Field Guide · Glossary
CGC
Skills and cuesThe American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen test, a ten-item assessment of everyday manners such as accepting a stranger's greeting and walking through a crowd.
How it works
It is a pass or fail assessment rather than a competition, and the items are deliberately ordinary: sitting politely for petting, walking on a loose leash, reacting calmly to another dog, and staying settled when the handler leaves the room. Because the criteria are published, it works well as a training target for owners who want something concrete to aim at. Some landlords, insurers and therapy-dog organizations recognize it, which is the practical reason many people take it.
What it looks like
A dog who walks nicely at home but pulls past other dogs works for several months on loose-leash walking and calm greetings, then passes all ten items in a single session at a local test.
Commonly confused with
- Proofing
- Proofing is the training process of making a skill hold up under distraction. The CGC is one specific test of whether several skills have been proofed well enough.
Related terms