Table of Contents
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
