Canine Good Citizen Award Requirements

Courtesy of Jon Hurd/Laertes: Flick

What Are the 10 Tests to Earn the AKC Good Citizen Certificate

Can your dog pass the 10 tests to earn the AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate?  

If not, you can teach your dog how to be an AKC Good Citizen in only five minutes a day.

Start working on each test with your dog for five minutes, two or three times per day and he should pass without a problem.  Good luck!

About the AKC Canine Good Citizen Program 

The American Kennel Club offers a Canine Good Citizen test that certifies all dogs as reliable and friendly pets and respected community members. Dogs must pass 10 tests to be awarded the Canine Good Citizen certificate.

According to the AKC, once dogs pass the ten Canine Good Citizen tests, they are certified as "reliable family members, as well as community members in good standing." The reasoning behind the Canine Good Citizen Test is to train dogs that are welcomed in the community, in homes, in public places, and are friendly with other dogs. Purebreds and mixed breed dogs are eligible to receive The Canine Good Citizen Award.

Training your dog for the Canine Good Citizen test helps you work with your canine buddy, bonding and having fun at the same time. Your dog can benefit from learning the 10 tests for the AKC Canine Good Citizen Award, becoming loving and friendly member of your family.

10 Canine Good Citizen Tests

1 Accept a Friendly Stranger

This test requires your dog to let a stranger come near and speak to you in a friendly way. A friendly stranger should be able to speak to the you while your dog remains calm at your side.

2 Sit Politely While Being Petted

This test requires your dog to let a friendly stranger  approach and pet him while he's with you. Your dog should remain calm, without jumping or nipping at the friendly stranger.

3 Handling and Grooming

This test requires your dog to stay calm while being groomed or handled by a veterinarian, groomer, or friends. This practical test also shows that you're a responsible dog owner, and you're aware that your dog should behave at the groomer's and vet's office.

4 Loose Leash Walking

Loose leash walking tests your control over your pet. You can walk your dog on either the left or the right side. While walking, your dog must keep the leash loose without tugging or pulling you, even with distractions.

5 Calmly Walking Through a Crowd

This test requires your dog to walk calmly through a crowd of people. Many dogs find crowds intimidating and distracting and often react either aggressively or overly excited. If your dog can walk calmly through a crowd, then he shows that he is well trained and welcomed in public places.

6 Sit and Stay

The Sit and Stay test requires your dog to sit in an area that you tell him, and stay there until you return and take him out of the stay. Your dog can either sit or lay down for this test.

7 Reliable Recall

Your dog must show that he will reliably come when you call him.

8 Calm Reaction to Other Dogs

For this test, you have to walk your dog close to other dogs and they need to act politely with each other. Your dog also has to stay by your side.  No sniffing, lunging, barking or other reactive behavior is allowed.

9 Distractions

This test presents distracting situations to your dog, for instance a person in a wheelchair rides past, someone on crutches walks by or a vacuum runs near your dog. Your dog must exhibit confidence and calm behavior in all distracting situations, showing no fear, excitement, or aggression.

10 Separation from Owner

Your dog must demonstrate that he can be left with a trusted person while you're out of sight. Usually, you give your dog to someone else and then leave the room. Your needs to stay with the other person and demonstrate good manners until your come back.

American Kennel Club
Canine Good Citizen Dept.
P.O. Box 37914
Raleigh, NC 27627-7914
(919) 816-3532
email: cgc@akc.org

What Your Puppy Should Know During the First Year

You've just brought your new puppy home, holding him in your arms as he licks your face with puppy kisses. The last thing on your mind at that moment is training. That's okay but as soon as your first greeting together is over, the training starts.

Does this seem too soon?

No way. You should start on the basics of positive-reinforcement training right away, if your want to give your pup a safe, positive, loving home. Always have dog treats on hand for rewarding good behavior. 

Here's a little chart outlining what your puppy should learn during his first year. This is not written in stone. Remember that all dogs learn at their own pace, so use this as just a guideline.

The golden rule of training your puppy is that patience is the key. If you get frustrated at any time, stop the training session. It's better to end on a happy note, so your puppy looks forward to his next lesson.

What Your Puppy Should Learn during the First Year

These guidelines are broken down by the age of your puppy. Don't get stressed if your puppy's training milestones are different from this outline. He'll progress in his own time because all he want to do is please you.

Two to Four Months Old

This is a time for introductions and behavior in your home. These are the social graces that your puppy needs to learn. If he master these basics, you'll have a relaxed and happy puppy wherever you go.

• Meet and greet people without jumping
• Introduce your puppy to the veterinarian and groomer
• Begin socializing him with other dogs
• Positive crate training
• Answer to his name
• Housebreaking
• Learn to walk without tugging. A harness or head halter helps a lot with tugging issues.

Five to Seven Months Old

This is the time to get into basic obedience training. Clicker training can help a lot with positive training and marking your puppy's success.

If you put if off training for too long, your puppy will develop bad habits that are hard to break. Your puppy is never too young to learn.

• Come when called from 10 to 15 feet away.
• Sit

• 

  Four months old learning 'sit'

  Zen – this is learning not to grab food out of anyone's hand or not taking it until you say it's okay. It's basically learning self-control, which continues as your puppy grows.
• Stay (working up from a few seconds to a few minutes)
• Down
• Continue with loose-leash walking

Eight to 11 months

Now that your puppy knows the basic commands, just continue reinforcing them. You can add extra distance and time to what he already knows.

• Come – gradually work up to a distance of 40 feet for the recall
• Sit, Down and Stay – combine all of these commands, adding extra time for all of them. You can tell your puppy to sit and stay, or down and stay. Walk a short distance away to start, then come right back. Work on this daily until your puppy will stay until you tell him to get up.
• Zen – continue working on your pup's self-control. You'll be glad you did as he gets older.

  

  Eight months practicing 'down and stay

Twelve Months Old and Beyond

If you've been consistent with your puppy's training, he should get a gold star at this point. He should know all the basic commands down pat.

You can also teach your puppy some tricks along the way. Many tricks are based on obedience commands. Take a look at YouTube for some trick ideas. It's full of well-renowned trainers that can help you teach your puppy some tricks.

Training is a lifetime commitment, but it's worth the effort. You and your puppy will have fun, frustration, triumphs and form a loving bond that never ends. Just when you think your dog knows everything you've worked on, he might regress. Just remember, your puppy isn't perfect and just like you, he can have a bad day. Use baby steps when training your puppy and enjoy those moments of success when they happen. Just make sure your puppy training is positive and fun.

Teaching a Dog Loose Leash Walking

By and large, leash-pulling masks the real problem.

Without a leash you would probably be without a dog. It is indeed a sobering thought to think that most dogs prefer to forge ahead to sniff the grass or other dogs' rear ends than to walk by their owner's side.

There are some dogs who simply don't want to walk beside owners who keeping yanking the leash. However, regardless of why your dog pulls, all dogs need to be trained to walk nicely on leash. If not, they are unlikely to be walked at all.

Trying to teach a dog to heel using leash prompts and corrections requires a lot of skill and time. And even then, all you have is a well-behaved dog on-leash. Let him off-leash and he's history; you cannot safely take him for off-leash rambles, and you still cannot control him around the house, where he is off-leash all the time.

Luckily, there are more effective and enjoyable ways to get the job done.
First, teach your dog to follow off-leash. Second, incorporate many sits and stays for control and attention. Third, teach your dog to heel off-leash and on-leash. After following these steps, you will find it is easier to teach your dog to walk calmly on-leash.

Teach Your Dog to Follow Off-Leash

Your dog's desire to follow and remain close is the necessary foundation for walking politely on-leash. You must become the center of your dog's universe. You need to stimulate and strengthen your dog's gravitational attraction towards you by moving away enticingly and heartily praising your dog all the time he follows. Click your fingers, slap your thigh, or waggle a food treat or a toy in your hand to lure the dog to follow. Proceed with a happy heart and a sunny disposition:
Talk to your dog, tell him stories, whistle, walk with a jaunty step, or even skip and sing.

Do not accommodate your dog's improvisations; you are the leader, not the dog. Whenever your dog attempts to lead, accentuate his "mistake" by doing the opposite. Stretch the psychic bungee cord: if your dog forges ahead, slow down or smartly turn about; if your dog lags behind, speed up; if your dog goes right, turn left; and if your dog goes left, turn right. Practice in large areas, such as in your backyard, friends' yards, tennis courts, dog parks, and safe off-leash areas. Feed your dog his dinner kibble, piece by piece as you walk. Once your dog is following closer, time yourself while practicing following-courses at home, going around furniture, from room to room, and from the house to yard.

Sits, Downs, and Stays

Enticing your dog to follow off-leash takes a lot of concentration and it is easy to let your dog drift. Consequently, instruct your dog to sit or lie down and then stay every ten yards or so.
Frequent sits, downs, and stays teach your dog to calm down and focus. They also give you the opportunity to catch your breath, relax your brain, and to objectively assess your dog's level of attention. Sitting is absolute: either your dog is sitting or not. Only have the dog sit or lie down for a couple of seconds (just to check that he is paying attention) and then walk on again.
Occasionally ask your dog to lie down for a minute or so to watch the world go by. You will find that the more down stays that you integrate into the walk, the closer, calmer, and more controlled your dog will be when following you.

Teach Your Dog to Heel Off-Leash & On-Leash

Instruct your dog to sit, and then lure him to sit using a food or toy lure in your right hand.
Transfer the lure to your left hand, say "Heel," waggle the lure in front of your dog's nose, and quickly walk forwards for a few steps. Then say "Sit," transfer the lure to your right hand to lure your dog to sit, and maybe offer the kibble as a reward if your dog sits quickly and stylishly. Repeat this sequence over and over. Practice indoors and in your yard, where there are fewer distractions, before practicing in the dog park and off-leash walking areas. Then just attach the
dog's leash and you will find he heels nicely on-leash.

Walking On-Leash

Teach your dog not to pull while you are both standing still. Hold the leash firmly with both hands and refuse to budge until your dog slackens the leash. Not a single step! It doesn't matter how long it takes. Just hold on tight and ignore every leash-lunge. Eventually your dog will stop pulling and sit.

As soon as he sits, say "Good dog," offer a food treat, and then take just one large
step forward and stand still again. Hold on tight; your dog will likely explode to the end of the leash, thereby illustrating the reinforcing nature of allowing your dog to pull for just a single step. Wait for your dog to stop pulling again (it will not take as long this time).

Repeat this sequence until your dog walks calmly forward (because he knows you are only going one step) and sits quickly when you stop and stand still. Your dog quickly learns he has the power to make you stop and to make you go. If he tightens the leash, you stop. But if he slackens the leash and sits, you take a step.

After a series of single steps and standstills without pulling, try taking two steps at a time. Then go for three steps, then five, eight, twelve, and so on. Now you will find your dog will walk attentively on a loose leash and sit automatically whenever you stop. And the only words you have said are "Good dog."

Alternate heeling and walking on-leash:

For most of the walk, let your dog range and sniff ona loose leash, but every 25 yards or so, have your dog sit, heel, and sit, and then walk on again.

Always sit-heel-sit your dog when crossing a street: sit before crossing, heeling across, and then sitting on the other side of the street.

www.jamesandkenneth.com
© 2004 Ian Dunbar
Reprinted by www.dogstardaily.com with permission of Dr. Ian Dunbar and James & Kenneth Publishers

To learn more, read the Open Paw Four-Level Training Manual and Doctor Dunbar's Good
Little Dog Book and watch the Training The Companion Dog DVD series—all available from
your local pet store or www.amazon.com.

BEHAVIOR BLUEPRINTS from www.jamesandkenneth.com
New Puppy, New Adult Dog, Housetraining, Chewing,
Digging, Barking, Home Alone, Puppy Biting,
Fighting, Fear of People, Dogs & Children,
HyperDog, Puppy Training, Come-Sit-Down-Stay,
Walking On Leash, and Cat Manners.
© 2004 Ian Dunbar
w w w . d o g s t a r d a i l y . c o m
Courtesy of :
The Pet Parade

How to Teach Your Dog to Come When Called

It's so important to teach your dog to “come”.  It could save your dog’s life some day. I learned the hard way. My dog, Griffin, was 1 ½ years old when he was hit by a car. When I think about it, the whole series of events leading up to his tragic loss runs in slow motion in my mind.

Griffin and I were sitting in the yard with my 18-month-old son. A squirrel went darting past and Griffin took off like a rocket after him. I can still see him disappearing into the woods behind our house. This happened before leash laws and Griffin was always loose.

About two minutes later, the phone rang. It was the police telling me my dog had just been hit by a car. My neighbor took care of my son while I went to the scene of the accident. Griffin lay on the ground, bleeding from the mouth and a glazed look in his eyes. I don’t know whether he knew I was with him or not.

The person who hit him was in tears and offered to bring Griffin to the vet. I rode in the back with Griffin’s head in my lap. We arrived at the vet, but there was too much internal damage to do anything. Griffin died a few minutes after we arrived at the vet.

I only tell this story so you can see how important it is to teach your dog this command, “come”. I have a puppy now. He's 5 months old, and I work on the recall command every day.  My puppy is doing very well with returning to me when I call him, but I am going to continue training him until “come” is perfected.

I use the following recall method:

1. I tie a 50 foot length of rope onto the puppy’s collar then let him wander in the yard.

2. I say his name and then the word “come”. Then I draw the rope to me until the puppy gets back to me.

3. I have him sit and then praise him and give him a treat.
4. We do this about twenty times a day. After three days, my puppy was running back to me and I didn’t have to pull the rope.

I also use this method to train him not to leave the yard. When he reaches the boundary of the yard, he comes to the end of the rope. I call his name, and he comes back to me. He's learning quickly not to go beyond the borders of the yard. I do this in different areas of the property, so he learns the boundaries.

Check out this video for help training your dog to come. I think it's very helpful:

I hope this helps you, and that you teach your dog the “recall command”, so you don’t have to go through the tragedy that I did.

Here's a link to a Kindle book that describes the exact steps for teaching your dog to come every time. It gives more detail than I do here.

If anyone else has any tips on training a dog a reliable recall, please add them in the comments. It could save a dog's life.

Strategies for Housebreaking Your Puppy

Housebreaking your puppy can make or break the relationship you have with your dog. I have known many people who just never get past the housebreaking training. They get so frustrated after a few months of cleaning up dog poop, or steam cleaning their carpeting after accidents that they look for a new home for their puppy.

Take a look at Craig's List or the classified ads in the newspaper and you will see so many dogs from 6 months to 1 ½ years old that are being given away. The dog owners are fed up with the aggravation of a dog that cannot be housebroken. The fact is that all puppies can be housebroken if given the time and the patience.

There are many different housebreaking methods; most of them will do the trick. Go to the library, browsing the pet section. You will find a wide variety of dog training books which contain chapters on housebreaking your puppy.

The keys to housebreaking are to be consistent, and patient. You can't expect a puppy to be housebroken in a week. You have to consistently apply the training method you have chosen. Don't try to switch methods every few days, figuring another training method be more effective. This will only confuse your puppy while he is only trying to please you.

Physically, a puppy cannot be completely free of accidents in the house. His brain is not fully developed enough to control his bodily functions. This does not mean that the puppy is not learning, just that he cannot help himself at the moment. If you are persistent with the puppy's training, and follow through with your training method, your puppy will be completely trained between the ages of 3 to 5 months.

Female dogs are usually easier to train than males because they will urinate or defecate only once when brought outside. Male dogs, on the other hand, will urinate and defecate several times, marking their territory as a sign of dominance. A neutered male dog will also be easier to train because the urge to dominate is diminished. Keep this in mind when housebreaking your puppy.

Here are a few tips and strategies to housebreaking your puppy:

• Decide the housebreaking method that you feel will work out for your situation.
• Make a schedule to follow during the first few weeks of training: feeding, watering, and walking your puppy.
• Control the amount of food and treats you give your puppy. Irregular feeding can make housebreaking much harder.
• Make sure your pet has all the water he needs during the day, but limit water intake at night to avoid accidents. This is only temporary, until your puppy gets a little older, and can control himself. If your puppy appears thirst, certainly give him more water, but a limited amount during the night should be okay.
• Don't let your puppy wander around the house while being housebroken. Dogs don't like to mess in their sleeping area, so limiting your puppy's space will make housebreaking easier.
• If you see your puppy sniffing the floor, it probably means he has to go out. Distract him immediately and bring him outside.
• Take your puppy to the same spot every day to relieve himself. The scent of previous visits will urge him to go quickly.
• In the beginning, your puppy will need many trips outside. Gradually spread out the times that you bring him outside, making a regular schedule that fits your lifestyle.
• Catching the puppy in the act is one of the quickest ways for him to realize he is doing something wrong. Be firm with him, keep him with you while you are cleaning up the accident, and let him know you are displeased. The puppy will feel completely guilty, associating your displeasure with his actions.

These are methods I have used through the years to train my puppies. They are traditional ways to housebreak a puppy. Depending upon your circumstances, whether you are in the city, working all day, at home, or in the country will determine the housebreaking method that is best for you and your pup. Do your research and begin the training. Good luck with your new puppy!

If anyone has any housebreaking ideas or methods that have worked, please leave a comment to help others housebreak their puppies.

Puppy Training Begins before You Bring Your Pup Home

I've met a lot of pet owners through the years, and many of them feel that any type of training will break the spirit of their dog. Usually, these dogs have the run of the house and the owners under their control. They have no boundaries, sleep on furniture, eat from the table, intimidate guests, and basically, take over the household.

If you have a small dog, this may be seen as cute, but if your dog is medium sized or large, this type of situation can be a struggle. The lack of training and discipline leads to unhappy animals, and unhappy owners. Oftentimes, the dog has to be given to a shelter or rescue organization if the owner cannot regain control of the pet. No one wins in this situation.

Many times, a lot of the problems can be prevented before they even begin. Choosing the right puppy is the first step when thinking about training. This may seem strange, but not all dog types are suited for certain people. For instance, if you are a shy, quiet person, it is unlikely that an aggressive dog would be the right choice for you. On the other hand, if you are an active, outgoing person, you wouldn't want a small, nervous dog. So, it all begins with choosing the right match of puppy to human.

Do your research and keep training in mind. Compare all the different breeds and their qualities, to determine the best pup for you. If you are going to a shelter to find a puppy, take the time to become familiar with the personality of the dogs. Don't judge a book by its cover, look beyond the cuteness of the puppy. For instance, if you want a dog that will fetch (particularly hunting dogs), throw a ball and see if the dog will go after it automatically. My beagle will not chase a ball or a stick, no matter what I do, yet my collie will play fetch all day long. So be sure to look for the qualities you want in a dog right from the start. Also, try to determine if a dog is too aggressive by playing a little rough with him. It's okay if the puppy growls and tugs, but he should stop when you tell him "no" in a firm tone. If the pup won't stop, but gets progressively more excited, then he might be too aggressive to handle as he gets older.

These are just a few ideas to keep in mind when choosing a puppy. Training is very important. Keep it in mind even when choosing your puppy and you will both get off to a positive start. Remember, you will have your dog for years to come, and you want him to be your best friend.

Once you have brought your puppy home, the next step of training is housebreaking. I'll give some ideas that worked when I was housebreaking my dogs in my next blog.