It is hard to believe that just a little over a year ago I had no dogs, and was known as the cat lady — the person who you went to with your cat questions — and had 3 cats. I hadn’t had dogs in 30 years, actually, and had never actually trained one.

Now I have a Canine Good Citizen in Chester. Yes, he passed his CGC, first time, with flying colors. We did it because I think Chester will make a good therapy dog, and this is one of the first steps toward that goal.

You can read what the ten parts of the test are at the above link under “Training/Testing”. The whole test is sequential, starting with accepting a friendly stranger and ending with the 3 minute separation; it all takes about 10 minutes tops.

I had heard that a lot of dogs fail because of the 3 minute separation, but obviously we did okay with it. Pretty good for a dog that has had two training classes at Petsmart. We had practiced stays with me out of sight in the intermediate course, and I practiced with him a few times at home.

I did a search for CGC tests, and found out they were giving this one, just a couple of weeks ago. Chester hadn’t taken any training classes in months because of his knee, although we continue to train every day. So I practiced various parts, just in short bursts every day.

I thought the sit for a friendly stranger might trip us up. One of the tricks I’ve taught Chester is high five, other five (high five with the other paw), then give me 10, where he stands up & puts both paws in your hands (which is really cute). But now when you tell him to sit-stay and bend over him, he thinks you want a gimme 10! He’s not really jumping up . . .

Chester came into our home just about a year ago today. He is just 14 months old, which is somewhat young to pass your CGC. I really do think he’ll be an awesome therapy dog.

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