Urban Canine Good Citizen Training

Does Your City Dog Have the Right Stuff?

Find Out with AKC’s Urban Canine Good Citizen Training

~Darcy Rohats, CPDT – KA

On a Saturday afternoon in front of the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix, seven teams each comprised of a student handler and a dog, looked at the bustle of activity whirling around them.

The large, urban shopping and office complex was quite the scene:  Crowds of people hurried to catch a movie at the multi-plex; families with kids in-tow headed for the nearest lunch place that wasn’t Hooters.  Music from a Mariachi band and the luscious smell of Carne Asada signaled a Mexican restaurant close by. Tourists climbed the grand staircase in search of some retail therapy, while weekend office workers trudged toward elevators in the high rises.  Teens on skateboards weaved through the crowd and called to their friends.  Locals perched on seat walls, enjoying ice-cream, feeding the birds, or watching the people go by.   Noisy kids played in the pop-jet fountain, as moms looked on, surrounded by an artful, southwestern landscape with meandering stone walk-ways and carved date palms.  All around the perimeter, cars and busses whizzed by.   A fire truck with sirens blaring sped down Van Buren Street.

What pandemonium ….  and it was just what the teacher ordered!

Arizona Center was the locale selected for the group’s final test of the AKC’s Urban Canine Good Citizen title.  Most people have heard of the Canine Good Citizen certification that affixes the AKC’s CGC title to the end of Spot’s name in the title record.  But whereas the first level CGC tests basic manners and stressors in an enclosed, often simulated environment, the next level Urban CGC tests practical behaviors for ten situations typical of urban life in an actual urban environment.  Arizona Center with its real-life distractions presented the perfect place.

After weeks of intensive training with their AZ Dog Sports trainer, Lynn Brand, the teams were ready to go and knew they were well-prepared for all ten test items, but no one could have guessed what would happen at any given moment.

This was not the calm environment of AZ Dog Sports or the familiar mall and the Best Buy next door!

The handlers with their dogs spread out and made their way steadily through the crowd.  A young man with two little kids approached and asked to pet the dogs.  Tails wagged gently.  No one cared that a car backfired nearby.   The trip up and down the grand stairs was uneventful and a hamburger wrapper was left undisturbed on the ground.  The down-stay in the marble-floored lobby of the high-rise was perfectly executed. Bouncing water spouts at the pop-jet fountain just made the ground cool and wet.

Hey, we can do this!!

The teams waited on the corner for the light to change and then crossed the street like old-hands.  A short ride up in the parking garage elevator was fun. The walk back down to street level was OK, too.

Success!
Seven, freshly-minted Urban Canine Good Citizens!

Sound like something that could benefit you and your four-legged kid?  AZ Dog Sports can guide you.  If your dog has earned the Canine Good Citizen title already, you are eligible to pursue the AKC’s Urban Canine Good Citizen designation.

 

Both CGC and Urban CGC classes will start again in January at AZ Dog Sports, so give us a call for more information and to register.

602-237-6775

What great fun to know that together you and your dog can learn to handle the distractions of urban life and get an AKC title to boot!