Taming the beast (part 1)

Saturday morning we held our very first outside Canine Good Citizen(CGC)test. As far as I was concerned the weather was great. Of course, I also realize that my total tree canapoy, which keeps us in the shade all day and the gentle breeze that never stopped blowing had a lot to do with how it felt. I also acknowlege there are lots of people who think I'm crazy, daft, or just plain insane to call mid-August in the land between Washington, D.C. on the south and Baltimore to the north as great. Then again, they are pretty much all people who like cold weather. Personally, I truly HATE cold weather, always have, always will. So there!
This great picture was taken of the small dogs who would be taking the test. Some of them know each other and some don't know anyone. Yet they all managed to remain mannerly all day. Of the four dogs, one was the dog in the crowd, two others earned their CGC and sadly one did not manage to pass.

Yes, the Yorkie in the group is Ellie. Ellie, one of the dogs who arrived here with more negative baggage than good memories. Once again, it can be seen that she manages to get along with other mannerly dogs, in this case, dogs her size.

Here is a picture of Brandy. Brandy didn't manage to get her picture taken while in the CGC ring and I'm truly sorry for that since Brandy, yet another dog labeled potentually dangerous earned her CGC after only 9 lessons and was very willing to mind her own business when faced with a dog in the crowd and the friendly stranger with a dog. This picture shows her making the choice to look away from a distraction that just a few short weeks ago would have sent her in to something of a frenzy.

Here is a picture of Ellie during the disintrested stranger station. She had no problem with remaining beside Sydney and then for the next station sitting quietly while being petted by a stranger.

For my part I am especially sorry this shot was just a still. What was actually going on here looked more like some sort of Chinese Firedrill than a walk through a crowd station. The problem was caused because they were one of the very last teams to take the test and some of the helpers had already left for home. This meant we were actually short ring helpers. So everyone who was left moved to the crowd station and then just about the time Sydney and Ellie reach that point for some reason just about everyone started rushing off to go to the stations coming up.

All in all it was a good day. I was sorry to see a few dogs that were lacking in enough training to receive a passing grade. Hopefully they will be able to find the sort of trainer they like and get the necessary help. As it stands right now I think we are going to put on one more CGC test this year. The tentative plan is to run one the last Saturday in October.