E246: 헤더 로슨(Heather Lawson) - "모범 시민견(Canine Good Citizens)"

So it's a great opener, but most of all, it promotes good, responsible, um, dog ownership. Yeah. So what kind of things does the, kind of the original CGC test include? Um, the original CGC test, um, does include things like, um, meeting and greeting strangers. It includes, um, meeting and passing by, um, other dogs. It's, uh, basic grooming, touch, acceptance of strangers coming when called, reaction to distractions, such as a crowd or a bicycle going by or a stroller going by. How well does your dog, you know, deal with separation away from you? Um, so it's, it just covers pretty much basic, um, things that, that every dog should have, but don't always have. It also, one thing that, um, I like that it includes is it includes a responsible dog owner's pledge. And that actually makes it, makes the owners aware sometimes of the deep responsibility that they have when they bring a dog into their life. So for instance, some of the things on the, on the responsible dog ownership pledges will, will be responsible for my dog's health needs. And it lists, you know, routine veterinary care, adequate nutrition, daily exercise and, and regular grooming. Um, I will be responsible for my dog's safety. Um, in other words, providing fencing where appropriate. Um, they have some form of identification. So they get back to mom and dad, right. If they happen to get lost for whatever reason. Um, and basically the other one that really is important for me is I will not allow my dog to infringe on the rights of others. And in other words, run loose in a neighborhood, uh, be a nuisance to others while barking in the backyard, um, or the hotel room, right. Lots of people are traveling and they'd want to take their dogs with them. Um, and you know, you don't want your dog to be a problem in something like that, a public area like that, because it makes it hard for them other people to come along, um, pick up and properly dispose of their, their waste. Um, make sure that your dog is not interfering in, in the, you know, if you're out on the trails or anything like that, they're not hurting wildlife or doing anything like that. Um, and they're be responsible for the dog's quality of life. And that's a really important one for me because they, lots of people get a dog and they do the basic training and then that's it. They think, okay, we've gone puppy school and that's it. I don't have to do anymore. But really, yeah, you do because that actually keeps the dog stimulated and well-rounded and it's beneficial for all dogs of all ages.

You know, I remember when I had my old boy, you know, he would be wanting to be involved in the training with, with Piper and he'd be sitting on the sidelines and squiggling the squat and he wanted to be involved in it. Um, give your dog the attention and play time that they need. Uh, and that keeps that energy lower so that you can actually invite them in and be part of the family. Uh, they're not segregated to the backyard and understanding that owning a dog is a commitment in time and caring. Lots of people sometimes don't realize the amount of effort that it takes to have an animal in your life. And it's kind of like having a five-year-old for 10, 15, you know, sometimes even 20 years. And those animals rely on us to, to, to provide all those things that, you know, that they need in their life. And that's why that I'm glad that the, the, uh, AKC has that, uh, responsible dog owner pledge because it really makes people think about things. I like that for the test items. You know, how strict are the criteria here? Like, what are we talking, um, in terms of pass fail? Um, in terms of pass fail, um, the criteria is basically, so say for instance, uh, you were doing the, um, the out for a walk, um, you know, walking through a crowd and your dog kept lunging and biting out at people and kept running kind of, uh, was a little bit nervous and, and wouldn't go near that distraction or, or all of a sudden started barking at that kid who was, you know, wheeling the bicycle through. Um, that could be, that could constitute a fail. Um, if they, um, defecate in the ring while the test is being done, um, cause the CGC is done in a ring setting. Um, so if they were to defecate inside, that's a fail. The people, the participants that you need to pass all 10 exercises. You, it can't, you can't miss one exercise. It has to be a pass for each one of them. Um, so as long as your dog is not, you know, lunging and biting at people or doesn't show aggressive signs, um, that they are, um, not showing excessive fear, then you're pretty good to go. It's just, you know, it's, it's the, the evaluator has their criteria. Um, and luckily enough, there is a handbook for, um, participants to read up on it and what is required. So if you can meet that criteria, um, of that exercise, chances are you're going to pass. Right. So there's no, there's no real negatives. There's no real downside to it. Um, and you're training your dog in the process. Yeah. You mentioned kind of some of the more advanced, uh, levels to the CGC test. So do you want to just go into those a little more, show a little more about them? Yeah.

So we have the canine good citizen is the, is probably the one that the people refer to the most. That's the, that's the canine good citizen. There is, as I mentioned, the, the AKC star puppy program, and that's a test, but it, there's not really, um, it's just a test you pass, uh, for training. Um, and then you can go into the CGC and you get your certificates, but to move on from the, the regular CGC, um, you go into, you can either go into, um, the community, uh, this is a tongue twister always for me, community canine citizen tests. And that's, um, basically the CGC advanced. Um, and that, uh, along with the urban, um, CGC, those are the next levels, next more advanced levels. And they are done not in a ring setting. They're done in a real life setting. So there's a huge, big leap sometimes for people in, in that situation, because they're having to deal with everything that's going on around them as well. So if the dog was just barely skimping by, um, you know, it's having a little bit of difficulty in the CGC, you might want to do a little bit more training and a little bit more real life, uh, work before you attempt the other ones. Nothing to say that you couldn't, um, pass them, but it might be a little bit more difficult because there is more in the way of distraction. Uh, and then from there, uh, you can go into, as I said, the AKC trick dog, the therapy dog and so forth. Now the urban, uh, CGC is classified as a public access type of test. That can be a little bit misleading in that public access test. It has nothing to do with service dog testing. It has nothing to do with therapy dog testing or access. It does not mean that you can take your dog anywhere under any circumstance. All it is, is testing your dog's ability to maintain good behavior in the public buildings where dogs are allowed, uh, you know, cafes or restaurants and things like that. So that's what they mean by public access. If you pass the community canine good neighbor, a good citizen or the urban or the CGC, that does not give you the right to take your dog and insist that your dog can go anywhere. It is not an emotional support dog. It's not a therapy dog. It's not a service dog. So that's one key thing that people have to be aware of because a lot of people may try to say, well, I've got this certificate. It means I can go anywhere. And it certainly doesn't. In kind of your experience, Heather, which, which skills tend to be, you know, the hardest for, uh, most dog handler teams? Um, it depends, a lot of it depends on the age of the dog and the experience that they've had out in the, in the public.

Um, I would say probably because it's always been under the guise of socialization, people, um, often let their dogs meet and greet a lot of people, meet and greet a lot of dogs. And that can sometimes be a hindrance when you're doing this because your dog doesn't know how to be what we classify, what I classify as a neutral Nelly or neutral Ned. In other words, they see another person, they see another dog. Their first inclination is to rush out to that person or rush over to that dog. And that's not allowed, um, in these tests, they can show slight interest. They can, they can look towards the dog and maybe stretch their nose to get a, you know, a little sniff, but they're not to move towards the dog or the people. Um, they can show nice, easy, soft body movement, you know, and be accepting no problem, but they should not be over exuberant. And, um, you know, especially if the people walk away and the dog should not lunge out to, to go after the person or to get that sniff and that butt as it's at the dogs going by. Um, that along with loose leash walking, believe it or not, uh, is the bane of everybody's existence. I think even mine occasionally, um, it's, um, if there, if it's being done in a ring, it's not, that's not a, uh, so much of an issue because usually rings are fairly sanitized. They're clean and there's not much to, to check out. But when you then go to your community canine, you're out on the streets, you're out in a public area, you're out in a store, there's all kinds of other things to, to be distracting. So there, you've got that aspect of it. Um, and there's much more in the way of sounds and stimulization for some dogs that they just, if they're just, you know, the backyard family dog and they go to the odd soccer ball game or, you know, they go out on the trail or something, they don't spend much time in the city. Uh, and they haven't experienced, you know, like doors that open at the supermarket and close all on their own. You know, those kinds of things can be quite, um, traumatic for some dogs. So you have to make sure that, you know, if you're going on to something like those tests that you gradually introduce your dogs to the things that they haven't previously experienced. Right. So those are, would be my biggest things was the extra distraction and the loosely walking and the human and dog interaction. Are there things that, you know, handlers tend to do or, you know, not do for that matter, uh, during the test that can actually decrease their dog's chance of, of passing? Yeah.

If you're, um, evaluators are, are absolutely told to encourage people to talk to their dogs, to direct your dog, just because you're taking a test. And that, that word test really freezes a lot of people up. Um, you know, and they just don't want to, they, they, I can't do anything. What am I supposed to do? I, I don't do anything. So they don't do anything. They don't kind of help their dog through it. And you can certainly help your dog through it. Um, you cannot grab the dog as a correction. You cannot, um, you know, jerk your leash as a correction. Uh, you cannot harshly, um, command or reprimand your dog, uh, in any way. So that would be some of the, that would be, those would be the things that, you know, would be like, no, this isn't happening. Um, and you know, your evaluator would, would obviously speak up and just mention that, um, that that wasn't allowed. And that might, that would have been the reason why you failed. So as long as you're, you're upbeat, you're praising your dog, you can talk to them. You can ask them to sit, um, a couple of times. Um, if there's a refusal, then there's a refusal. And then that might not be a pass for you. Um, if you're say on a long line and you're doing the recall, if you have to turn around and reel your dog in with that line, you know, as you're going around in circle, it's like a lunging horse and yeah, that's not going to, that's not going to fly either. So, um, you know, you want to make sure that you're using your equipment properly, that, that the dogs are responding appropriately and that you are being kind and gentle with your dog and praising and helping them through it. So those are, you know, unless you're harsh, overly harsh and your dog is not performing, then, you know, it's pretty, I wouldn't say, I'm not going to say the word easy, but it's, it's a pretty basic thing, right? You should be able to do it. Yeah. Are there any limits to who can actually test for the various CGC titles? No, absolutely not. And that's the, the, the bonus of the, these certificates and these titles is that there is no, um, limits. Um, there it's pretty much all inclusive. So whether you have, uh, what we call it Canada, um, a canardly, you can hardly tell what it is, um, you know, a mixed breed or you have a purebred or anything like that. Those, any dog can participate and any human can participate. Um, so if the puppy, uh, if you have a puppy though, that is, um, below six months and you are testing, if the test is being held under the sanctions of an American kettle club, um,

event, then those rules and regulations of the, um, the AKC supersede the, uh, CGC requirements. And that means that, um, if I'm not mistaken, the dogs cannot be under six months of age in order to compete in obedience and rally and things like that. So your puppy, if they were say four months and you wanted to come to that show and do that test, you wouldn't be able to, because the dog was too young and the AKC supersedes the rules. So, um, if your dog is say perhaps a tripod missing a limb, they can participate. If they're 14, 15 or older, they can participate. You know, you can teach an old dog new tricks. So why not? Um, and it didn't used to be a title. Um, you used to only get a certificate, but now it's actually a title that you can attach to your dog's name and registration. So that's the fun part of it as well. So it's all inclusive, um, for, for basically everybody. If your dog can do those exercises, good on you. Go for it. Awesome. Can you talk a bit more about kind of what the training looks like to go from that original CGC test and the skills you kind of need for that to the more advanced levels and maybe, I don't know how to approach it. Okay. So as I mentioned earlier, the CGC takes a place in a very, uh, specific area, uh, a very, um, non real life situation. So it's usually in a ring or some setup that they, that they have, uh, for it. It can be done outdoors, uh, but generally they're done in a, in a ring format. Whereas when you get to the more advanced levels, they are done outside. So you need to be, um, you know, taking a look at whether or not you've actually done your training outdoors. If you've only done all of your training indoors or in a specific area and you haven't exposed your dog to some of these exercises, then you're going to have a difficult time in doing it. Um, say for instance, um, if we take a look at the, at the urban, um, the urban requires that your dog, you know, be able to cross a street and stay with you as you're crossing the street. And I don't know about you, but I've seen lots of people, the dog sits nicely at the side of the corner waiting for that light to change light changes. The human steps off the corner and boom, the dog is out in front of them. Racing to get to the other side. And that's generally because they're a little concerned with all the traffic going by. It's a little bit scary for them. So that type of training that you want to do with your dog is going to be, you have to focus on number one, you're loosely walking. Number two, getting your dog used to being in traffic and crossing those open spaces and

making sure that when you are crossing that your dog is towards the stopped vehicles versus the ones that are whizzing past. Because that's generally the whizzing past that bothers the dogs and makes them want to go. So there's that situation. Again, with the urban, you're going into public access into, into buildings. So providing the building is dog friendly, maybe your dog hasn't been on some of those nice shiny marble floors. So, you know, and you get to, you go through the door and you get off of that, that doorway carpet and all of a sudden your dog freezes and all four go out and they're not going to move. That's not going to, you're not going to do a pass on that one. Right. And if your dogs, you know, when you get out of the car, lots of people will get to wherever they're going. And generally, you know, if you're going on a hike or something with your dog, you open the crate door, boom, the dog is out and running and sniffing all over the place while you get your stuff. That's not going to work either. Your dogs have to be able to enter and exit the vehicle and wait to be invited out of the vehicle. They have to be under control once they leave the vehicle. So there's, you know, those types of exercises to do. There's also stairs. So for instance, you know, I've been in the hotel myself and my dog has gone up the stairs ahead of me mainly because I've told her to, because I needed her to pull me up the stairs. But generally we want the dogs to be walking with you up the stairs. You never know what's coming around a corner. And if your dog can't go up or down the stairs, that's going to be a hazard to people either coming up or down the stairs in addition to yourself as well. So you want to make sure that your dogs can go up and down stairs. At home, I've taught my dog Piper to stop on the, what do you call it? The landing? The landing. Yes. Thank you very much. It just went off my head. And now even to this day, I'll go down and she stops on the landing. I go down the bottom stairs. I turn around and say, okay, and she comes down and she's learned that she's, she's kept that. And that's actually, I appreciate that because if I've got things in my hands, I got to be able to go up and down stairs. And elevators, lots of dogs never get a chance to go in elevators. I travel a lot. So my dogs have to be able to go in an elevator. And lots of times people don't know how to do that. And they get in the elevator. And the first thing they do is they go down. Well, if you go down, what happens with that elevator is that elevator drops out from under the dog. They feel like they're dropping out.

And that's what freaks the dogs out. And they go belly on the, on the floor. Whereas, you know, different types of training techniques, you want to make sure that the, the dog is able to go in and to ride up and down easily. Um, and that they're not afraid that when the doors open and close that they're not charging out the doors. I mean, just the other day on the news, there was a lady that went through the elevator. She had her dog on an extended leash. She wasn't paying attention. She went through and this, this little, uh, it looked like a, a Maltese or something. Anyways, thank God the building superintendent was there because that dog was going up in the air and he let go of the, he got the dog off. Otherwise that dog would have been killed because the dog didn't go through the door right away and she didn't notice. So there's all these different types of things. And that's why this urban test is really good because it keeps you and makes you aware of things. Um, speaking of elevators, I remember the first time I went, um, I was down in Portland with one of my dogs and she was, uh, she's an old pro going up and down the elevator. Not a big, not a problem at all. Uh, she never bothered anybody coming in or out. No, all of a sudden we had a glass elevator. Well, she just looked out. It's a different story, huh? Totally different story. She looked at me and then looked out and then she sat and she was like, Hmm, I'm not too sure about this. But after going up and down a couple of times, so I watched her and we went up and down and up and down and then she was fine. She just actually went to the edge and she was watching the people go up and down, um, you know, at the floor. But I know that at some of the other conferences I've been to, you know, where they do have those dogs that are elevator savvy. All of a sudden there's like, Nope, they're putting on the brakes. I'm not going in because I don't feel safe. Right. So there's different things like that. Um, things like, um, you know, bikes and skateboards and, and lots of times you see, you know, we have generations where they're using walkers and things like that. And if you don't have somebody in your family that's got that, or, you know, you haven't been exposed to strollers or anything like that, that can be kind of daunting for, for some dogs as well. Um, even, even a bicycle case in point when I had, when I got my e-bike, got myself an e-bike and I got myself a dog trailer. So I had to do all the, all the specific, the training with, with Piper, um, so that she

would be used to the bike being around, uh, that she would then be able to be used to the bike moving and her being beside me. Um, and then also, um, being in the, the dog cart and me walking the, the, the bike and her not, you know, just sitting there with her head out watching it. And then us going on, on a bike ride. So we went through all those stages of training and that just, because she had all of the, the CGC type things behind her, it was a fairly easy, uh, fold up into being able to go on these bike rides with her in the trailer because she was already used to all of those things. So, you know, it just means that I can now take her more places. So the more your dogs have in the way of basics, um, in life skills, the more you could do with them. I want to talk specifically about the workshops for a second here. So, um, is there anything else you want to share maybe about the workshops themselves, information on kind of what you're going to cover, who should take the workshop? Um, there might be a sort of folks to know. Um, yeah. So anybody who's interested in doing more with your dog, um, should be taking them. Um, it's just another fun thing to do because sometimes we make big, huge assumptions about what our dogs are capable of doing. Um, and we just go ahead and do it. And then we wonder why we've got problems. So this, these, uh, workshops kind of give you an idea of the step-by-step things that you should be looking at to help your dog learn how to be a good community member without feeling, um, insecure and perhaps reactive in the situation. Um, the workshops that I'm doing are kind of a bit of a hybrid between a webinar and a workshop because simply because it is a, a testing format. It's not just here. We're going to, we're going to teach you this, you know, how to do a pivot or how to, you know, how to use a platform. Um, it's got so many different exercises, 10 out of each of the categories that what I've done is I've run through, outlined what each of the different certificates are. And the testing is all the exercises are there. And then we briefly take a look at maybe some of the ones that are the hardest. Now I do make assumptions within the workshops that there is some loose leash walking because I can't possibly, um, in that timeframe, um, address, you know, loose leash walking issues right from the start. Um, but I can certainly direct people to the right classes or the direction they should go. But, um, so for instance, in the part two, um, I did a little excerpt on elevators and then on how to get your dogs used to strange things.

Um, I remember when I had, um, Piper as a puppy, uh, she was born in the summertime, a really hot summer. We didn't have any rain. So of course I live in a, almost like a rain forest. We get a lot of rain in the fall. So I thought, Hmm, I can have problem. I might have problems with umbrellas. So I had to introduce her to, uh, to an umbrella opening and closing and moving around. And the, um, example that I've got in, in the, um, the workshop, it actually shows her reacting to, to the umbrella because I moved it a little bit too much and she did bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, and back into it again. Um, but after, as we worked through it, she had no problems with the umbrellas, but I had to do that to make sure that she understood that, yeah, there's going to be strange people with, with strange things. And our dogs, sometimes if they're born in certain times of the year, they don't, um, recognize the fact that we humans can morph into these things with sunglasses, with hats on, with, you know, big boots on big coats on, you know, and you're bundled all the way up to, you know, kingdom come. And then you've got umbrellas going and all the different kinds of things. And then you wonder why the dog is barking at you or being strange with you. Um, and why they're being strange with all of a sudden with people, uh, the general, the public, right. I get that question quite a lot. All of a sudden my dog's barking at all these people and, you know, the guy's just, he's just there with a, you know, with a hat on and he's walking by and it goes, ah, maybe he hasn't seen a hat before. Right. And it's, it's possible. Some dogs lead sheltered lives. So by doing that, you know, by addressing those types of things in the, in the workshop, um, and showing the different ways of how to have good elevator etiquette. Um, you know, and, and I even show, uh, one of the videos has me and my scarecrows. I had these, um, um, scarecrows from Walmart, from a fall display thing. And I thought, Hmm, I don't have any people around right now. So how can I make a grouping, um, with strange things on a strange thing? So I put these, stood them in a couple of cones and it was a bonus was I had a group of people. I had strange looking people and I had the wind that was going that actually made things move. So if there was going to be any concern, it was going to show up right away in that natural home setting. So there's lots of things that, you know, that we're going through, but we're just, I'm picking the, the exercises that are maybe the most difficult for people in that respect

and showing them how they can go about working through them. Um, and, um, I'm being extra generous in that I'm giving it's rather than the usual 90, um, second videos that are, um, for workshops that are, are submitted. I allow up to three minutes, uh, and three exercises. So if you're having difficulty with three particular exercises, you have three one minute videos that you can submit or, um, you know, one three minute video with one exercise is totally up to the handler's choice. So you don't have to follow exactly what it is, but you read through the exercises and say, Hmm, yeah, I've tried these. And this is where my problem is. This is what I'm doing. How can I get, how can I make it easier for my dog? Right. So, so that's the difference between it's a hybrid workshop webinar, right? So fair enough. Um, so to kind of round out our conversation today, I got one last question for you here, which is if we were to kind of drill down all the stuff we've been talking about and, you know, one key takeaway or one key piece of information you really want listeners to understand or kind of walk away from this with, um, what would that be? It would be to cherish what your animals, uh, can bring to your life and take responsibility for their mental wellbeing, as well as their physical wellbeing, get them trained, do your job as an individual and help your dog succeed and be good community canines so that, um, you can take your dog more places. If it's a pleasure, if your dog is well trained, you know, to the best of your ability. And if, if you don't have the ability to do it, seek it out by all means, seek out trainers that can help you. Or if you go onto the, the, uh, American kennel club, they have a list of evaluators and, and clubs and so forth that, that offer the types of training that would get you through, um, by training your, your animal, you're giving them that security to, to navigate the human world. And if they're comfortable, you're going to be comfortable and it's going to be a pleasure to take them with you wherever you go. So for me, that's what I want to do because lots of us have dogs and we might do a lot of sports with them and we've, we're training and training and training, training, all these different things that we want them to do. But then we kind of miss that, um, actual life skill background area, that training that we need and then our dogs become a little bit difficult to live with and frustrating. And we want them to be able to, to settle and to be comfortable in their home when they're retired.

And by giving them that previous training, um, they've got that to fall back on. And then their old age, um, is more comfortable and they're more secure. So it's, it's basic responsible ownership, building that bond through training and making sure they have a great life. That they have the skills to fall back on. Yeah. Yeah. Cause navigating through the human world is, is hard enough even for humans, let alone our, let alone our dogs. Right. And if you can imagine even now with, with everything that's going on in the last few years in, in the world, uh, our dogs have had a pretty, you know, they've been pretty good cause they not only read our body language better than we read, you know, our own kinds body language, but they're also having to deal with, you know, masks and different types of things and, and, you know, going away from you with on your vet visit. So, you know, those are being separated in situations like that. So if your dog has all those skills and they're able to, to, to fall back and use them, it makes their life so much better in cases of emergency or, or situations where, you know, things aren't normal right now. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Heather. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Sorry for the bark in the back. My dog just got home from the dog walkers. Oh, no worries. She just wanted to say hi before we got off. That's all. Yeah, that's it. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. We will be back next week with Jake Snyder to talk about bitey dog things. If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. Today's show is brought to you by the Fendi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fendi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty free by bensound.com. The track featured here is called Buddy. Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. Thanks again for tuning in and happy training. Thank you. Thank you.