# Bails got his CGC tonight :)



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

I'm so happy to say Bails passed his CGC tonight. 

It was actually harder than I thought it might be.

It was a two hour affair. They were also doing TDI testing, so we were all mixed together. We had to do _most_ everything the TDI testers did. 

There were A LOT of dogs there for this, spread out in three rings. Lots of commotion. 

He was one of the youngest dogs there, which surprised me. 

He didn't do well with the touching. He backed away as the woman reached over his head. She said, ok that's enough and we went on.

He had to be re-tested on that part later. Maybe he didn't like her, or the way she kneeled or something? but the others (3 of them!) that came to him received a much happier response. 

They were super thorough people. After his initial backing away, it was like they wanted to make *sure* he didn't do it again. In fact 2 of the 3 also had him sit, shake, high five. Touched his paws, ears, tail. He didn't care when they did it -- just not that one particular person. He has always taken a little time to warm up to people. 

I wasn't very worried about the separation, because we practiced in class, but he didn't do the greatest job there. He'd sit for 30 seconds, pace a little, even whined a bit. Sit again. Lay down. He did appear restless, I was watching. Wasn't horrible, didn't bark, jump or any of that, but could've done better.

I worried A LOT about the distractions, but that didn't even phase him. They had a child, about an 8 year old boy, run the length of the three rings twice, screaming in his highest pitch voice! Bailey's ears pricked up and he was watching, but that was it. Then they threw stainless steel type food bowls on the mat directly behind the dogs repeatedly, making racket. Not a problem. There were people using walkers, a wheelchair and a person dragging an IV holder. 

He rocked out the sit, stay/ down stay and recall. That's always been his strongest suit.

The man in charge of the whole thing, who was also one of the ones (the main one), who re-tested Bailey on the touch part, did compliment him on his "thin, athletic, muscular build." He said, "I appreciate that you can slightly see this dog's ribs. He's very well toned and muscular -- very healthy looking. I see too many overweight dogs." Granted, I've worried about Bailey's thin frame, but that did make me feel good and ok that he's looking healthy. 

He also asked if there was a reason I was keeping him intact. I explained I was doing so for health reasons only, and planned to try to get to 18 months. He said he understood that, but that now that we've passed the one year mark, that I might want to go ahead and consider it. I'm not altogether sure where his advice was coming from -- Bailey was doing too much sniffing on the loose-lead walking and again, the shy stuff on the petting portion, but didn't show any aggression, any other behaviors that might lean a person towards neutering. He wasn't pushy or rude at all. 

So there it is, the entire experience.  It was the first time everything was done on a buckle, and the first time we went entirely without treats, so I did have to work extra hard to keep his attention. I realize we've become overly reliant on a prong and treats, so the future plan is to phase that out far more than I was doing.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Congrats!


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Good boy Bailey!!! Well done!


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## *Lisa* (Nov 20, 2011)

Way to go Bailey!!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Congrats to you and Bailey! 2 hours~wow, that is a test in itself! Sounds like your community will have lots of canine good citizens


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

awesome, congratulations.


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## tank101 (Mar 30, 2012)

Congrats!!


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## Anastasia (Oct 7, 2011)

Congratulations!


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## Falkosmom (Jul 27, 2011)

Congratulations! Good job!


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

:congratulations:

I knew both of you could do it


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

Congrats Chelle to both you and Bailey. Bailey you are the dog.


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## Kaiser2012 (Mar 12, 2012)

yay congrats!! I'd like to do this with Dakota (6.5year old GSD mix) but I have to completely retrain her. I relied on treats when she was younger (she never responded to play/prey or praise very well) and I did end up using a prong collar to walk properly in crowded public areas. She is a FANTASTIC dog, very low key and sweet (the trainer wants to get her into therapy), but she has absolutely no drive. In order to pass this test without a training collar and treats will require nothing short of a miracle (she LOVES people and most dogs, the rest she just walks away from...but my point being, she's collar smart and knows she can pull and will challenge me, even at her age now). She CAN be a little jumpy around big noises, but most of the time is ok. Loose leash walking only happens on the training collar or when she hasn't eaten and I have some super fantastic treat. I could go on and on, but at any rate, I'm very impressed that you passed and I hope to one day do the same. I've realized my "super" dog has a lot of fine tuning to do in order to "join the club"


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Congratulations!


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Well done!


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

Congratulations! I know how nervous I was when Cheyenne went for hers....so I can understand how thrilled you are that he passed!! Good job to both of you!!


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

Congrats!

I want to get ours through that... but, that not only would take a lot of "different" style training, it would also take away my prong and toys/treats. Which, I think Duke would do just fine with that, Zira would not. Zira would never focus on me with all that going on AND without treats/toys. I may still go for it with both eventually... maybe if Zira ever mellows out.

Anyway, Congrats to you both! I'm glad everything went well!


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Great job! So happy for you two :happyboogie:


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Great job!


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

onyx'girl said:


> Congrats to you and Bailey! 2 hours~wow, that is a test in itself! Sounds like your community will have lots of canine good citizens


It was really quite the long, drawn out affair. (Is that normal?) By the time we got paperwork, it was just over two hours. The first 20+ minutes was just talking about Therapy Dog related things. I started to think I was in the wrong place. Out of all those people, only *two* of us were not going for Therapy. Bails isn't cut out for that. If I would've known how crazy it was going to be in there, I might've chickened out. :rofl: In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't know!

BUT, that is a good part of the reason I chose that club. It's always nuts in there. Loud, dogs everywhere. He was crazy distracted by all the new dogs (only 2 dogs there he knew from class) and not a single familiar human face.



TrickyShepherd said:


> Congrats!
> 
> I want to get ours through that... but, that not only would take a lot of "different" style training, it would also take away my prong and toys/treats. Which, I think Duke would do just fine with that, Zira would not. Zira would never focus on me with all that going on AND without treats/toys. I may still go for it with both eventually... maybe if Zira ever mellows out.
> 
> Anyway, Congrats to you both! I'm glad everything went well!


Thanks and that was the hard part. This was the first time he went an entire session -- and in this case, multiple "sessions"-- without a single treat. And on a buckle to boot. We *just* started working on loose-leash on a buckle at home. THAT was not the ideal environment for testing that out, hehe. I admit it, I was trying to fake that I had treats several times. He only believed me at first and then soon figured out I was totally full of it.

~~

Thank you, everyone. We have a couple weeks off 'til the next obedience level starts in June. (Yay! Finally made it to Advanced class!) Then I need to really get brave and take Tucker to a beginning obedience class. I fear we shall be kicked out on the first night.


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## OriginalWacky (Dec 21, 2011)

Awesome!!! Way to go you two!


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## Knave (Apr 29, 2012)

Congratulations to you both!


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## ed1911 (Jan 19, 2011)

Thats awesome, keep up the good work.


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