Congratulations to Canine Good Citizen evaluator Valerie Tillery and her class of CGC graduates! Valerie’s students passed their test at the Concho Kennel Club in San Angelo, Texas. Most of the owners wanted the bragging rights that come along with having their dog recognized as a Canine Good Citizen, but have started thinking about going on to advanced levels of obedience training.
For her students, Valerie says the biggest challenge was the “down stay”, but all of them overcame the obstacle and passed with flying colors. When it came time for “reaction to distractions”, Valerie’s own pet cat, Cocoa, decided he was part of the CGC class and appointed himself as one of the distracters!
Let’s give a big shout out to the dogs and owners for a job well done!
Left to right: Johnny Lea Tate and “Rosey”, Arlene Wuertenburg and “Bronzee”, Pam Surley and “Sydney”, and CGC evaluator Valerie Tillery and “Jasmine”
I’d love to learn more about your graduating classes! If you’re a CGC or AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy evaluator or your dog is a CGC/S.T.A.R. grad, “like” CGC on Facebook and post photos of your class. Don’t forget the particulars about your students — names, ages, breeds, owners’ names, when and where the test took place, and fun stories about your class or interesting challenges your students overcame so everyone can learn from your experiences — and I’ll try to feature your class in a post!
Has your dog passed the CGC test? How come you decided to put your dog through CGC classes? Share with everyone in the comments.
AKC's Canine Good Citizen and S.T.A.R. Puppy Director, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist
I needed to take a dog through the advanced classes to start becoming a dog trainer. My great dane was just put down and the new dog was not ready for it at the time, so the rescue bichon was enrolled. only started for the advanced obedience and never thought he would pass for years to come. half way through we were talking and we all agreed i should test him because of all his amazing and remarkable break throughs he had a good chance and it would open more doors for him to be around strangers plus to prove to the NYC ACC he was not hopeless and death row was the wrong place for him- just needed the correct knowledge, time, and consitancy
then I wanted a dog for therapy (the bichon is still not ready for that yet but has done the therapy prep classes) and so the weimer/pit rescue started. the shelter was thrilled when she passed and later became a tdi dog. next i wanted a kid friendly dog and so I started over with a homeless puppy. CGC is required for TDI, so she started classes at 8 weeks (never did a full length class for 2 more months and took tons of breaks) and she is a diamond and loves to bring joy to others and kids. I love sharing my dogs 
What amazing things you have done with your dogs–they are so lucky to have found you!