Congratulations, River and Gale!

In April of this year, AKC announced a new title called the AKC Urban Canine Good Citizen. The first AKC Urban CGC test in the country was recently administered by the Obedience Training Club of Palm Beach County. The Urban CGC requires a 10-step test of skills that dogs must pass to earn the title. The skills a dog must possess include:

• Exits/enters doorways (of dog friendly buildings) with no pulling
• Walks through a crowd on a busy urban sidewalk
• Reacts appropriately to city distractions (horns, sirens, etc.)
• Waits on leash, crosses street under control
• Ignores food and food containers on sidewalk
• Person approaches on sidewalk and pets dog
• 3-minute down-stay in lobby of dog friendly building
• Safely negotiates stairs and elevators
• Housetrained
• Enters, exits, rides dog-friendly transportation (car, subway in a carry bag, cab)

To be eligible for the AKC Urban CGC title, dogs must have a CGC certificate or title on record at AKC and must have an AKC number (AKC registration number, PAL number, or AKC Canine Partners number). Dogs passing the AKC Urban Dog test will earn the “CGCU” title.

River, and his owner, Gale are the first Chessie team to obtain this new title. A huge congratulations to them!