Parts of the CGC and ways to practice them

Below I have listed all 10 parts of the CGC (canine good citizen test) and ways to practice them.

There is more detailed info at www.akc.org if you are interested (type cgc in search line).

Every dog has the ability to pass the CGC. But of course the test is not the main goal -- by practicing -- you will solidify your dogs performance of each of these exercises. You want to work towards being able to add distractions and different settings so that your dog doesn't just behave nicely in the dog training club building but will behave nicely ANYWHERE. That is after all the whole point of dog training.

Part 1: Accepting a friendly stranger -- Sit your dog on your left, tell them to stay, the evaluator (friendly stranger) will approach you, shake your hand, walk around you. Your dog must maintain the stay position.

Part 2: Sitting politely for petting -- Sit your dog on your left, tell them to stay, the evaluator will approach you, and pet your dog. Your dog does not have to stay sitting but they can't jump on the evaluator.

Part 3: Appearance and grooming -- Sit your dog on your left, tell them to stay, the evaluator will approach and touch your dog's ears and feet. Your dog does not have to stay sitting but they can't jump on the evaluator.

TO PRACTICE::::: To practice the first 3 parts have as many people as you can pet your dog and touch their ears/feet while your dog maintains a sit/stay on your left. You can try this with friends that come to visit you, but strangers work better. Also asking your dog to this when someone comes to your house adds a additional element of dog-welcoming-person-into-their-home to the exercise, which is great, but at least initially it may be better to practice in a neutral place, any big pet food chain store that allows dogs will do.

Part 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead) --- You with your dog on your left and a loose lead in between you will walk a heel pattern. This will be the L shaped heel pattern - it will consist of a left turn, a right turn, an about turn, and a halt.

TO PRACTICE:::: Add more distractions to your loose leash walking. While walking your dog choose a half-a-block section and ask for a nice loose leash walk. If your dog does a good job repeat on your next walk. If not, ask for another nice heel a few blocks later. When I first teach my dogs to walk on a loose leash, I walk them up and down my drive way and the sidewalk in front of my house (the neighbors think I nuts) for about 15 minutes per day. It usually takes them about a week to really understand it.

Part 5: Walking through a crowd -- You with your dog on your left and a nice loose leash between you, will walk out and back across the ring while a group of people walk around. Your dog cannot jump on the people or pull (a lot) on the leash.

TO PRACTICE:::: Again any big dog food chain store, or any other decently crowded place that allows dogs (farmer's market is a good one in the spring). Walk your dog through and around people, maintain your dogs attention on you and on walking with a loose leash. Reward every little success. This is a new distraction so go back to rewarding the little steps.

Part 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place -- You will ask your dog to sit, you will ask your dog to down, from either the sit or the down you will ask your dog to stay and you will walk out 20ft and return back to heel position (standing to the right of your dog).

TO PRACTICE ::: If you have not done so already make sure your dog will sit and down w/o a food lure and on the first command. To practice the stay ask your dog to sit or down ask them to stay and work towards being able to leave the room and returning right back. If your dog can do this they should do fine on the test. You can repeat stay if you need to throughout this exercise.

Part 7: Coming when called --- From either the sit or stay position you will tell your dog to stay, you will walk 10ft away, turn around, and call your dog. Your dog doesn't have to sit when they come to you but they do have to come close enough that you can touch their collar.

TO PRACTICE:::: Call your dog all the time. From across the yard, from one room to another. Only call them for good reasons.

Part 8: Reaction to another dog -- You and your dog will be on one side of the ring on the other side will be another dog and handler. You and the other handler will walk toward each other, shake hands, and walk away. Your dog may not cross they plane of your body.

TO PRACTICE::: If your dog pulls toward other dogs when you are on a walk than you can use that to practice. When you see a dog coming ask for your dogs attention and try to walk him calmly past the other dog. You don't have to shake the persons hand or even be on the same side of the street, as long as your dog is distracted by the other dog you will have a chance to practice. Otherwise find a friend and practice with them -- different dogs are ideal but everything helps your dog get the idea of what you want them to do.

Part 9: Reaction to distraction -- Your dog will be sitting on your left hands side, someone will walk around you will a bag of cans, someone else will walk around with crutches. Your dog can show mild interest but they can't run towards or away from the distractions.

TO PRACTICE::: This is when your "watch me" and "leave it" commands will be very useful.
Remember we taught "watch me" by (1) holding treat at our eye, when dog looked into our eyes, we labeled that moment with "watch me" (2) holding treat away at arm length and asking dog to "watch me" when they looked into our eyes we gave them treat (3) without treat in sight asking for prolonged "watch me" from our dog ... asking them for longer than a glance but to actually spend some time watching.
Remember we taught "leave it" by (1) holding a piece of food in our closed hand, when the dog stopped trying to get the food out of our hand, we labeled that moment with "leave it" (2) holding food out in an open hand toward the dog and asking them to leave it, when the dog leaves it we reward that (3) putting a piece of food on the ground and walking around it with our dog -- when the dog looks at it we ask them to "leave it" we reward the dog turning back toward us (you can facilitate this by physically circling away for the food or popping your dog away from the food). So please work on "watch me" and "leave it".

Part 10: Supervised separation -- Your dog will stay in the kitchen for 3 minutes with a person who will pet and talk to them. The dog cannot show any visible signs of distress.

TO PRACTICE:::: This is a stressful exercise. I don't like to practice it. However you can ask your dog to remain with a friend in one room and have the friend feed them while you briefly disappear into another room only to reappear a moment later so that your dog starts to think of this as a good situation. You can even label this situation with a word if you like, and use that word on the CGC.

Remember that none of these exercises are natural to your dog. Dogs do not see the point of any of these behaviors. They are not trying to do them wrong they just don't understand what you want -- or where the boundaries of the behaviors lie. Please be patient and sweet with them. You have to spend a little time practicing every day in order for your dog to figure out what you want, otherwise you are not being fair to them.

Have fun practicing.