walking through a crowd: your dog can walk through 3-4 people without stopping to sniff or accost anyone.
  6. Sit and down on cue and stay in place: your dog can sit, lay down, and do a short stay.
  7. Coming when called: just what it sounds like.
  8. Reaction to another dog: this is the one where they have to sit while you chat with someone who has a dog.
  9. Reaction to distraction: they don’t panic or attack when something startling happens.
  10. Supervised separation: they sit with a “stranger” while you leave for 3 minutes.

Fun side note: I had a dog with severe separation anxiety, and I knew we’d fail the last item. So I spent about a month working on his stay until he could stay with me out of sight for 3 minutes. Then when we did this test item, I told him to stay and he just thought he was on a long stay. XD

Okay, back to CGC exam stuff! Petco used to do CGC exams — they had a whole class for preparing for it — but they recently decided to stop. 🙁 But it’s okay! Come spring I’ll be holding my own prep class and exams for it. This will be an evening class, possibly Weds evenings. Since it’s outdoors, we’re also waiting for the sun to be out longer. 😉 In fact, I’ll probably be holding a CGC exam in March or April, for those people who feel they’re ready, along with CGC-A and CGC-U.

“Wait, what are these other ones?” I hear you cry. It’s the advanced and urban versions of the CGC! We’ll likely do the testing in downtown Salem on a Saturday, when the weather’s nice. That way we’ll have a crowd and everything else we need. It’ll cost $20-$30 (I haven’t decided yet), and if you’re interested you should keep track on my Facebook page, where I post this kind of stuff regularly. I’ll try and post it here, too, but I’m not as good about remembering.

You can start practicing now, and if you want to get ready before I start my prep class you’re welcome to book private lessons through Petco for it, or join the advanced group class (even if you’ve taken it before). Let me know what you’re thinking, and we’ll get you ready for the test! (And if you want to do private lessons and bring a friend and their dog, I have no problem with that.)

I think that’s everything. Keep an eye out on TikTok, IG, and YouTube for a video on getting young dogs to stop jumping!

Jenna

Dog Training Tips & News: