Mid Terms, Doggy Style

Two grueling days of testing are finally over. Yesterday were both of our hands on tests, the practical, which graded my skills as a trainer, and the Canine Good Citizen test, which graded Skyler's skills & manners in certain situations. The CGC came first & Sky-girl failed the test on the last portion of the last test. After being put into a down & then a sit position the dog is to come to the handler when called at about 10 ft away. She refused to leave her position, which tells me I'm atleast doing a good job teaching her to hold her commands, but we still need to work on come. About 4 people in the class passed the CGC this time around. The rest of us will be given another chance to pass it in 3 weeks during the finals. The 2nd hands on test, the practical, was a demonstration of every command up until this point that we have learned; heel, sit from the side, down from the side, down in motion, sit in motion, sit from the front, down from the front, come, stand, stay, finish, square off 90, kennel, & release. All of the mentioned commands have a built in stay until the dog it either released or given a new command. We passed! Then today was the written portion of the exam. I scored a 95 on my breed test, which yes, I'm very upset about. I really wanted to ace that test but I missed 2 obvious breeds & am hoping I answered enough extra credit to get a 100%. Then I spent from 9 am till 2:30pm writing out 22 pages worth of answers to the medical & general training test. I'll get my results back hopefully next week but it may be a little longer. Keep your fingers crossed! Our class also said goodbye to 3 of our classmates that we only enrolled in the 3 week program. We were all sad to say goodbye to Rick, Scott, & Nancy today & I'm going to miss you all along w/ Sugar, Logan, & Roxy! Stay in touch ya'll & let us know how the real world of dog training is going!