Being a good citizen, lesson #1

Daisy had her first "Puppy Foundation" Good citizen Dog test class on Monday. It doesn't have a test as such, unlike the higher classes, but there are certain elements that are assessed on an ongoing basis, and some that are effectively a "spot check".

Fortunately when accosted I was both carrying poo bags and Daisy's tag showed the correct information required by law (which, in case anyone is wondering, is the name and address of the owner. You don't actually have to have phone numbers on there, though it's plainly a good idea. The Kennel Club visual on the subject can be found here.)

The class itself covered walking on a loose lead, doing sit/stand/down on command and coming when called, though in a fairly informal way (the trainer holds the lead, you walk away and then call the dog to you). Daisy already has all of these things nailed through the competitive foundation classes we have been doing, though I did come up against a slight issue while doing the heelwork. I am differentiating between this class (Good Citizen Dog) and her Thursday class (Competition foundation) in terms of what I'm trying to get out of it - Monday night is having a well behaved dog who will come when she is called, walk by my side in a civilsed fashion and not behave like a nutter around the house, whereas Thursday is doggy dressage night. But as soon as there was heelwork involved, I defaulted to asking her for close and attentive heelwork, thereby completely defeating the purpose of separating out "the kind of walking to heel that's acceptable on a walk" from "competition" style working - which involves the dog working with its head up and around the handler's leg, and is therefore completely impractical for day to day activity. (See this year's Crufts highlights here for the dogs that won the Championships.) So next week, I need to remember that she is not at the class to improve her dressage, but to learn to pay just enough attention that she will continue to walk next to me if I change direction.

All of that said, the heelwork exercise we did involved going in and out of cones, and she did it beautifully, including a left-about turn around the cone at the end. Left turns in obedience can be a bit of a challenge for the dog, as they involve moving its back end independently of its front, so to have Daisy do the turn around the cone so neatly was a pleasant surprise. So she was teacher's pet this week, but next week, which involves not going to play with the other dogs and instead sitting nicely while the "decoy" is walked close I am anticipating will be more of a challenge. But that's why we're there.