Passed Canine Good Neighbour

[Longblades]

Yay. I didn't think PuppyBoy (9 and half months Black Lab) was ready but the test was close by and it was good practise. Much to my surprise we were passed. Our buddy from CGN preparedness class also passed. Yay us. What a good puppy.

[jessi76]

YAYYYYYY congrats!!!!! at 9 1/2 mths too! that's great!

my dog got his CGC (canine good citizenship) later than that, he was no where near ready at that age!

[hazelrunpack]

congratulations!

That's quite an accomplishment at that age...especially considering the irrepressibility of labs! Good job!

[Lissa]

Wonderful and I agree - pretty amazing to pass at that age!!!!!

So what was the most challenging part for you? Were you worried about a particular exercise that in the end went smoothly?

[Longblades]

Thank you all. I am pretty pleased with the wee man. He had been doing all of the tests very well in practise, just not every one every time.

And the reason I was surprised to pass was, he jumped up on me at the end of the stay/recall - but the tester said it was only her he should not jump up on.

I got him really reved up in the excitement test and he took a bit longer than his test mate to calm down but he did calm down.

And in my biggest concern, meeting the friendly dog and stranger, he didn't even attempt to meet either of them because he was captivated by a pee deposit left by a departing dog from the previous test group. I thought they would have moved us away from that pee. But the evaluator said the point of the test is my dog should not show untoward, uncontrollable aggression (or affection, he's not neutered ) to the other dog and he didn't.

One funny thing was, during the supervised isolation all the husky breeds at the dog show set up a group howl. Oban's never heard howling before and I thought he would react somehow but he just sat and cocked his head and listened. Oh, he is such a good boy.

[allymack]

congrats! thats a great accomplishment, especially so young!

[Ford Girl]

Awww, good boy Puppy Boy!!!! That is amazing!!!

I think we need to see some pics of him so we can see how smart he is.

[Lissa]

Originally Posted by Longblades

And the reason I was surprised to pass was, he jumped up on me at the end of the stay/recall - but the tester said it was only her he should not jump up on.

I suppose all the testers interpret the rules differently...my trainer always said that if you "ask/encourage" the dog to jump up its fine... just not okay if the dog launches himself at the friendly stranger

Originally Posted by Longblades

I got him really reved up in the excitement test and he took a bit longer than his test mate to calm down but he did calm down.

My dog makes me look like a meanie - when I try and "rev" him up with praise, he just looks at me like I am nuts and maintains an appropriate distance until I become sane again

Originally Posted by Longblades

And in my biggest concern, meeting the friendly dog and stranger, he didn't even attempt to meet either of them because he was captivated by a pee deposit left by a departing dog from the previous test group.

Thank goodness for pee spots

Originally Posted by Longblades

Oban's never heard howling before and I thought he would react somehow but he just sat and cocked his head and listened. Oh, he is such a good boy.

Talk about a distraction! Definately a GOOD boy!

[Longblades]

I think we had a very lenient evaluator. I did not expect a pass. Our buddy, who also passed, was also surprised, especially as he had been deemed "not ready" with another dog a few weeks earlier.

Interpretation by the evaluator must be fairly loose. I heard all kinds of contradictory things before going. You can use treats, you can't use treats, you can take the treats in with you but not use them, you can't take them in with you at all. We were allowed to take treats in but not use them. The supervised isolation I thought had to be a down but we were allowed any calm position. The grooming I thought had to be a stand but our evaluator allowed a sit. The test says you can pet your dog but my buddy was faulted for putting his hand on his dog in his test a few weeks ago. And I heard you could not say the ubiquitous ach, ach, most of us use in training. I don't know about that last one but it seems nonsensical if you are allowed to talk to your dog.

[ThorsMalMom]

congratulations!!!
we're hoping to get our 10 month old Malamute, Thor, to take the test just after his first birthday in December. We have a little more work to do in the pulling area and he is a little reluctant to "wait" sometimes.
Any more info you could offer up on the test would be a great help!!

[Longblades]

Just practise, practise, practise. That said, we did hit a few dry spells of poor performance in our CGN class and then I gave him a holiday of walks and outings with no training for a few days. Everyone gets a break at work and puppies probably need one more than most. Just my personal theory but it worked for us.