AKC Canine Good Citizen...why you want to do this!

AKC Canine Good Citizen is a test that has ten on-leash exercises that AKC believes that any well-mannered dog should be able to do. Many obedience training centers are having the Canine Good Citizen test as a class, with the testing at the end. This class is often a requirement for other classes like any advanced obedience, rally, agility, and other classes the training center may offer. If you pass the test, your dog actually will get a title "CGC" to put at the end of his name! If you decide to go on to Trick Dog Training, your CGC title will count for part of your required number of tricks. As usual, we did things backwards and got the Trick Dog Novice titles first for Ava and Kobe. But, now we are wanting to go forward and do other classes so the Canine Good Citizen is the next step. The CGC can also be a start towards therapy dog work, and the AKC states that some apartments and condos are requiring a CGC for the dog to live there.

Kobe never meets a stranger, but Ava was a baby during the COVID lockdown and I expect we'll need to work through her distrust of new people. I am hoping that she will gain some relaxation around new people being in the class, as I'd like to not only do further performance events with her but also plan to show her in conformation. Ava was bred by my friend Donna Jensen in Texas, "Dazzle" Chihuahuas. Her registered name is Dazzles Movie Star Beautiful TKN. The TKN designates her Trick Dog Novice title.

Kobe is taking the class with his person, my daughter Lexi. I think the biggest challenge with him is that he has some separation anxiety when she is not with him and he will scream. So, we hope to work through that. Kobe is a Canadian import, bred by Chantale Tremblay. His registered name is Luna's Lost Cove King Cobe TKN.

To pass the test, the dog must meet and accept a friendly stranger, sit politely for petting, be groomed and examined , walk on a loose lead, walk through a crowd, sit and down on command, stay, come when called, be ok around another dog, be ok around sounds and distractions, and to be able to be left with another person without freaking out while owner is out of sight.

For more information, take a look at https://images.akc.org/pdf/cgc/GK9GC1.pdf