[eBook Code] Canine Good Citizen Test In A Day For Dummies (eBook Code, 1st)

Introduction                                      1

What You Can Do In A Day  1

Conventions Used in This Book  2

Foolish Assumptions  2

Icons Used in This Book  3

Chapter 1: Introducing Canine Good Citizenship       5

Looking at the AKC Certification Programs  5

Starting on the Right Paw with the STAR Puppy Program 6

Accepting the Responsible Dog Owner’s Pledge  7

Attending training and earning your pup’s STAR medal  8

Building on Your Dog’s Skills with the Canine Good Citizen Program  9

What Exactly Does Training Mean?  10

Identifying a Well-Trained Dog  11

Defining a well-trained dog  11

Defining an untrained dog  12

An Exercise to Get You and Your Pooch Started  13

Chapter 2: Looking at the Specifics of the Canine Good Citizen Test 15

What to Expect during the Test  15

Interacting with Strangers  17

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger  17

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting  17

Test 3: Having a clean appearance and behaving during grooming 18

Walking and Waiting  19

Test 4: Walking on a loose leash  19

Test 5: Walking through a crowd  19

Test 6: Staying in place  20

Test 7: Coming when called  20

Handling Other Dogs, Distractions, and Separation Like a Pro  21

Test 8: Reacting appropriately to another dog  21

Test 9: Reacting appropriately to distractions  22

Test 10: Succeeding at supervised separation  23

Knowing the Do’s and Don’ts of Taking the Test  23

Chapter 3: Mastering the Basics: Sit, Down, and Stay    25

Sit! Good Boy  26

Getting Buddy into a sitting position  26

Sitting on command 28

Introducing Down Commands  29

Warming up with the Long Down exercise  29

Teaching the Down on command  32

Staying in Place  33

Teaching the Sit-Stay command  33

Administering the Sit-Stay test  36

Holding the Down-Stay  38

Chapter 4: Canine Cruise Control: Walking On-Leash and Coming When Called              39

Walking Your Dog  39

Born to pull: Teaching Buddy to respect the leash 40

Making it real: Adding distractions  43

Winning the Game of Coming When Called  45

Teaching the Come command  46

Adding distractions  49

Advancing to off-leash distractions  49

Chapter 5: Refining Your Training for the Canine Good Citizen Test                    51

Training for Interactions with Friendly Strangers  52

Teaching your dog to stand patiently  52

Introducing the Stand command  52

Teaching Buddy to stand still  54

Showing Buddy how to stand still without holding him in position  54

Working on the Stand-Stay command  54

Leaving Buddy in a Stand-Stay  55

Teaching Buddy to accept petting from a stranger 56

Training for Appearance and Grooming  57

Teaching the Shake trick  58

Adding the High Five trick  60

Training for Reacting Properly to Another Dog  61

Training for Reacting Appropriately to Distractions  61

Training for Supervised Separation  62

A Final Piece of Advice: Reinforcing Training  62

Chapter 6: Where to Go from Here                  65

Taking Your First Steps  65

Visiting dummiescom  66