Barbie passed her CGC with flying colours today, along with two other dogs - Poppy (Staffordshire Bull Terrier) and Bowie (Cav King Charles Spaniel x Toy Poodle). An Honorable mention goes to Kumo the Japanese Spitz, who didn't quite pass today , but I'm sure he will next time!
As Barbie and I did all the facets of the test first, Barbie is the first dog in Western Australia to pass the Canine Good Citizen qualification. I expect there will be an article in the Greyhounds As Pets newsletter. One I don't have to write!
We all did our Level 1 and Level 2 courses together and it is amazing seeing what everyone has achieved with their dogs. Poppy is the calmest Staffy I have ever met now - though when we first met her in level 1 class she was the kind of dog who would try and jump up to lick your face. Bowie is a really smart and lovely little fella, and never really seemed to have much trouble with the test requirements (except for supervised separation), and Kumo just needs a bit more doggie confidence. Barbie's weakness is anything that requires her to hold a 'sit' so we had to repeat the 'sit and wait in the doorway' exercise, and the 'sit and accept pats from a friendly stranger'. Something that she was disadvantaged at because she doesn't like to sit (yes, she can do it, but it just takes more effort to hold herself in that position than it does for other dogs)! I was very impressed with her performance with everything else though.
I am really happy with the way she handled the situation (spending all morning, running each of the dogs through the 12 parts of the test, one at a time), and how she chilled out and relaxed on her blankie between exercises. Conserving energy is important!
Anyway a big shout out to Billy's Doggie Daycare for providing the venue and volunteers, to Desma's Dog Training for going the whole way with this CGC thing, and Leslie from Good Manners for being our independent assessor.
