Canine Good Citizenship Program

Appearance and grooming - This part of the test shows that your dog will allow someone to groom them, whether it is you or someone else.  This also shows your sense of responsibility, care and concern in keeping your dog groomed.  The individual giving the test will examine your dog to see that they are clean and groomed.  They may look at your dog's ears, paws, etc.  You should provide the brush or comb used to typically groom your dog.  The evaluator will use it to lightly comb or brush your dog.  During all of this, you can talk to your dog (with praise and encouragement), and they can sit or stand during this. 

Canine Good Citizenship Program

Sitting politely for petting - During this part of the test, your dog should allow a friendly stranger to pet them.  Your dog should be sitting at your side, the person administering the test will pet your dog on their head and body.  You can talk to your dog during the encounter.  The dog can even stand while being petted.  Your dog should not show any sign of shyness or resentment.

Canine Good Citizenship Program

Accepting a friendly stranger - During this part of the test your dog must demonstrate that they will allow a friendly stranger to approach and talk to you.  


The individual giving the test will walk up to you and your dog; greet you and ignore your dog.  They will shake your hand and engage you in a brief conversation.  Your dog should not show any sign of resentment or shyness, during the encounter.

Canine Good Citizenship Program

The Canine Good Citizenship Test will expose your dog to a variety of situations; the 10 test areas are:

1. Accepting a friendly stranger
2. Sitting politely for petting
3. Appearance and grooming
4. Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
5. Walking through a crowd
6. Sit and down on command and staying in place
7. Coming when called
8. Reaction to another dog
9. Reaction to distraction
10. Supervised separation

(more details about these 10 test areas in later posts)

Canine Good Citizenship Program

Many countries outside the United States have created canine good citizenship programs based off the AKC's program.  Neighborhood programs set up by law enforcement or animal control agencies utilize parts of the program to deal with dog problems in communities.  Therapy dog groups sometimes use the program as a screening tool for their program.  


Often Specialty Clubs offer the Canine Good Citizenship Test as an activity at their annual conformation shows.  It is a very good idea to have your conformation dog complete this test.  

Canine Good Citizenship Program

The Canine Good Citizenship Program is often used as the starting place for training a dog.  This provides a great foundation for other activities you can do with your dog such as:

• Obedience
• Agility
• Tracking
• Weight Pull
• Carting
• Conformation

Training your dog is a win, win situation; not only for your dog but you as well.  This type of activity really strengthens the bond between you and your dog.  The dog who has received basic obedience training is a joy to live with; they exhibit good manners in and around your home.  These dogs also behave better around other people and animals.  

Canine Good Citizenship Program

AKC's Canine Good Citizenship Program was started in 1989.  This program recognizes dogs who demonstrate good manners in their homes and communities.  There are two parts to the program:

1. Responsible pet ownership 
2. Basic good manners for pets

The dogs that pass the 10 step CGC test can receive a certificate from AKC; showing the date, and their dog's name when they passed the test.

Dog Breeding

What is a phenotype?  This refers to observable traits found in  dog; in other words things you can see.  Like coat color, shape of head, tail type.


What is genotype?  This refers to the genetic makeup of a dog.  


What does homozygous mean?  A trait is homozygous when both alleles are identical.  It also means that both the dog and bitch had the same allele for that trait.  


What does heterozygous mean?  A trait is heterozygous when the two alleles are different.  In other words, the dog contributed a different allele from the bitch for that trait.  


What is a genome?  A genome is the end result of all the genes combined in an organism.  The canine genome consists of approximately 2.5 billion DNA based pairs.    

Chinese New Year - Year Of The Dragon

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year; 2012 is the year of the black water dragon.  We can expect a year marked by excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, and intensity.  

Dog Breeding

Here are some more genetic terms and their meanings.  Each gene is found in a particular location on a specific chromosome; this is referred to as locus.


Each gene controls a specific trait, these are known as alleles.  Alleles are either dominant or recessive.  Some traits are controlled by only one pair of alleles while other traits are determined by a group of alleles.