AKC Family Dog - Urban CGC

After passing the Canine Good Citizen Exam, you are now eligible to move on to the CGCU; the Urban CGC. This is a great test for dogs living, working in, or frequently visiting city environments. It is also recommended for many future therapy dogs to get all three CGC tests!

Just like the traditional CGC test, there are 10 items to the CGCU. They are:

1. Exit/Enter doorway with no pulling in dog-friendly buildings.

   • It is also recommended to teach. dog to sit and wait before passing through doorways in order to have safe boundaries!

2. Walk through a crowd on a busy urban sidewalk.

   • For this test, people will come toward the dog from 1 foot away and the dog must maintain their composure

3. Appropriate reaction to city distractions.

   • This includes movement, noises, and walking on a variety of surfaces (e.g., horns traffic noise, bikes, surfaces such as concrete, grass)

4. Crossing the street

   • For this test, you and your dog will: stop at the corner, stand or sit to wait and cross with no pulling (on leash, with owner). You must cross street under control.

5. Ignore food on sidewalk.

   • Dropped food, or cups, bags, cans, in which food was wrapped.

6. Person walks up and pets the dog.

   • May be carrying an item such as a small dog in a bag, a computer bag, etc.

7. Public dog-friendly building behavior.

   • Walks under control in building (slick surface, capeted floor). Down stay for 3 minutes in lobby or outdoor area, or waits while owner has meal or snack.

8. Stairs, steps, or elevator under control

   • Steps - at least 3, up and down without pulling

   • Elevator - enters under control, exits, rides under control, is not taking up more than their fair share of space

9. Houstrained for apartment, condo, city living.

   • Owner may verify this item

   • Evaluator may also observe in public buildings, or have observed in training classes.

10. Transportation.

    • Owners choice depending on transportation needs

    • Car - Enters/exits, remains under control during the ride (may use crate or seatbelt)

    • Subway - Small dog may be in bag for ride (large dogs are not always permitted; know and abide by transit policies in your area)

    • Other dog friendly transport - enters/exits or allows to be put in/taken out under control

AKC Family Dog - S.T.A.R. PUPPY

Bellatrix and Cosmo showing how nicely they can get along, riding in a backseat together, after a proper introduction and Cosmos puppy training!

Socialization Training Activity Responsibility

The S.T.A.R. puppy program is a great introduction to the American Kennel Club, Canine Good Citizen behaviors, and good manners for both the puppy and their parents! It’s super important to give a dog a steady start to their life, that’s why the S.T.A.R. puppy program is so important, it teaches behaviors and expectations that will prepare the puppy and their owner for the rest of their lives together. It will also be a wonderful introduction to the AKC, advanced obedience, and potentially even dog sports or other fun activities!

The S.T.A.R. puppy program is a minimum of 6 classes, typically performed over the course of 6-8 weeks. To receive credit and be inducted into the program, it’s required that pup and owner complete a minimum of 8 sessions together, and if missing any, they are able to make them up with permission from the instructor.

The program overall consits of 20 items that are covered and mastered. Some of these are purely on the owner, others have more to do with a well-tempered puppy, and some are meant to ready your dog to take the Canine Good Citizen exam when they’re older!

Owner Behaviors

1. Maintains puppy’s health

   • It’s important to get your dog regular veterinary exams, all of their required vaccines and keep them on a regular healthy diet while looking out for injury or illness!

   • A healthy puppy’s a happy puppy!

2. Owner receives Responsible Dog Owner’s Pledge

   • This pledge goes over all of the facets of responsible puppy raising such as health and safety, quality of life, and preventing infringement on others rights.

   • A pdf of this pledge can be accessed here: https://images.akc.org/pdf/starpuppy/lesson_RDO_pledge.pdf

3. Owner describes adequate daily play and exercise plan

   • At some point within the class (or maybe assigned for homework), your instructor will have everyone describe an adequate daily play and exercise plan suitable for their puppy’s age, breed, and activity level.

4. Owner and puppy attend at least 6 classes by an AKC Approved CGC Evaluator

   • Over the course of your puppy program, it’s important for you to attend a minimum of 6 classes. Without this, your pup will be unable to join the ranks of the other S.T.A.R. puppy graduates.

   • If the class you’ve joined offers more than 6 classes, you should take advantage of that and make sure you gain the most possible from the program!

5. Owner brings bags to classes for cleaning up after puppy

   • As part of your responsible dog owners pledge, you certify that you will not allow your dog to infringe on the rights of others and that includes keeping public areas clean from your dogs waste. Always be ready to clean up after them, whenever you leave your home.

6. Owner has obtained some form of ID for puppy

   • It’s important that your puppy has some form of ID on them any time they leave the house. This can come in the form of a microchip, an identification tattoo, a typical tag, or a gps tag/collar. These are all great methods of keeping your dog safe and identifiable and even better when used together!

Puppy Behaviors

1. Free of aggression toward people during at least 6 weeks of class

   • It’s important for a dog to be well-socialized, well-mannered, and overall friendly in order to interact within society. They don’t have to be seeking out constant interaction, or even really liking it, but there can’t be a strong dislike, fear, or aggression towards anyone in the class.

   • If your dog is presenting aggression or aggressive behaviors it’s important to address them immediately. It may be in your best interest to set up individual lessons to find the route of the problems and address them early. Once your puppy is able to show no human aggression through 6 weeks of class, they will be ready to pass the S.T.A.R. puppy program.

2. Free of aggression toward other puppies in class

   • Along with human aggression, it is important that a puppy isn’t showing any fear, reactivity, or aggression towards other puppies. It’s important for dogs to be able to socialize with others in a neutral manner. At a young age, they should be able to greet, play, or otherwise be near other dogs without issue. If you continue to create positive experiences, they will continue to be able to socialize in an appropriate manner, provided there are no other issues present.

3. Tolerates collar or body harness of owner’s choice

   • You’ll need to use a well-fitted collar or harness throughout the length of this course as well as in everyday life in order to have safe control over your dog. In many places it is illegal to have your dog off leash in undesignated areas. Along with that, it’s important to have something to attach tags to.

   • The other part of this is that your pup should be well adjusted to having their collar or harness on. They should be able to have it put on with no fear, and continue wearing it with no discomfort, biting, or attempt to remove it.

4. Owner can hug or hold puppy (depending on size)

   • This is a great exercise in body handling. Your puppy should be able to tolerate touching, picking up (if not too large), paw touching, ear handling, and mouth/tooth handling. All of these things are important of the overall grooming and care of your puppy, so regularly practicing handling them is extremely important.

5. Puppy allows owner to take away a treat or toy

   • A common problem that owners face is a dog developing food aggression or resource guarding. To prevent this, it’s important to play with your puppy, have times where you take the toy away from them, mess with their food a little bit (always in a positive way, making sure to give it back to them and not tease them), and look out for undesirable behaviors.

Pre-Canine Good Citizen Test Behaviors

1. Allows petting by a person other than the owner

   • This can happen in any position, your evaluator is just looking for your dog to be content with petting. It’s ok if they like it and lean into it, or if they just take it nicely, what we don’t want to see is jumping up or shy away too much from people.

2. Grooming and handling

   • This part is super important! We want to see your dog be able to be handled by their owner, and eventually others for grooming, ear cleaning, or brief veterinary exams.

3. Walks on a leash

   • For this part of the exam, you will be asked to walk in a straight line with your puppy. Encouragement, treats, toys, or praise are all welcome as necessary, but we’re looking for your dog to follow you for approximately 15 steps on a leash.

4. Walks by other people

   • We will then test that your dog can walk past another person 5 feet or more away without distress, overexcitement, reactivity, or other unwanted behaviors.

5. Sits on command

   • For both sit and down on command, treat use is allowed as a lure at this stage, though gradually weaning away is highly encouraged. Your dog should understand the meanings of both commands and be able to perform these position changes with ease.

6. Down on command

7. Comes to owner

   • In this test, we’re looking for your dog to come from 5 feet away, on their leash, when they are called by their owner.

8. Reaction to distractions

   • Different distractions will be provided from 15 feet away to provide your dog an opportunity to recognize, evaluate, and react appropriately. It’s important to remember that how you react will inform your dog of how to move forward. If you show fear, hesitation, or being overly startled, then your dog will too. This will cause barking, over distraction, or other reactions. If you are calm and confident, then your dog will emulate that confidence and get over distractions or scary environments easier.

9. Stay on leash with another person

   • This is a great precursor to leaving your dog alone. Starting off by being able to comfortably leave your dog on a leash with a stranger and just walking 10 steps away is what’s asked for this test, but every owner should work to expand on that later. There will be times such as at the groomers, veterinarians, or daycares that you might be leaving your dog with someone else and leaving them. Slowly building up from a few steps and maintaining a positive demeanor in your dog is what will help prevent separation behaviors from presenting with your dog.

AKC Family Dog - Canine Good Citizen Exam

Bellatrix, in a CCDT vest, off leash on a place cot in front of a Christmas tree in a park center.

The Canine Good Citizen Exam is the gold standard of a well-mannered dog. This is a test of 10 items, showing the basic obedience, recall skills, manners, leash skills, and reactions of a dog. This is not a high pressure exam at all, so don’t feel like you have to pass, there’s a time limit, or anything like that. If you and your dog don’t pass on the first try, you’re welcome to try again, or get further training to prepare for the next time you’re ready to try.

10 Items on the Canine Good Citizen Exam

1. Accepting a friendly stranger

   • It’s important that your dog is able to accept a friendly stranger in an appropriate manner. For this test, nor in everyday life, is it required for your dog to be overly happy seeing others, but it is important for your dog to be able to calm and accepting of another person greeting their handler. In this test, your administrator or a volunteer will walk up to you and your dog, pretend to shake hands with you and continue on walking.

2. Sitting politely for petting

   • On top of being able to effectively greet a stranger, it’s always good for a dog to be able to accept petting from someone. When we say ‘sitting politely for petting’ we don’t mean your dog has to necessarily stay in a strict sit for petting. They are allowed to enjoy it, or mildly dislike it, we just want to make sure they’re calm and not overly excited or overly timid/scared.

3. Appearance and grooming

   • Depending on your dogs breed, their activity level, and your interest/ability, your dog may visit a groomer or you may do your dogs grooming yourself. Either way, there will be someone doing your dogs grooming, and there will be veterinary visits throughout their lives. We want to ensure that your dog will be capable of having their grooming and health needs met, and as far as their appearance, we’re looking to make sure your dog has all their needs met, there’s no untreated injuries, and they aren’t having problems with touch.

4. Out for a walk

   • This is a test to make sure your dog has basic leash manners. Walking with a nice loose leash, generally stopping with you, and not stopping for uncontrollable sniffing at any point. While we at CCDT and the AKC in general are in support of training tools such as prongs, e-collars, or metal slips, but these are not permitted on the CGC as this is a test where it is expected a dog is far enough in their training that they aren’t entirely dependent on these tools anymore.

5. Walking through a crowd

   • Along with walking on a leash, it’s very common to encounter other people, so for this test a crowd of 3+ people will be simulated for your dog to walk through. Casual interest is completely fine, but we’re again looking for no signs go over stimulation, fear, or aggression. Any sign of aggression is grounds for immediate dismissal from the exam.

6. Sit and down on cue and stay in place

   • One of the first things a dog learns is sit, and one of the subsequent is typically down. For this item, your evaluator will ask you to have your dog go into each position and then choose one for them to stay in place in while you go to the end of a 20 foot long-line and immediately turn around and return to your dog to release them.

7. Coming when called

   • Still on the long line from exercise 6, we will ask you to leave your dog at one end of the line and travel to the other. Then you will call your dog, we are looking for your dog to come straight to you, fairly quickly, and with no large detours.

8. Reaction to another dog

   • Very similar to how the first test is performed, your evaluator or their helper will approach you and your dog in the same way as before, this time with the other person handling a dog. This dog will be neutral, or you will have the chance to retry this test. Both dogs will be on their handlers left hand side and handlers will do another pretend handshake and briefly exchange pleasantries.

9. Reaction to distraction

   • It’s important for any pup to be able to handle a loud noise, weird looking object, a jogger, crutches, or children playing without issue. We’ll test this with two different distractions selected and prepared by your evaluator. Typically, this will be one auditory and one visual distraction for your dog to stay neutral through.

10. Supervised seperation

    • This is a fairly easy test in that there’s no command for. It’s all about your dog being calm and ready for however their day goes. Whether going to the groomer, veterinarian, daycare, training, or just having to be watched by a friend for a few minutes, it’s important that your dog isn’t anxious, scared, or vocalizing for you. We want dogs to always feel calm and comfortable in safe environments so we’ll test this with having you leave your dog with the evaluator for a 3 minute period while you go out of sight.

Good luck everyone and happy training! Remember, we will be holding our Canine Good Citizen Test date on March 17th from 11am to 6pm in Boston Common! Join us or just stop by to say hi!

History of the CGC

Agatha with her owner Madeline working on public behavior skills in a dog friendly store!

The Canine Good Citizen exam starts with the development of this exam in 1989, developed to promote good dog ownership and behaviors! The program began with just the simple CGC test, but has evolved into a program known as AKC Family Dogs to include S.T.A.R. puppy classes/exams, AKC Community Canine (also known as the advanced CGC), Urban CGC, CGC Ready (the program of CGC for rescues, fosters, and service dog raisers), AKC Therapy Dog, AKC FIT DOG, AKC Trick Dog, and AKC Temperament Testing. All of these different programs come together to create the family dog program that develops well -mannered, emotionally regulated dogs.

The CGC itself has had its 1 millionth dog pass in August of 2019. As this test has become more recognized, it is known as the precursor for most therapy dog programs, many service dogs begin with this test, it’s being recognized as a mark of reformed behavior for dogs who have had a bite history, and some veterinarians, municipalities, and apartment complexes have begun giving discounts for CGC certified pets.

The CGC is composed of 10 items testing the basic obedience, recall, general temperament, and reactions of your dog. There are tests of greeting humans and dogs, reactions to loud noises, sit/down stays, recall, loose leash walking, and being left alone with the tester for a few minutes. All of these tests are designed to provide a comprehensive look at the dog and handler team as a whole. Another large part that is highly valued is the CGC pledge. This pledge includes all of the cornerstones to responsible dog ownership. It certifies that the handler will provide adequate and regular veterinary care and vaccines, clean up after their pets waste, never infringe on others rights such as having their dog jump up on people, nuisance bark, run off leash out of control or outside of off-leash areas. One must also be aware if their dog isn’t able to socialize with other dogs and work to protect not only their own dog, but others they come in contact with. Or, if another dog is approaching, be aware of their body language and reaction to your dog to ensure that it’s appropriate for your dogs to meet.

A typical medal that might be received for passing the CGC!

CGC Test Items:

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 cue and stay in place

7. Coming when called

8. Reaction to another dog

9. Reaction to distraction

10. Supervised Separation

The next question: who can participate in the CGC? Anyone can! Any dog, no matter age, breed, size, or ability level are welcome to participate in training or take the CGC exam! It is advisable to wait until your dog has their skills down well to take the CGC so that is an accurate representation of your animal, but if they don’t quite pass, the administrator should be able to recommend you to a trainer to help get your pup to your desired level!

If you’re unsure if your dog is ready for the CGC, consider starting with the S.T.A.R. puppy classes (if your dog is under 1 year old) or meet with a trainer to better understand the test, where your dog is currently, and what work needs to be done. It is extremely rewarding to all involved to have your dog take and pass the CGC!