The Road Most Traveled by "Sea Dog"

Leopold, Leo for short  lives by the sea shore, as a matter of fact he lives right on the harbor. A little history about Leo. He is a black and tan Min Pin, 1 year old who yes came from a pet store. But his owner saw fit to provide Leo with the best opportunity to overcome the first 4 months of his miserable life and he has made great strides. He is amazingly smart. It doesn't take him long to pick up on stuff. Good and bad. if I ever got a little dog it would be a Leo dog. He's got a big dog personality in a compact little body.
A few weeks ago I took to bringing Leo home after a day of daycare. It is about an 8 mile drive to his house.  I find the first view of the water and boats and the smell of the sea  almost as good as a cocktail at the end of the day.
The first few trips were uneventful. But last week as soon as we turned into his drive way Leo let out a little..."Hey everyone I'm home". He did it all three days!
Now people will tell you all the time about how their dogs hear the car when their owner turns into their street, or their dog sees a familiar landmarks and starts getting excited. I know my dogs can be returning from a dog show sound asleep and as soon as I turn into our road up their heads pop. So I got to thinking.
How did Leo know he was home. He couldn't see out the windows because he was in his carrier on the front seat  with his seat belt attached. Unlike an owners car his house wasn't making any noise. Could he sense the amount of time in the car? Did he feel the car climb up the incline to his house? How did he know?
And then last Friday evening it dawned on me as I gulped in the unmistakable smell of a low tide and heard the sailboat lanyards lightly clinking on the masts. Leo who's hearing and sense of smell was a hundred times better than mine knew he was home by the smell of the sea.

The Cast Iron Stomach...

One of my dogs will puke at least once a week. I spend a lot of money on dog food and despite that my dogs prefer crap they find on their travels. I tell people all the time I wonder why I bother to buy good quality food when they prefer dirt and grass.

Not having the double stomach like most grazing animals the grass always finds itself back in the yard. And as I write I hear that well known sound and sure enough  Tipper just deposited a big pile of food on the rug.

So when Margaux's owner told me she had been puking once or twice a week for the past few months it didn't seem to be too much of a concern to me especially when she also mentions that she chews and eats everything she can find. Typical of a puppy and a lab. But her owner had decided to bring her to the vets. Margaux was diagnosed as probably being allergic to her food. Her food was changed and she was no longer puking. Seemed as though the vet was right.

Now I love my vet dearly but having multiple dogs it needs to be serious before I pick up the phone.

Being in dogs for multiple decades I trust my instincts when it come to a vet visit.

If a dog is limping but will put weight on a limb, I check the paw and put the dog on crate rest and leash walks.

If a dog has diarrhea and no fever I rest the gut for 24 hours and start a meal of oatmeal and chicken. Some people like the hamburg and rice but I prefer the oatmeal. if there's anything in the stomach it seems to bind to the oatmeal.

Same goes for vomiting.

For simple cuts and punctures, cleaning the wound , some antibiotic cream and just watching the wound usually does the trick.

Fevers, not drinking or eating, lethargy (after all the saying sick as a dog has some merit) and we are in the car.

Sunday morning rolled around and Margaux puked. Being a long time student of poop and puke I was intrigued by the small little currents in her puke. On further investigation I realized they were tiny pieces of black plastic. The same plastic that her crate tray was made of. The same crate tray that she has been snacking on for months. Her owner has purchased a new crate with a metal tray which hasn't arrived yet but I'm betting on Margaux being allergic to her crate tray rather than her food! 

Defying the Odds

Take a minute to watch this video......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8zKndhTCy8

Wow...

I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted to the blog. This week is quiet at Sit Stay and Play with 4dogs on vacation.... like they aren't every day right!

anyway to fill in the gap I am posting a slideshow of the puppies when they were 7 weeks old. Friday they turned 3 months and their dad turned 2 years yesterday.

The Heat is On and...

you need to pay special attention to your dogs.
Once the temperature gets above 75 degrees you CAN NEVER LEAVE YOUR DOG IN THE CAR UNATTENDED. While you might think its cool enough with windows cracked or the sunroof open , it can still reach temps above 105 degrees in a matter of minutes.Temperatures this high will actually cook your dog! So you might think it would be nice to take your dog for a ride, but do them a favor and leave them home.
Water is very important...lots of cold fresh water. Once I hear the weather is getting warm, I start freezing big ice cubes. I use a 3 inch round tupperware container. The trick is keeping the dogs from removing the cube from the water bucket.

Bailey and Margaux...beating the heat.

Just like people exercise should be limited during the heat of the day. If your dog needs to run keep it to the early morning and late evening.
Dogs can suffer from heat stroke and it requires immediate emergency treatment. Dogs do not tolerate high temperatures as well as humans. Because dogs cool their body by panting, when the temperature is close to the thier body temperature it becomes difficult to cool their bodies.
Heat stroke begins with rapid, frantic , noisy breathing, the tongue is bright red, and saliva is thick. They will frequently vomit and their temperature can reach 106 degrees or higher. It is very important to cool your dog immediately and get them to a vet.
If possible keep your dog in a cool place. If your dog needs to stay outside, make sure he has shade all day and plenty of water that can't possibly be knocked over. If possible provide the dog with a pool of water.
Now if you should be crazy enough to exercise in 90 degree heat during the middle of the day, do your dog a favor and leave them home.

On our way....

Tomorrow Apple and Dazzle begin their new adventure as we travel to MD to their new temporary home. They will start their Therapy Dog training.
The Dalmatian Club of America supports the euthanizing of deaf puppies in their code of ethics. Another reason to not be a member! I am bringing 2 ten week old girls who you would never know, were deaf except for the fact, that when you call their name they don't come.
They are going to be two special girls who will have very important jobs. They already know sit, down, come, watch me, no, touch and yes.
How many other ten week OL hearing puppies could boast such accomplishments.
They will also be taught agility and with some luck they might be some of the first deaf dogs to compete in AKC performance events.
Much better alternative

I found an Angel!

By the time Apple and Razzle(Dazzle) were 15 days old, I knew in my heart they were deaf. I called my friend and co owner of the litter and sobbed my heart out. Giving her the news that I thought was a death sentence for these 2 beautiful babies.
I was committed to giving these 2 little girls the most love and the best life that could be packed into 7 or 8 weeks.As the days went by they seemed to show some signs of hearing, after all Apple was almost always awake standing alongside the other hearing puppies. On the other hand Razzle was often dead asleep in the crate. But many times when I went into the puppy room there they were sitting and staring at me waiting to be petted or fed or just picked up and loved.When I picked up Apple the tears would start to flow and she would look at me and lick them off my face, as if she was saying "it's okay, don't be sad.
After some research on the internet, I learned that deaf dogs can be trained and live very productive lives. After all if we could teach a gorilla to sign, why couldn't we teach a puppy the same thing. Yes it would be a lot of work but so is training a hearing puppy.
When the day came for the hearing test I handed off my babies to strangers and waited with tissue and a heavy heart, already knowing the results before they were confirmed. But I also knew that these babies would come home with me until I found them a home. The puppies and I started signing and after the first 10 minute lesson they knew the sit command! But would they remember it the next day? yes they did.
A week later and they are working on "yes" "sit""down" "watch me" and believe it or not "come"
And then an angel came into their lives.......SPOTTED DOG DALMATIAN RESCUE a non profit organization offered them a home where they will be trained as therapy dogs and placed in a forever home.
Support Spotted Dog Dalmatian Rescue with Spotted Dog Dalmatian Rescuedonatetab.firstgiving.comSpotted Dog Dalmatian Rescue is a great cause. You can show a little love by heading on over to the Facebook page titled "Spotted Dog Dalmatian Rescue" to help us spread awareness. You will make a huge difference by liking and sharing our message, or even just leaving a comment on our page.

Sizzle

We learned to eat this week and dandelions were a favorite

Growing by leaps and bounds..

Well the puppies are growing like crazy. This has been a milestone week. They have gone from white little rats lying around and eating to little puppies. They are playing with each other, barking and actually leaping around the whelping box.

Yesterday they had their first meal of baby rice cereal and they lapped it up...absolute chow hounds.

New Slide Show

Lucky Thirteen

Well the puppies are 13 days old today! It seems like it was just yesterday that they were born and already they are up on all fours attempting to walk around.They only manage 2 or 3 steps before they roll over and have to start again. The little male is the smartest of everyone, he just lies there and barks and whines and his mother comes right over to him so he doesn't need to exert much energy. Tipper has decided that her blanket which traveled to every dog show with her should be wadded up around the babies, so it must feel like Mt Everest when they are trekking over the the lumps that she has created. At night I find her and the babies huddled under the blanket. Her sense of smell is amazing because she knows where everyone is!

A recent slideshow with pictures from April 3rd through today April 6th. 

One week old

Here are these beautiful babies at one week old. It is amazing how strong they have gotten and how big! There noses are turning black even as we speak!

8th wonder of the world

As I sit here watching the miracle of life playing out in the whelping box, I have more questions than answers. It amazes me how nature and nurture work hand in hand to allow these puppies to survive. How does a new mother have the instinct to clean these babies, gently pick them up and despite complete exhaustion not sit or lie on them? Never having smelled their mother before how do these blind deaf minutes old puppies manage to seek out their mother for sustenance?
My babies are safe and warm with a mother who is well fed and yet my thoughts wander to some of the horror stories I hear about where homeless mother give birth under cars, in shelters and in the wild alone and cold. It breaks my heart and angers my soul that people are not responsible for their animals. Or worse think they can breed dogs and relinquish all responsibility as soon as those puppies leave the premises.
As these babies lie in the whelping box I can't help but wonder what will their lives be like? How can anyone watch puppies curled up and cooing in the box and consider turning them into fighting dogs, or bait dogs or even abusing such an animal? What is it in a human that turns them so evil?
For a person such as myself the 9 weeks from conception to birth is long and fretful. he first few weeks the question of the day is, will we have puppies because despite the millions of unwanted dogs in the country when we want a litter it sometimes doesn't happen!
As my bitches belly starts to swell my mind turns to all the things that could go wrong during labor. For some reason puppies like to come in the middle of the night. Another question not answered. Does the cover of darkness make the bitch feel safer delivering her pups?
As delivery day unfolds, the bitch becomes increasingly nervous and as the actual arrival of the first puppies she begins to pant and push and within moments she has delivered a puppy, severed the umbilical cord and eaten the placenta. Nature at it's best. When the puppies are all delivered does the mother want to  move them away from the birth site because of the scent or does she just want a cleaner area? More questions. As the days pass and the puppies continue to grow I still can't sit by the whelping box and not  be amazed by the eighth wonder of the world the miracle of birth and survival.

Two days old and I must say they are adorable. Everyone doing well and Tipper has proved to be amazing mother.

Puppy Slide Show

Perception

Yesterday I went with my brother to look at Aussie puppies. The woman who owned the litter is a member of the Australian Shepard Club of America and she is also a breeder judge. ASCA is not a member of the AKC.
She has been breeding Aussies for more than 8 generations so she could be considered "a crazy dog person" as my  brother so affectionately calls me.
While we were driving in the car my brother mentioned that she allots 2 hours to each potential puppy person. He confided in me that he couldn't imagine it would take 2 hours to look at puppies. Boy was he wrong!
The breeder was a wealth of information and discussed with us the mentoring process she had been through, what she put the most importance on when she was judging( the first thing she asks herself could this dog herd) and described in detail each personality and why this puppy would or wouldn't be a good fit.

As we discussed the standard of the Aussies I made a comment that both standards had a lot of similarities  and she corrected me by saying, "oh no the Aussie has a very nice layback of shoulder , never a straight front like the dalmatian."
For a minute I was taken a back and then explained that the Dalmatian should have a nice layback of shoulder  with the upper arm almost as long as the shoulder blade. Her next comment was well that's not what I am seeing in the ring when I attend AKC shows. and I had to admit she was right.
We have way too many dogs being shown with bad fronts, whether they have short upper arms resulting in straight fronts, elbowing out, or narrow fronts more and more of them are being seen in the show ring and this is creating the perception that the front should be  straight because so many of the dogs have a straight front.
The Dalmatian Club of America has a illustrated explanation of the standard. I suggest everyone check it out.
I would be the first person to admit that there is no perfect dog but every responsible breeder should be reading the standard and asking themselves can this puppy I want to show do the job it was bred for? Can it coach for 20 miles a day? and the answer is, if it is straight in the front or heavy in bone NO.

Attention

Many of us struggle with our dogs and attention. Years ago at a puppy class the instructor taught us watch me! It was a very simple exercise. You put a treat in your hand touched the side of the dogs nose with your finger, raised that finger up to your eye and spoke the command "watch me". And there you had it.
Today if your dog is clicker trained, it is a much easier feat but it does require you to pick the clicker up off the shelf and use it. If your clicker is charged up, meaning your dog is instantly reacting to the sound of the clicker then you are ready to get their attention. Click and they will look at you, when they look you treat,  bring the treat up towards your face and cue them with a look at me. Practice makes perfect.

Some thoughts on Westminster

The controversy started when WKC decided to drop Pedigree as the shows sponsor. Word had it that there were too many commercials about shelters and mixed breed dogs and WKC wanted to concentrate on the pure bred aspect of the sport. Purina sponsors most of the National Specialties and many of the all breed shows so it only made sense that Purina should.
Then the extremists felt they needed to get involved. For some reason they have a perception that show dogs are treated badly and the breeders of these animals are creating some sort of heinous crime.
Speaking from personal experience , I have attended dog shows all over the country and have never seen show dogs treated like many of the pet and shelter animals. You don't see a show dog still in his crate while someone is hosing it out nor do you see show dogs tied out in the sun without water or shade. Some people might say that breeders are contributing to the shelter problem and perhaps occasionally that might be true. But the majority of the breeders competing at dog shows are testing their dogs for all kinds of genetic disorders and the pure bred dog is becoming healthier every day.
And if  this wasn't enough controversy we then had the Best in Show judging.
It seems as though there are 2 types of people that watch Westminster, dog show people and people who love dogs. keypads were burning up with all sorts of negative comments about the winner! If you aren't a dog show person you don't understand that there is more to the dog than just hair. None of us sitting at home know how that dog feels under all that coat. The Pekinese had won 115 BIS and while I personally found it painful to watch a dog that appeared to be struggling move around the ring. There has to be a lot of merit to the animal other than just it's movement. I also  think that this is a breed that selective breeding has hurt more than helped. Not one of our finer moments when it comes to improving the breed.
For me the first impression of a dog is whether or not it's balanced and how does it look going around the ring. After all most dogs need to move to perform their jobs. Then I look for attitude. I saw those qualities in the Doberman, the Irish and the Dalmatian and if I had been judging my BIS would have been one of those 3 dogs but I haven't put the time and effort into getting a judging license. So like everyone else, I need to accept that the judge liked the Peke better on that night.
We are kidding ourselves if we think a judge has memorized every standard. Judges rely on a subjective image of what the breed should look like and hopefully apply a knowledge of conformation when they put their hands on a dog that they do not regularly judge.
We shouldn't find fault in the dog that won, instead we should look at the AKC process of awarding BIS status to a judge and to Westminster for how they pick their BIS judge. Like many other BIS judges Ms Vogels only has 2 groups. She does not have her license to judge Dobermans or Dalmatians.
Perhaps in the future BIS should be judged like the Top Twenty with 3 judges evaluating each group winner and the dog with the most points becomes BIS.

Farewell

After 7 weeks Alex bids Sit Stay and Play goodbye. He went home to his full time mother and and his playmates Libby and Hilde.

Letting him go was a little like the loss of a pet. I cleaned out his crate in daycare, washed his bed and replaced it with a clean bed, although I couldn't bring myself to remove his name from his crate. Removing the duct tape with his name seemed a little  too permanent an act. I went upstairs and without even giving it a thought grabbed his food dish and filled it before I remembered that he was no longer here. The entire day brought back visions of past loved ones.An afternoon filled with the memory of lost loves. Alex has a personality larger than life and I couldn't begin to list his wild personality traits.... he is a beautiful amazing dog and anyone who has ever had the opportunity to meet and spend time with Alex is all the better for it! Next time I see him I hope to give the big "dumb ass" a hug for his championship.

Canine Good Citizen Test

I had a couple of hours before the test so I thought a quick refresher for Tipper might be beneficial. I got out the umbrella and opened and closed it as she warily looked on, but no big startle reflex. We then progressed to the down. Twenty repetitions of down with the clicker and treats and I was feeling pretty confident.
We arrived a few minutes early and headed into the building. Nadine was the woman giving the test and she had her Black Belgian Shepard who was to be the greeting dog. Tipper immediately sniffed nose to nose without any problems. We went trough strangers approaching, people shaking my hand and Tip stood quietly with her tail wagging and her ears sticking straight out! The wheelchair posed no problem having been in one for 6 weeks and the crashing noise of the xpen being dropped didn't
even warrant a look from Tipper. We are breezing through this and I am just starring to relax when I ask my show dog for the down. She looks at me and continues to sit and sit and sit. Something that she refused to do the first night of class. Now she was glued to that sit. After all in her mind a sit was as good as a down because she wasn't standing. Finally feigning a treat in my hand I got her into the down and wait. Long enough to get the teachers attention and have her see it. She asked me if I coerced the dog into the down and I told her I never touched her! The recall, stand for examination, have the paws touched by a stranger, being brushed and we has passed. Tipper was now CH Uptons Highland Hurrah CGC. I can't tell you how great it felt to have her pass the course with only completing 2 of the classes. This summer we plan to move on to Therapy Dog Training. I highly recommend the CGC course for you and your dog.

Canine Good Citizen Update

So my friend Tipper has been in season the last 2 weeks of the CGC class! We have been working on her down and her sit stay since we aren't able to attend. These performance b people have a thing about bitches competing when being in season. Yet the conformation ring is loaded with bitches in season and then we wonder why our boys ate behaving like lunatics. Anyway I digress from the topic at hand.
Tomorrow night is the actual test. I myself may need a tranquilizer to get through this. I am really hoping to pas on the first attempt but we haven't had any actual training on the meets and greets and walking on a loose lead on a buckle collar is suspect. So wish us luck and I will be posting soon.

Dog Gone Dogs

Well if you haven't read my last post, Tipper came into season a month early so I drove off to the week three class to observe and pick up the training info that I hoped to do at home.

We started the class with a heel on a loose lead and a flat buckle collar....and my first thought was OMG this is going to take some work. I don't think Tipper has been on a flat collar since she was 12 weeks old. Logan, Cassie and Killian did pretty well. Our instructor Kim then presented me with a "rent a dog" his name was Noodles and he was a 12 inch high plastic dog! We used Noodles as a distraction for the meet and great and the leave it because Noodle presented quite a distraction.
Props were also brought out, a walker, a wheel chair and an umbrella. I don't think the wheel chair will be a problem since I spent a month in one last winter. However when O got home and introduced the umbrella Tipper quickly left the room. Which reminded me of the time I was riding a horse and and older woman came up behind her with an umbrella, before I knew it I was on the ground.
So out the clicker came. First toss the treat near the umbrella, then under it, then on top of the umbrella and finally closing it up and actually standing on it. We will see tomorrow how well the lesson was retained. So this week we have heel, leave it and don't freak out with the umbrella.

Week Three at Canine Good Citizen Class

We haven't actually been to class but I thought I'd do a quick post to let you know that Tipper came into season yesterday which means she can't complete the last 2 classes but I will continue to go and train from home. I just hope that her show dog training and exposure will get her through the last 2 weeks of class. We should be able to take the test because she'll be out of season by then. So let's see what week 3 has in store for us.

Week Two of Canine Good Citizen

We had practiced the "park it" and I felt pretty confident that Tipper would perform. We arrived at class without any incident and  had acquired a new dog and owner in our class since the previous week. So the class consists of Logan the Wheaten & Valerie, Cassie the golden & Janet, Jeff & the Visla, Killian and Tipper & myself. Three new challenges were presented to us, the sit/stay, the down/stay and being left for 3 minutes out of sight!
Tipper barely knew the sit and was now being asked to stay. As for the down, the "sphinx" down was never going to turn into a stay and there was no way she was going to roll onto a hip but believe it or not she stayed sitting even with some tension on the leash. As for the down even though it was a "sphinx" down I was eventually able to put a treat on each paw and she waited to take them until I told her it was okay.
By using the treats on the paws you get the leave it and the stay all together. Now Tipper is a big momma's baby and when I was asked to leave her with the teacher and go out of sight for three minutes there was a moment of dread. Have you ever timed three minutes? Well 10 seconds seemed like an eternity! Three minutes was forever. When I walked back around the corner there was Tipper on one side of the instructor and Killian on the other side. She was standing calmly wagging her tail and looking directly at me. She passed that part with flying colors. When it came time to park it she couldn't seem to get much more than a paw on the mat. Next week we will bring her blanket which is really what the park it is all about. So we have much homework to do this week because I'm not really confident with those stit/down stays.
While I find myself concentrating on Tippers training, I am aware that the other dogs are also having their challenges in the class. The 2 things my dog has done well are the stand for examination and being left. Two experiences  that has been ingrained in her from her time going dog shows. Things she has been asked to do for a long time. So my advise to you if you are having trouble training your dog is celebrate and reward what they do well and just keep trying on the stuff that is not so great.

Was the homework a fluke??

So today Tipper and I collected the bed and the clicker to see if yesterdays "park it" was just a fluke or has she actually figured it out.
I set the bed down on the floor and began the training routine, not only did she "park it" but she wouldn't let Alex near the bed. She has figured out that the bed means treats. On the few occasions that she came back to the bed and did not sit when I said "park it" she looked at me for a few seconds and then quickly put her butt down on the bed. Tomorrow night will be the real test for "park it".

Homework

We have a week between classes. Last night was Monday and we have only done our homework 3 times!!! We are going to look like total failures in class. So tonight I was determined to work on "park it". I filled up the bait bag with weight watchers string cheese picked up my clicker and put the leopard Sherpa lined bed on the floor. To my amazement I told Tipper to "park it" and she did! That little butt parked itself right on the blanket! Woo Hoo. Hopefully this wasn't a fluke. Tomorrow will tell.

First Night of CGC Class

As a New Englander I don't really have any right to complain about how cold it is because almost every day the temperature has been in the 40's this winter but last Thursday night was damn cold and dark.  I had sent my money so after a long day of day care and training Tipper and I bundled up and made the half hour trip to class at Fit and Trim.
Now for those of you who don't know the story, Last summer Tipper had an interesting experience with one of my handlers Chihuahua's. Tipper seemed to think it was a very exciting stuffed toy. She scooped it right off the top of a crate as she was walking by, so fast that no one even saw it happen and she wasn't going to give it up. Luckily for everyone the tiny dog was unscathed and the handler spent the next few hours picking chi hair out of Tippers teeth. The reason I'm telling this story is that as soon as we entered the lobby there was a long haired Chihuahua and my first thought was oh crap, this isn't going to go well. Especially after another woman immediately mentioned that the little dog was very aggressive. Lucky for us the dog was there for agility. Our first hurdle overcome! Our class was only half full and besides Tipper we had a Wheaton Terrier named "Logan" and a golden who's name escapes me but by our next class I will remember it. Once we entered our side of the room and got ourselves situated Tipper approached the instructor for a sniff and a pet. Another hurdle overcome. The 2 areas were separated by an ex pen covered by a tarp and someone knocked it down! Crash a loud sound and Tipper passed another phase of CGC without realizing it.
Lesson one was with the golden who likes to jump on people to greet them, but what dog doesn't? So the dog jumped on the instructor who's name is Kim. She took the dogs front paws in both hands and danced around with the dog until it wanted to get down. This was repeated 2 or 3 times. The fourth time the dog approached Kim she put out her hands with fingers spread and sure enough the dog did not jump!!!! Woo Hooo!
Lesson Two was to sit, sounds pretty simple, but not for my retired show dog. We tried every trick in the book but she wasn't going to put that butt on the floor. We finally resorted to scooping an arm around behind her butt and moving her backward with the collar. SUCCESS. The next part of class was getting our dogs to relax on a piece of carpet. Most training classes shape this behavior because it gives the dog the ability to chill out on his or her blanket no matter where they are. I have used the command "mat" or go to your mat but Kim uses "park it" which I love. Think about it.... You want your dog to chill and now you have the command "park it". By the end of class my show dog was parking her butt on that piece of carpet. A little cheese, some time and we had completed the first class. Now home and homework.

So like kids....

We have been blessed with some amazingly warm weather in November. The last few days have been on the 60's and so it's outside we go after all I know how soon the bad weather will be upon us and much of the crew at Sit Stay & Play will not relish the cold snowy winter. Austin and Margaux being the exception. So rather than running around playing in the huge pile of leaves I have raked they sit by the fence. Begging with sad eyes to go inside. Go figure.

Canine Good Citizen

My first experience with the CGC program was in 1992. I can't be sure but I think it was at the Dalmatian Club of America Show. The dog in question was CH Brookside's Four by Four affectionately known as "Dodger". In 1992 the title while supported by the American Kennel Club was not an official title, so while Dodger earned his title without the need for classes he was never allowed to use the CGC at the end of his name.
The nice thing about the CGC now is it gives the dog owner the opportunity to train their dogs to be good citizens. A CGC title is also required if you are ever interested in going further and getting a Therapy title on your dog. Regardless of titles training your dog is fun but lets face it without the knowledge that on Thursday night you dog may embarrass you in front of other people,training fall somewhere behind taking out the trash or raking the lawn. The CGC class combines temperament and some basic obedience and on my opinion provides your dog with a good balance of training. There are many people who dive into all the obedience classes offered but not my cup of tea. So let's talk about what a dog needs to do for their CGC title. Sit, Stay, walk on a loose lead, be approached by a strange dog and a stranger, not react to loud noise, be touched by a stranger and be left with a stranger without showing agitation.so you can see a blend of temperament and basic obedience. The course is 5 weeks long with the fifth week the actual test. Not a huge investment of time but time well spent.

Attaining your Canine Good Citizen Title

Tipper and I are starting a 5 week course to achieve her Canine Good Citizen Title or CGC. I thought it might be a fun blog for people to follow the weekly event because I can guarantee you it will make for some fun reading.

So the first post will be the history of the CGC, my first experience with the CGC. How to find a class and other info.
The second post will be our first class and so on.