Today is Responsible Dog Owner's Day, and our training school had a big event at their facility. One of the things they offered was a test to certify your dog as a Canine Good Citizen. It was a really long test, about one hour. My daughter decided to put Sidney into the test, even though at the young age of 15 months we were not sure if he was ready.

The good news is, he passed! He received a certificate from the AKC and a tag to wear on his collar with his name tag and license. I was so proud of our sweet pup *sniff*.

There are 10 requirements to pass the test. Here is what he had to do:
1. Accepting a friendly stranger: Evaluator approaches, shakes hands with handler. Does not touch dog.
2. Sitting politely for petting: Evaluator pets dog, dog must show no shyness or resentment.
3. Appearance and Grooming: Evaluator inspects dog, combs or brushes lightly, examines ears & each front foot.
4. Out for a Walk: Handler takes dog for a short walk, including right turn, left turn, about turn and stop.
5. Walking through a crowd: Dog and handler walk close to several people; dog may show casual interest but not jump up.
6. Sit and Down on command / Staying in place: Handler shows dog can do sit and down, then chooses a position, leaves dog and goes to the end of a 20ft line and returns immediately.
7. Coming when called: With dog still on the 20ft line from test 6, handler walks out 10 ft and calls dog.
8. Reaction to another dog: Two handlers and dogs approach, shake hands, exchange pleasantries, move on. Dogs can show casual interest.
9. Reaction to distractions: Distractions are presented; dog may not panic or show aggression.
10. Supervised separation: Handler goes out of sight for 3 minutes. Dog is held on a six-foot leash by an evaluator.

The only test he showed signs of possibly losing it was the distractions one (#9). One evaluator had a plastic grocery bag and was snapping/flapping it around loudly. Sid hates those things. He shifted position and moved behind my daughter, but didn't panic. Someone else was banging on a metal pan but that did not bother him much. He looked at that person quizzically.

That three-minute separation was the LONGEST three minutes I have ever sat through!

We are thinking of training Sidney as a therapy dog, so this is definitely a good start. After the test we collected many samples of dog food and treats. All three dogs are munching on their beef tracheae now. All in all a really good day. Even the rain held off until the very end of the event!