While training for his CGC?

Question

I am in the early stages of training my dog for drafting. I also have been working on obtaining his CGC. The parts he is having the most difficulty are reaction to other dogs (wants to play) and supervised separation. He gets upset when I leave. Any helpful suggestions?

Answer 1

For the reaction to other dogs I would teach him to leave it and have him sit and focus on you reward and praise when he looks at you. If he is focusing on you there is less chance he will react to another dog. Focus work takes a little while but it is worth it.

For my suggestion on the separation issue he does need to know some basic commands. You will need a long line and a wall or fence that you will be able to leave your dog by. To start put your dog (on leash) at the beginning of a wall or fence you sit your dog and take a step to the edge of the corner where you will not be facing your dog but he will still be able to see you tell your dog to stay and let him sit for a minute or so, reward and praise upon returning to the dog, do this for a couple of days, after a couple of days back the dog up a step or two repeat the same exercise. As you move him back and he can not see you remind him to stay. The idea is you back the dog up a step or two each day to every other day getting him use to your short absence. If he gets up to look for you he wasn't ready to move back. Do not back him further away until he is comfortable. I know I suck when I have to write this stuff out (I demonstate much better) but I hope you understand what I am saying because this really has worked for a few friend's dogs that I helped pass the CGC.
Another good thing to do is to put him in sit stays or down stays and move around, take a few steps left or right (not too many steps at one time) turn your back to him and remind him to stay as you move further away.
Having someone else walk him while he can see you is good too.

Answer 2

Do the CGC first. The more socialization they get the better. There are usually classes geared toward the CGC, I always go to one just for the training around other dogs. They work a LOT on the seperation exercise. That is also great for draft, since most of the tests have an out-of-sight down stay. Some of the evaluators for the CGC are VERY picky and if they dog show any real interest AT ALL in the passing dog, they will fail. The last one I was at they failed at least half of the entrants on that. They seem especially hard on the larger dogs too.

Answer 3

Reaction to other dogs: What I do is bait my dog while passing another dog. I try to get him focused on me the whole time. If he gets past the other dog and stays focused on me he gets the treat (sometimes it's a small toy). Try not to practice with the same dog all the time. Your dog might get too familiar with him and he'll only perform well around that dog.
Supervised separation: Do alot of work on the sit-stay and down-stay (the same exercises done in obedience). Try to leave your dog the way they do in advanced obedience. If your dog can do a sit-stay or a down-stay for 5 minutes while you are out of sight, he'll do fine with somebody else holding the leash. Another tip: let someone else take your dog for short walks. This will get him used to being alone with another person.
Good luck! CGC is alot of fun. Remember to talk to your dog during the test and try to keep it an enjoyable experience.

Answer 4

Is he still pretty young (under a year)? My Bernese Mountain Dog did the same when he was a puppy. I just worked with him on the greetings, and I would have someone that he likes hold him for the separation. I then slowly weaned the other person out. He does fine with both now.

I think that I am going to do drafting with him too, but I am going to get is CGC and TDI titles first.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Sure...get after him!
YOU'RE the the boss,right?
NAIL him!