Canine Good Citizen

We did it!!! Auggie passed his CGC test. Awesome!!

The only reason I took the test was because it was offered free as part of our local dog training club’s “AKC Responsible Dog Ownership” day. Otherwise, I was terrified about paying to take the test and failing miserably.
I panicked a little when she tried to touch his front paws and he pulled his right one away from her rather forcibly… but when she picked it up again he let her touch it. I also was nervous about the “walking in a crowd” exercise, because they put a child in the ring to walk past him. He didn’t bark or look twice at the kid though – and then, during the “distractions” exercise, they gave the kid a bag of empty soda cans to walk around him and jingle the cans… and even though he looked at her twice, he didn’t bark!! Awesome progress for my little guy.
He lost his focus on me a little because the ring smelled of a bajillion different dogs already, and he was so busy sniffing he wasn’t interested in doing boring stuff like a sit or a stay, so I had a bit of trouble getting him to pay attention to me – but he heeled beautifully during the “on a walk” exercise, and for his recall test he came running towards me with glee. It was such a gorgeous (and adorable, because he always looks like “HI MOMMY WHEEEE!”) looking recall that people kept stopping me after the test to congratulate me on how great it looked.

I’m so proud of him! I had my doubts, but he did it. Even though CGCs don’t go on a pedigree, Auggie is now Sentinel’s The Flash CGC.

The photos:

Test #2, I think this was – “hi, can I pet your dog?” We started with our backs to the fencing on the left, but he didn’t want to sit facing that direction… so we rotated.

The grooming/inspection test.

Walking through a crowd. WITH CHILD. I love it.

They gave him a HUGE milkbone as a prize… and he was quite happy.