# Preparing for the CGC



## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

OK guys.... so we are preparing for the next local CGC test ( a local police officer/PSA trainer is the evaluator). We have most of it down pretty good, but have a few questions, and looking for advice...

I personally do not use a prong for much strong correction, but Cullen KNOWS when it is on. I have always allowed him to self correct so that I am not being dragged around by my monster  but he now knows, and when it is on, he is good and walks at a 'FUSS" when told, and otherwise on a loose lead or right at the end without pulling... 1st- how do I switch him over, since I cannot use a prong in the CGC? and 2 - where exactly will he need to be walking during the test!

Also... the seperation thing... does he have to completely pretend that I am not going away? Normally he will whine or bark at first, but if the person shows him some kind of attention ( a pat on the head) he calms down, but he will NOT heel or obey anyone but myself...


and last.... the meeting people and dogs.. with people, with a soft correction or being told to sit, he is good... but he is told firmly as in the manner we would do in Schutzhund, but with dogs is our problem. Not at all dog aggressive, but the neighbor's off leash dog attacked him once and ever since, anything resembling a golden retriever gets to him ( he doesn't run, no hackles, no pulling away, but he bares teeth, growls, and acts nasty). Any other dog ( even tiny ones) he gets SOOOO excited.. ears go back, tail turns into a helicopter, and he MUST.. and I mean MUST run around and try to play

So any advice would be great. I do not have an E collar as it just isn't in my budget to get a good one, I have.... flats, a chain/nylon martingale, and a prong!!!!


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## cshepherd9 (Feb 11, 2010)

So this is from my experience only. I imagine all evaluators are different and look at things a certain way.

1) I also trained Willow on a prong before we took the test so this worried me as well. However, she does know how to walk on lead and I am sure Cullen knows too, he just doesn't realize it without the prong . We took a class before the test so I did this in the class during down time. You can practice around the house or wherever. When transitioning to the buckle collar I kept her on a short lead and if she got too far in front of me I just stopped. We didn't move forward until she moved back to me. When we were in the class I would also walk her back and forth and change my direction and ensured she had to pay attention to where I was going. The good thing about CGC is that the dog doesn't have to be in classic heel position. The evaluator is just looking to make sure you have control of your dog and it is not dragging you across the room

2) Separation - again depends on the evaluator but there were some dogs there that had some moments of barking or whining but if the dog settled down then they passes. The helpers there that watched the dogs would talk to the dog and pet them. They didn't give the dogs any commands so I don't think you need to worry about Cullen not obeying them.

3) Dog meet/greet - our biggest challenge too!! Willow is dog reactive but she is much better indoors (where we took the test) than she is outside so this helped us a bit. So Willow did bark when they brought the dog into the room but once she settled she too wanted to go meet dog in excited manner. I was allowed to put her by my side and, I guess the word would be "force" her into a sit. I did have to put my hand on her butt and push it to the ground. Once I got her into a sit then we greeted the other handler and moved on. As for practicing it, like I said I took the class so this was an excercise that we practiced every week leading up to the test. We would get in groups of 3 and all of us had to get our dogs in a sit and we would talk for a bit then separate and go back again. Needless to say, Willow did this much better in the class than she did during the test 

Hope this helps.


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## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

1st- how do I switch him over, since I cannot use a prong in the CGC? and 2 - where exactly will he need to be walking during the test!

Start practicing now with a regular collar(only type allowed). I had Sage heel since it was easier. The evaluator will have a pre determined course. You will have to turn and stop with the dog not pulling you around.

Also... the seperation thing... does he have to completely pretend that I am not going away? Normally he will whine or bark at first, but if the person shows him some kind of attention ( a pat on the head) he calms down, but he will NOT heel or obey anyone but myself...

The evaluator can pet your dog if you instruct them to. My evaluator allowed some whining. She knew the breed and knew what was normal and not excessive for a GSD compared to say a Golden. Your dog does not have to be fine (not care at all you are gone) but cannot be pulling or excessively making noise. You can even put your dog in a stay and instruct the evaluator not to disturb the dog --We failed this portion of the test and are still working on it :crazy:

and last.... the meeting people and dogs.. 

This took a TON of work for us in our CGC prep class. Sage is fearful. He had a hard time not checking out people approaching us for the meet and greet (where he has to stay put). You are allowed to repeat commands and talk to your dog . I did give reminders "stay" "stay" "good" "good" while the person was nearing us. That combined with a TON of practice and it worked.

For the meeting with dogs. When we came into class before the test Sage was reacting to the distraction dog big time. But by time we had started the test and he got into work mode he was fine. It was not as formal as I expected. We quickly walked towards each other with dogs on opposite sides said hello and shook hands then walked away. I'm not even sure if Sage noticed the other dog.

There are many threads here with CGC advice you should check out. Good luck!


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## VomBlack (May 23, 2009)

When Odin and I took the CGC I had been using mostly a prong, for the week before the test I had him on his regular collar and just practiced the best I could beforehand, it doesn't have to be 100%, as long as it looks like you've got control over your dog and they're not all over pulling. I was the most nervous about this part but you're able to keep talking to your dog if needed.

For the separation I had put Odin in a sit-stay and the person holding his leash moved him after. :crazy: He whined a little here and there but we passed.

For the dog portion we had the option of either having the other handler/dog staying put or walking toward us as we walked forward, I opted to have them stationary and we walked past, said hello, and kept going. for Odin is the other dog is neutral he doesn't pay much more attention than offering a sniff. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.


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## cshepherd9 (Feb 11, 2010)

Yes, Brandi brings up a good point that I forgot. TALK TO YOUR DOG!! You are allowed to repeat commands, give praise, etc.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

Awesome guys, thanks. I did talk to someone I know that is associated with the same training program that the CGC evaluator teaches. She told me that a lot of it was because of the way they trained at our Schutzhnd Club ( which we have stopped, and now persuing search and rescue or just tracking for the moment). There was a lot of prong and forcing. Cullen HATES when we put the prong on, so she also said to either leave the prong on but don't use it, so that he gets used to it being there without relying on it and should be able to take it off, and she also told us we should backtrack to square one and fine tune the obedience which should help! I can't wait to start putting titles on him, I don't care how major or minor, just so I can keep him busy... !!! I will follow all of your advice, we are going to start changing a few things ( heat index over 1-5 until the weekend, so relaxing indoors, but going to try to get a track in late or early AM, and get some obedience in there!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Stosh was also on a prong for the course before we took the test, so to transition him over I put a flat buckle collar on him in the same position on his neck and fairly snug so he could feel it there. Seemed to work well because he passed! And the fact that it was 100 degrees didn't hurt either- he didn't have much ambition to misbehave. Good luck!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I don't know about the prong thing, as I do not use them. But the separation thing, I would teach the dog a down stay first in view, and build up the time to about five or seven minutes. Then start out of sight down stays, and build up the time. 

Next employ a friend, and do a down stay, hand her the leash and walk away coming back in a minute. Do this a number of times and build up to five minutes. Always praise only after you release them from the down stay. That way, you are in control of the leash, and if your dog gets all excited, it will be after the exercise is complete.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

Thanks you guys  I was thinking I should use the wide buckle collar, and put it on snug? We shall see how this works... again, it's so hot out, he doesn't even want to walk out the door, so we will give him a break, maybe take him out around 5 AM to do some work!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I always use a martingale for the CGC. But I had to use a flat or round collar for Rushie's TDI, so I bought a round one. I keep flats for all my dogs, they have their tags on them. I do not think you can have tags on the collar for the CGC. Could be wrong though, I know you can't in Rally or Obedience.

I think that with prongs and collars, large does not necessarily give you better control. I usually use a small collar or martingale, 3/4 inch on my adult females, 1/2 inch I my young females -- Joy's is a 1/2 or 5/16" nylon job that matches her martingale. My martingale is very thin and round, I have one that is all chain and that is very small too. My collar for the boy's were 1 inch leather.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

Yes, Cullen wears a 1" leather normally, but no metter the tightness, it ruins his coat!!!!! So we have a gate between the largest part of the house and the front door that we can slide, and when he goes out, the collar gets put on. We do, though, have 2 inch collars for protection work, but when trying to 'correct' he does better with that than the thin one, that is all.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Ok, my 3/4 and 1 inch collars are lined with deer skin, so pretty soft, but I still take them off of them and only use them when we are heading off the property. 

You might want to use a different collar type for CGC work than protection work, not sure. We try to use a different collar for conformation than for Rally/Obedience. The dog gets it that this is a different ball of wax.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

VaBeachFamily said:


> 1st- how do I switch him over, since I cannot use a prong in the CGC? and 2 - where exactly will he need to be walking during the test!


How much time do you have before the test? I took a CGC prep class with Halo that was 7 weeks - first week was orientation without the dogs, where we went over the elements of the test, 5 weeks of practice, and then the final night was the test. Because I knew that I couldn't use any kind of training device (normally in classes I was using a front hook Sense-ation harness because corrective collars were not allowed in any of the classes I took), I used her flat collar in the class and for all the training at home and out in public between classes. I didn't want to have to worry about training her in something that I would have to transition her off of for the test. If I were you, I do that right now - start doing all your work in a flat or martingale collar, and practice, practice, practice. You do not need a perfect heel, you just need to have your dog on a loose leash and demonstrate that he's under your control. 



> Also... the seperation thing... does he have to completely pretend that I am not going away? Normally he will whine or bark at first, but if the person shows him some kind of attention ( a pat on the head) he calms down, but he will NOT heel or obey anyone but myself...


If he's obviously stressed and anxious or barking or whining uncontrollably, you'll fail. But as others have mentioned, the person holding your dog can interact with him by talking to him or petting him. He will not need to stay in any particular position, such as a down stay, but some people choose to train it that way. In our class they stressed that it's a good idea to overtrain beyond what the test requires so you'll be that much more prepared. 



> and last.... the meeting people and dogs.. with people, with a soft correction or being told to sit, he is good... but he is told firmly as in the manner we would do in Schutzhund, but with dogs is our problem. Not at all dog aggressive, but the neighbor's off leash dog attacked him once and ever since, anything resembling a golden retriever gets to him ( he doesn't run, no hackles, no pulling away, but he bares teeth, growls, and acts nasty). Any other dog ( even tiny ones) he gets SOOOO excited.. ears go back, tail turns into a helicopter, and he MUST.. and I mean MUST run around and try to play


You will not be allowed to do a collar correction but you can talk to him, and encourage him to stay engaged with you using praise. You can also body block if necessary. When we worked on the dog/dog greeting in class I'd stop and rotate into Halo slightly as I told her to sit so she couldn't cross over in front of me to meet the other dog, and then I'd step back. You only need to be close enough to the other person and dog to shake hands, and that can be at arms length, you don't have to be face to face. And you can actually look at your dog the entire time, you don't need to have your attention on the person.


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## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

We took the test using the nylon choker we had used the whole training class. A martingale would be the next best thing.

We also had a slight separation issue. I just had to work on it. I would just practice leaving him. He would cry at first but the crying and whining would get less and less. I would only return when he had been quiet for a few minutes. The evaluator is NOT supposed to touch your dog or redirect it's attention. "Evaluators may talk to the dog but should not engage in excessive talking, petting, or management attempts (e.g, "there, there, it's alright")."

As for the dogs, honestly I would find a well behaved/trained golden and work on the behavior modification with that as your distraction dog. Over excitement or aggression towards another dog during the test is a fail. Reaction to another dog "The dogs should show no more than casual interest in each other. Neither dog should go to the other dog or its handler."

This takes practice and a STRONG "leave it" command if your dog wants to play with or becomes slightly aggressive towards dogs. 

Good luck, all evaluators are different. The evaluator I had in Florida was tough, the evaluator up here in Massachusetts was in between, she gave in to account the standards of each breed. We passed our first time for both Onyx and Sonar. We are working on our TDI now.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

I will give my friend a call about the next CGC... I think we have about 3 months, I believe he does testing twice a year!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i've been thinking about the CGC lately. my dog is 4 yrs old.
i think i'm going to make an appointment on Monday.
we're going for it trained as is. thanks for the push.
good luck to you and the dog.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

It is finally a bit cooler, so I put the prong on Cullen, but walked him on his flat 1" leather, and he was pretty good for a while, only slightly pulling to sniff certain things he felt the need to pee on.... but I would give a verbal command and he would come right back, it was the very end of the walk that he realized it was the wrong collar and tried to drag me down the street, to which I rehooked to the prong and immediately stopped the problem. Guess Iw ill just have to practice... and he didn't really acknowledge the other dogs as we were walking, but good lord the bunnies!!!!!


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