Al:  Canine Good Citizen

On August 21, 2004 Al earned his Canine Good Citizen Title. 

We did it on the spur of the moment (Almost).  I was told about the test being conducted at the Agility trial that we were going to participate in, so I read up about the test, and decided the night before the trial to brush Al for the first time in his life.  It went OK, and the morning of the trial, he actually laid on his back and enjoyed the sensation of a Baby Brush being dragged over his hide.  He liked it.

After his first Agility run for the day I walked him over to the Test and we filed out the paper work and totally unprepared, we went out for the test. 

The first evaluator was to give the what I predicted to be the hardest part of the test.  Al after watching me greet a stranger was to sit and allow the stranger to handle his ears, his feet, and allow the stranger to pet him, and also brush him.  The evaluator made this hard for Al.  When she reached to pet him, he stood up from a sit and started to back away from her when she reached over his head with her hand.  She was in a standing position, so her body was over top of him.  Al didn't do what could easily have happened, which was to let her know that you don't reach over my head until I know you.  But he did stand up which the evaluator didn't like.  Al did let her brush him, and touch his ears and feet.  After a few minutes it was decided that Al was steady enough with strangers that he posed no threat! 

I was a little horrified by the way the evaluator approached him because I was told that they were going to do it in a friendly manner, and she was neither friendly to me or to Al and she had bad manners, because she didn't let him approach her first.  Anyway we passed that part of the test.

The rest of the evaluations went perfectly.  Al walked on a loose leash.  He stopped, turned, sat, heeled, stayed in a sit, stayed in a down, and came when I called him.  Next I had to walk him in a group of three people.  One with a geriatric walker, another with an umbrella that she kept opening, and a third person with stuff that she kept dropping.  No problems there either.  The last test was the separation test, and Al was left with a stranger on his leash , and I was to disappear for 3 minutes.  This could have been stressful for him, but he seemed to settle in (according to observers) after the initial realization that I was gone. He was wondering where I had gone though, but he didn't bark or pull on the leash.  He was very happy to see me reappear.   He passed all the tests.

The end result was that Al earned his Canine Good Citizen Title.  Which is kind of meaningless, except if we are ever forced into an emergency/evacuation shelter.  Apparently, if your dog has it's CGC you can bring them into the shelter with you.  Otherwise, they have to fend on their own.  That would never happen though, because I'd never leave Al outside if there were an emergency.

Also, Al (Heaven Forbid) could be shown to be an obedient and well trained dog because of this certificate, if he ever got in trouble with someone who claimed he was "vicious".