This past weekend, on Saturday, April 6, the Pawsway offered testing for the CKC Canine Good Neighbour certification. I am proud to say that all four of our alumni that registered to take the test passed with flying colours!
Introducing Our Newest Canine Good Neighbours
In order of completion, we have…
Theodore, CGN
Theodore is a rescue from the Toronto Humane Society, estimated to be somewhere between 1-2 years old. Katrina, his owner, took classes with him just recently at our Avenue Road location. Katrina only adopted Theodore in November! Excellent work.
Molly, CGN
Molly is a two year old Leonberger. Gaye, her owner, did puppy classes nearly two years ago with us, Foundation Skills class, and recently completed our Canine Good Neighbour prep class. Gaye intends to continue with Molly’s testing so she can pursue a Therapy Dog certification. She’s pretty much there I think! Well done!
Miko, CGN, and Ellie, CGN
Last but not least, we have Miko and Ellie, both Havaneses. Ellie did Foundation Skills with us, and Miko did both Puppy Class and Foundation Skills with us; both of them recently finished our CGN prep class (and they were classmates with Molly). Well done, Jim and Inge!
At the very last minute, I decided to actually bring my Beagle/Jack Russell-mix, Petey, for the examination as well. He has a “colourful history” (I will leave it at that) so I was particularly delighted that he did well, especially handling, restraint, and grooming by a stranger.
Tips for the Examination
Here’s a video showing how the examination was run at the Pawsway.
[youtube height=”480″ width=”720″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Szg7tDzac[/youtube]
The way the evaluator with the Pawsway ran the test is atypical of what you’ll see on YouTube and in other CGN tests I have participated in. There is no “ring” per se, and instead of fabricating distractions via volunteers in the ring, we were just taken outside to Queens Quay where no shortage of people, cyclists, joggers, and dogs passed by. Without the structure of a performance venue, with a formal crating area and ring to enter, a handful of the dogs from a dog sports/obedience background actually had a harder time staying focused in the more general chaos of the Pawsway. Midway through my examination, a group of Cairn terriers entered the Pawsway and were barking their heads off.
If your dog has a lot of experience in doing group classes or dog sports events (Rally Obedience trials, Agility trials, or even fun matches) you might be have a better likelihood of passing the test if you do it with a club/group that runs it more like an obedience trial.
The other tip is, in a more traditional format, one dog enters the ring, and all 12 tests are done back to back, meaning your dog is finished and done in about 15 minutes. If you watch this video, this is what a more typical CGN examination/test would look like:
[youtube height=”480″ width=”720″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2hMyFjVbyU[/youtube]
At the Pawsway, groups were evaluated at once, so the entire test took about 45 minutes to complete. That is a very long time for a dog to wait and be patient without any primary reinforcement (treats, toys etc.). A dog can fade and lose focus over that duration quite easily. In total, we were at the Pawsway for 2 hours. Of course, the first hour where we were waiting, I was practicing, training, and keeping Petey busy, and reinforcing good behaviour with treats.
The plus side to waiting for a Pawsway event to try is, you can take your dog there many times prior to the event, so that the space itself loses its novelty, and you can practice. In many situations, the examination site is not accessible, so the day of the exam is the first time your dog may have ever been there – this can be very distracting for them.
If you are interested in giving it a try, consider taking our Canine Good Neighbour prep class.
To find out when a test is coming, check out the CKC website here.
If you decide to give it a try, and of course if you pass the examination, please be sure to let us know!