Three times a year at Dogmata we host the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen class. The eight week course is held every January, April & September. Each class is attended by a maximum of ten K-9 & human teams . Apart from obtaining the AKC's Canine Good Citizen title, our goal is for each human to better understand their canine partner by creating and building a bond through leadership, respect with emphasis on canine behavior & communication .
We begin every class with this statement:
"We've never NOT passed a dog. "
We say this to establish that every dog already has the ability to pass with the right human. A human that believes in exercise, combined with discipline & consistency then affection/reward. We tell everyone that in order to succeed, they must take what they learn from each class and apply it to the real world. That means spending a minimum of 40 minutes to an hour walking your dog every day, then returning home and doing 5 to 7 minutes of training. Then we can provide affection (food, toys, human love) but still maintain the rules, boundaries, and obedience that is provided every Saturday.
Regardless of this fact, we always have some humans who refuse to accept it and inevitably end up blaming their dog and giving up. We figured it was human nature and believed it was bound to happen with at least one person in every class.
That is until the Class of September 2016 began their first day at 8:00am on the 10th. Hands down, this class was comprised of the most dedicated, hard working handlers we've ever had the pleasure of working alongside. Each Saturday we had the joy of hearing what each team did during the week and how they had improved from the last session. By week five, EVERYONE had successfully passed their Canine Good Citizen and, because of that feat, the last three weeks were devoted towards training for the Community Canine. By the end of the eight weeks we had 100% of the class titled canine good citizens (CGC) and six titled community canines (CGCA).
We are beyond proud of everyone in this group and want to thank them for proving that there are still true dog lovers in the world.
Please enjoy this gallery of photos taken during the September 2016 class' first outing to Tractor Supply in pursuit of the Community Canine title. During this session, canines had to enter the store in a controlled manner, wait patiently beside their handler while they fill out paperwork, walk on a loose leash without pulling as the handler maneuvers around the store, ignore a food distraction, sit and stay in a group comprised of three other handlers and their dogs, be approached by a stranger with a large bag, sit or down stay with the handler going out of sight, and successfully recall back to their handler with distractions present.
We would also like to sincerely thank Dane, the manager at Tractor Supply, and his staff for always welcoming Dogmata & our pack with open arms and helping to contribute to our training.
