CBS Training 27 July 09 - CGC Class

Went to training at CBS as per are normal Monday night training. I have been a bit lazy with putting Kenzie into class recently and since our usual IMPROV class is no long running we had the choice of attending either Deb's CGC Award class or Ilona's Freestyle. Not particularly keen on freestyle so I decided I would join the CGC Award class with Kenzie. Thought there were lots of benefits for her even though its not quite so formal.

The CGC exercises consist of a series of 10 separate exercises and we worked through each of the exercises in turn. These exercises including accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting, apperance and grooming, out for a walk, walking through a crowd, sit and drop on request/staying in place, coming when called, reaction to another dog, reaction to distractions and finally supervised separation.

First up we did the out for a out for a walk exercise where we had to walk with a pretend shopping bag having the dogs on loose leads and then wait at a gate until we were ready to let them out. Kenzie didn't do to badly with this exercise considering her sled dog tendencies on normal walks at the moment. No pulling at all. Need to work on more control at the gate though as my criteria isn't definite enough which is inconsistent of me as she has definite gate/door/crate criteria at home and when we are out.

Second exercise we did was the appearance and grooming. I was feeding her heaps but she let Deb examine her, check teeth, pick up her paw without stressing too much.

We worked on accepting a friendly stranger and sitting politely for petting. Kenzie was pretty good with the approach and she allowed the stranger to touch her all the while I was feeding treats. Lots of LAT game with her from the CU book and I think its paying off

We did a controlled walk with having the dog stop at a pretend street curb then cross under control then left turn, a 360 around the post and then back to a drop. Not bad.

Next up we did a bit of walking through a crowd with the other class members being the crowd. Deb pushed a trolley through. We were under the verandah so Kenzie was a bit spooky with the sounds however she was doing ok and not totally losing the plot.

The rest of the class then did reaction to a distraction with a cardboard box being dropped on the ground 1m behind the dog. I didn't do it with Kenzie as Deb thought it would be to much but I still paid her when she heard the sound of the box drop.

Off over to Bev's class for walking through a crowd. The rest of the class had the handlers waving, calling out but for Kenzie Deb just got them to move around. She was a bit spooky but taking treats and recovering pretty well with more LAT game. She was ok to look at the person and then it was back to me for a treat. Nice recovery time and at no time did she stop taking treats from me.

We also did coming when called (although Kenzie wouldn't leave me alone) and then revving the dog up and leaving them in a stay, walking away and returning.

I need to do plenty more stay work with her at the moment as she has decided she needs to heel with me or follow rather than stay put.

Kenzie did ok with the supervised separation exercise. Deb said she was a bit unsure but when offered a treat ate it and went back to waiting for me.

Any way it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and there is a lot of benefit for Kenzie participating and it was great to see that she has improved to the level she has. Fun class.