we passed

So if you haven't talked with me in a while, i have been taking my youngest dog teddy, to obidience school. We are going were going to an animal shelter called NOAH. It has a boarding area, with windows, the animals, aren't actually locked up in cages. This also includes a kitty area, a store, training facility for obidience and agility, and two enclosed play areas and a walking trail. It is really nice and everyone that works there is wonderful. So the first class dealt with basic obidence with positive reinforcement. It included sitting, down, stay, heal, sitstay, and down stay. We also worked on release, and leave it. and walking on a loose leash. This class was a participation pass, so we all got through with a certificate and a toy. It was so amazing how well he took to it, At first i wasn't sure teddy would get it, but he already knew sit, so that helped. once we got the down command, down, it was quite easy. we would go every saturday for an hour and train about a 30 minutes everyday, and walk up to an hour everyday.
So the second class was more intense. We worked on a lot of healing. Going fast, slow, left turn , right turn, about turn, down when healing. so i didn't really understand healing at first, but it is basic. The dog walks at your left side no further out than your ankle. Heal is used for walking at left side, sitting as soon as i stop and turning. it is the hardest because teddy likes to sit to the side or backwards or not at all. We are still working on it. we also did a lot of staying positions, leaving the dog in a stay, for up to 3 minutes. it was just as hard for me to remember what i was doing as it was for teddy. So here are the 10 tests we had to pass in order to receive our akc canine good citizen certificate.
1.Accepting a friendly stranger. The stranger greets the handler, ignoring the dog and walks away. dog is not allowed to show and interest, shyness or aggression.
2. Sitting politely for petting. allowing a stranger to pet the dog, without shyness or resentment( which is included for all testing.) the stranger then let's the dog sniff and politely pets the dog once down the back.the dog may stand up in appreciation to being petted
3. Appearance and grooming. Dog must be in a healthy condition. Allow a stranger to check the ears, front paws, and a one stroke brush down the back, the dog may be in any position for this test.
4. Walking on a loose lead: walking with a right turn, left turn about turn. we actually were healing on this exercise, dog not required to sit when you stop, has to be at left side at all times.
5. walking througha crowd. Dog must walk through a crowd of people without being excited, shy or aggressive.
6. Sit and down on command and staying in place. Showing that the dog will respond to all of the handlers commands.With the dog staying in it's orginal place it will not change position until released.
7. Coming when called: Will position dog and walk away to20 feet, go back to the dog, walk to 10 feet and recall dog.
8. Reaction to another dog. Two handlers walke up and greet one another. The dog should only show signs of natural interest, but not go to the other dog or handler.
9. Reaction to distraction. Handler and dog walk in heal position. Trainer Makes a loud noice, dog should natural react, but not be frightened, or resentful to the object, then a stranger runs in front while healing, dog should not react.
10. Supervised seperation. handler leaves dog with stranger for 3 mintes. Dog must not show signs of seperation such as anxiety, or excessive traits.
we were allowed to encourage and talk to the dogs as much as possible. This is all done with out training collars, pinch collars, treats, or toys. We were also not allowed to use the leash as a correction, must be on a loose leash at all times.
Now let me tell you, i was so nervous. i wanted to throw up and cry. We made it through all of these test, no problem, i was really impressed with teddy and how well he did under pressure. From here i would like to go on to agility training, because i think the obidience would be too much, because he is a nervouse dog and doesn't really like big dogs. so we will see. i am just so glad we passed!