Beginner Obedience Classes have ALL beginner level DOGS and PUPPIES attending the same class.

Your adult dog is NOT too old to learn to be a well-mannered member of your family. I will  teach you to train your adult dog how to sit, down, stand, stay, come. Just as in Puppy Kindergarten, we train the older puppies, young adults, and mature adult dogs by molding behavior using reward and/or substituting behavior . Corrections may be necessary on some dogs due to pulling when walking with the owner or resolving other undesirable behaviors. Your dog may not know what you want. I teach you to communicate with your dog.

Problems with a dominant dog? Read this reprint of "Every Dog Needs a Number". Download here .

Ideally, your puppy or adult dog has alrerady completed a Beginner Obedience class.
(Preferrable the Blue Ribbon Pet Manners/Puppy Kindergarten class.)

This class continues where the Beginner Obedience class left off.  They class will help prepare you and your dog to earn a Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) certificate offered by the American Kennel Club. The test consists of 10 exercises including accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting, walking on a loose leash, walking through a crowd, grooming, sit and down on command, reaction to another dog, coming when called, reaction to distraction and supervised separation. Taught by Kath Cook, an AKC Certified CGCEvaluator.

New message from AKC:  "The Canine Good Citizen? program is a noncompetitive activity that promotes responsible dog ownership. The number of Canine Good Citizens continued to increase, with more than 25,000 dogs taking the 10-step CGCtest in 2003. The program promotes awareness of responsible dog ownership as an alternative to breed-specific legislation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted CGC as part of the dog-training program at the National Detector Dog Center. The Boy Scouts of America added CGC to its dog-care merit badge requirements and used AKCmaterials in creating the section of the merit badge study guide that focuses on breed identification.

The state legislatures of New Hampshire and Washington passed resolutions endorsing CGC.

AKC is also offering  the Community Canine^sm (Advanced CGC), Urban CGC  beginning October 2013.This Certification can now be added to your dog's name as a "title".

Now also offering the Trick Dog titles.  

To learn more information, check the AKC website.

Canine Good Citizen and Community Canine are Registered Trademarks of the American Kennel Club

These classes are held for people wanting to compete with their dog or want to their pet to be a more obedient member of their family. If you want to have a dog that can compete for obedience titles and other obedience competitions, you will want to sign up for these classes. Some private instruction would be beneficial for competition obedience. It may take more than 1 class to achieve instruction at each level. Listed below are the different levels of competition classes and the exercises targeted. For specific titling criteria, check with the registry in which you wish to compete.

• Beginner Novice (AKC Optional Titling Class) - Follow the signs for heeling. Figure 8. Sit for Exam. Sit-Stay and walkaround the ring. Recall.
• Novice -Heeling on and off-lead. Figure 8. Stand for Exam. Recalls and finishes. Also, group sit and down stays
• Graduate Novice (AKC Optional Titling class) -Heel off-lead. Figure 8. Drop on recall.  Dumbbell recall.  Dumbbell recall over the high jump. Recall over broad jump.  Stand - get your leash.
• Open - Off lead heeling and Figure 8. Retrieving a dumbbell on flat and over high jump.  Drop on recall. Broad Jump. Command Discrimination.Stand - get your leash. 
• Graduate Open (AKC optional titling class) - Utility class exercises (with handler help).
• Utility - Signal exercise. Scent articles. Directed glove retrieve. Moving Stand. Directed jumping.
• Versatility (AKC optional titling class) - 2 exercises from the Novice, Open, and Utility classes.

Kids 8 and older enrolled in dog obedience as a 4-H project can attend classes. First time 4-H dog trainers attend a Beginner Obedience Class (Pet Manners or Puppy Kindergarten) and the Advanced Beginner classes.  After these fundimental skills are learned, they can attend the competition classes to prepare to show their dog. 4-H kids and their dogs are eligible to compete in different counties open 4-H dog shows and the State Fair Junior 4-H Dog Show.

Contact your county 4-H office to enroll in a 4-H Dog Obedience project.

This is a form of competition obedience. The dog and handler move through a course of signs, set up to direct movement through the course and  to execute or maneuver certain exercises.

AKC Rally Novice, Intermediate, Rally Advanced,  Rally Excellent, Rally Master, and Rally Choice.

Pictured here is Kath Cook and Gidget vom Mika-Ashmead showing at an AKCRally trial (Novice Rally class is done on leash).

Tracking is a great sport that is putting the trust in your dog's natural ability to follow scent (that humans can't see or smell). We teach ground scenting (instead of air scenting). Dog learn to follow scent in straight lines, turns, finding and "indicating" articles dropped along the way.

Pictured is Icon Von Hugelblick.