Canine Good Citizen

   Even though I think Gatsby is perfect in every way, I saw an ad in the paper for a 'Canine Good Citizen' (CGC) course offered nearby.  One quick email and the next thing you know Gatsby and I are signed up for an 8-week course.  I thought this would be a good way to socialize Gatsby since he is becoming quite the mommas boy in Pete's absence.  Every Saturday from 1:00-1:50 this is what Gatsby and I will be doing: working on making Gatsby a Canine Good Citizen.  Now that I am officially 3 weeks into the class and I only have 5 weeks until he gets tested to become officially certified I am realizing that this is not a walk in the park.  This 'social' hour is going to be a lot of work but I am excited about working with my little man so hopefully he won't be the only 'student' in the class that doesn't get certified!  Today they went over what the test will be.

1) Friendly stranger/supervised isolation:  You have to hand your dog over to a stranger, walk away and outside of the building for 3 minutes and the dog is not allowed to whine or act distraught.

2) Walk your dog on a loose leash, stopping and turning when they tell you to do so  and making sure the dog stays on your left hand side (this is probably the hardest thing for Gatsby-he is a maniac on a leash but is making improvements every week!)

3) Walk up to a stranger and their dog, shake hands with the stranger and your dog must stay seated and not jump or growl.

4) Walk through a crowd, the dog must weave through strangers and can't be shy, resentful, overly excited, etc.

5) Have your dog sit, I will turn and walk 30 feet with my back to Gatsby and he has to stay, then I have to walk back to him, turn back around and walk that same 30ft and when the instructor tells me to I can call Gatsby and he has to run to me.

There are a few other things on the test but the items listed above are the things that we are working on the most.  I am very hopeful that in 5 weeks I will be the proud owner of a canine good citizen.  Here are a few pictures from class today:



Treat?




Proud Mom



Gatsby's friends/competition