Walking the talk without reinventing the wheel
As an instructor for Dog Sports Rotorua my job reaches way beyond teaching people how to handle their dog for best outcomes or teaching the dog which is the right side to walk quietly on a loose lead, or indeed teaching a dog how to safely jump a hurdle or run over an A frame. I end up in a place where the dog is overweight and that is impacting upon his ability to have a good quality of life or sometimes the dog is too thin .Occasionally people come to class with unregistered dogs or unvaccinated dogs. Many people do not understand minimum housing standards for dogs outdoors or the level of nutrition that a dog needs to function. The amount of exercise a dog requires to keep fit and well. It is often difficult for people to understand that a working dog needs a four km hike per day and a Chihuahua still needs about one km. The list goes on.
I often assume that people understand how to care for their dog when in fact they are completely unsure. This sounds a bit funny to folk who have had dogs all their lives, but a lot of city dwellers are owning their very first dog, so it is natural that they need good sound advice and a back up person to contact when they are lost.
I run a class called control that deals with most of the above and if I see someone really lost I follow up and make sure they are coping at home. A few years ago the NZ Kennel Club did a wonderful thing. They initiated a program called CANINE GOOD CITIZEN affectionately known as CGC. This is a recognised set of tests for the handler and dog to achieve which sets firm boundaries on behavior and makes the owner/handler learn the rules of dog ownership from the perspective of the law and the welfare of their dog.
I have long wanted to participate in CGC but as I did not belong to an accredited Club (i.e. Dog Sports Rotorua is not affiliated to the NZ Kennel Club) then I have not got started on it. However, some of us are now competing at NZ Kennel Club Agility and have been lucky enough to have membership of WAG, Waikato Agility Group. This allows us to have a serious look at CGC. The CGC manual is 50 pages long. It is quite heavy going unless you are really into Dog Training. A lot of the work could be considered boring and unnecessary by those not as completely besotted by dogs as I am.
The work in the manual is very precise and very organised and very achievable. The first set of tests is called ‘Foundation’. In order to progress you must pass Foundation first. At an Accredited Club there will be advertising that ‘Foundation tests will be done on so and so date'. You then turn up and do the tests which a qualified Assessor will oversee. You must pass every test in order to gain the Foundation qualification....
Here is a list of the work required on the day of the Test. 1. Appearance handling and responsibility (a) responsibility and care(this is a paper attached to CGC manual which requires you to answer questions on ideal weight of the dog, questions around legal obligations from the Local Body Dog By-Laws. At list of dos and don'ts re care of your dog. Like? Providing a bed of its own for the dog, toilet training, responsible decision making around breeding from your dog etc (b) Public cleanliness and identification, (local body registration and removal of dog poo from all public spaces). (c) Examination of the dog by the handler (can you examine your dog's ears, teeth, throat, tongue, feet and the dog is comfortable and calm with this) (d) Grooming and inspection of the dog by the assessor (can someone else examine your dog and handle it to the point of grooming it touching feet etc) 2. Food Manners. Does your dog behave itself when it is two meters from someone eating? Does your dog wait to be told it can take its food from the bowl? Dog is sitting half meter from food in bowl and needs to wait for the command to eat. 3. Accepting a friendly stranger, 4. Accepting being patted by a friendly stranger. 5. Walk on lead through a door/gate in a controlled manner. 6. Return to handler, a recall basically. 7. Walking on a loose lead, 8. Controlled walk through people and distractions (a) Pedestrian traffic (b) Distractions. 9. Being left tied by a lead to an immovable object 10. Meeting a stranger and their dog 11. Supervised separation (the handler gives the on lead dog to someone else to hold and leaves the area so they are out of sight of the dog) Playing with the dog. (This is quite formal, play tug; the dog must stop and start play when you say. The game must be quite small no long retrieves)
So that’s it. Now while this does sound like watching the paint dry, it is not designed to be an entertainment. It is designed so that there is no doubt in the Assessor’s mind that this is a good mannered dog and deserves to pass Foundation. It is a great achievement. Having got through that and had a bit party afterwards to celebrate all your hard work, there is then the Bronze Silver and Gold qualification for you to be challenged by.
Let’s just have a brief glimpse of expectations in the Gold Test. Walking beside the handler without a lead, Send away to a known article (perhaps a piece of the handlers clothing or a piece of dogs bedding), and the Dog must stay with that article. Putting dog into car. Distractions outside the car while the dog is inside, getting dog out of car. Delivering a dropped article to the handler, this is a retrieve of sorts. Another person handling the dog completely with distractions, in a public area etc. Quite hard stuff if you consider it. And along the way you will answer harder questions about the health wellbeing and legal obligations that you have to your dog.
So there you have it. I believe there are probably 8 or 9 people currently at Dog Sports who could work towards their Foundation at this time. I certainly will be one, Deb Trimbach is another and Jenny Williams is also keen. These are the people showing interest at present but I am sure there will be more. The group will need a co coordinator. It does not need a tutor, it needs the group to work through the tests together and help each other to find ways to make the dog compliant where there are problems. Your dog needs to be 12 months old. I can't find an age for handlers but it will probably be 14 years which is the Dog By Law age for responsibility in walking a dog alone in a public space.
Yes I probably could make up a similar set of tests for Dog Sports members and make sure they were compliant but this is the bit about Walking the Talk. If you believe that you can train your dog to do all those things above then you should proudly go out and sit this Test with your dog alongside you and enjoy every moment of the Kudos of the occasion. Dog Sports don't need to reinvent any sort of test system. The Kennel Club have done a stunning job to put this together and it is to be hoped that one day every single dog owner in this country will have to pass a test such as this in order to be able to own a dog at all.
The extension of this that I would like to see is a new dog owner doing a test with a suitable dog and answering the questions at Foundation level before they can register a dog for themselves. If you think that sounds a bit harsh then think of the bad press the poor old dog has had for the last ten years, biting kids, killing stock, chasing post-people. Whose fault is it? Lousy owners that’s whose fault it is. If each owner understood the basic care and responsibility section it would be a miracle. If they understood the degree of training that needs to go into making their dog a Canine Good Citizen, then maybe they might get over the idea of having a dog to neglect and mistreat.
Who wants to join us in this challenge, txt me, Raewyn 0277593005
