Just for Fun: Games Designed to Practice for CGC

The following games were designed specifically to strengthen skills needed to pass the Canine Good Citizen Test (CGC).

(1) STAY GAME
Dogs sit in a line against one side of the ring. The instructor issues a challenge, dogs that fail to perform the challenge move to the opposite side of the ring, dogs that succeed are praised and participate in the next challenge. (Dogs that failed and moved to the opposite side of the ring are still encouraged to do the challenges even though they are no longer eligible to win).
Challenges:
(a) 5 seconds to down dog
(b) 5 seconds to sit dog
(c) sit dog / tell them stay/ step in front / 1 minute
(d) down dog / tell them stay / step in front / 1 minute
(e) 3 seconds to down dog
(f) 3 seconds to sit dog
(g) down dog/ tell them stay / step in front/ instructor walks around and in between dogs
(h) sit dog/ tell them stay / step in front / instructor walks around and touches each dog
(i) put leash on "dead ring" or buckle collar, sit dog /tell them stay/ step in front / pull forward on the leash
(j) down dog / tell them stay / step in front/ handler talks sweetly to dog "good dog" "nice" with out giving release word, dog should hold the stay.
(*) if more challenge is needed try: doing the above with out treats, pushing for faster sits and downs ~1 second, or moving further and further away from the dog, or even doing jumping jacks in front of the dog.

(2) DOG-GREET-DOG GAME
The class splits up into group of 2. They have ~5 minutes to practice doing dog-greet-dog with each other trying to get it perfect.
After practice each team gets two chances to do dog-greet-dog. If a tie needs to be broken teams should be reshuffled and new partners should demonstrate dog-greet-dog.

(3) LOOSE LEASH WALKING GAME
A square course is laid out. Side 1 of the course consists of 4 fly-ball poles or jump standards, which the teams are required to weave through, Side 2 of the course consists of 2 chairs oriented perpendicular to the path of the dog-handler, the team is required to make a figure 8 around the chairs, Side 3 of the course consists of 2 cones, the team is required to make a full right circle around the first cone and a full left circle around the second cone, Side 4 consists of 2 chalk lines, teams are required to down at the first chalk line and to sit at the second chalk line.
Teams begin with a perfect score, teams lose 1 point every time the leash becomes tight. Team with the highest score wins. You may divide the class into A, B & C (A - first time, B - this dog's first time but handler has CGC on another dog, C - this dog has CGC)

(4) RECALL GAME
The handler leaves the dog in a stay / walks away / turns around / and on the instructors cue, calls the dog. If the dog fails to come the team is eliminated. If the dog succeeds the team goes to the next round. Each round has a new progressively more tempting distraction.
(a) just a straight recall
(b) recall with a strange person standing in the way
(c) recall with toy on the ground
(d) with food on the ground
(e) with person walking across the path
(f) with strange dog standing in path (EXTREME CARE NEEDED)
(g) recall with handler facing away from the dog
(h) someone else calling the dog at the same time the handler does.

These Games cover all parts of the CGC except for the first 3 greeting exercises(which I suggest the teacher or assistants do with each dog individually during the other games), walking through a milling crowd(which is an attention-around-people exercise, and attention-around-people is tested in these games), reaction to distraction(which is a distraction exercise and distractions are tested in these games), and supervised separation which is mildly to very stressful for dogs and which I prefer to not make any more challenging for the dogs.
Enjoy.