Teaching tricks is a great way for dog owners to have fun with their dogs. Tricks are best taught using positive reinforcement and the behavioral procedure called “shaping” where successive approximations to a desired behavior are reinforced. Here is a trick that lends itself to being taught at home because it will most likely involve […]

Canine Good Citizen®, AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy® and/or AKC Community Canine℠ An AKC club near you can provide you and your dog with training classes and testing for AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy, CGC and AKC Community Canine. You will be able to earn official AKC titles in Canine Good Citizen (the "CGC" title) and AKC Community Canine […]

After CGC: What's Next? A well-trained dog is a joy to live with, and the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program is a great first step in providing your dog with a solid foundation of basic training skills and intellectual stimulation. When you complete CGC training, you will have a canine companion who responds to core […]

AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy: 20 Steps for Success The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy program focuses on all the things every puppy and owner need to have a great start together. STAR stands for Socialization, Training, Activity and a Responsible owner and in six weeks of STAR puppy classes, puppies and dogs learn the following behaviors and skills: […]

A key component of the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Program is a responsible owner. Our Canine Good Citizen® Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge is for the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy® Program too. Responsibility should start the moment you decide to add a new dog or puppy to your family. AKC CGC℠ Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge I will be […]

What is a Therapy Dog? Therapy dogs are dogs who go with their owners to volunteer in settings such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. From working with a child who is learning to read to visiting a senior in assisted living, therapy dogs and their owners work together as a team to improve the […]

(Originally edited and written by A. Hamilton Rowan, Jr.; updated by M. Sue Richey from material submitted by Evelyn Monte Van Horn and Lisa Brown as cited in the Poughkeepsie Journal.) American sportsmen used Spaniels for hunting game birds and waterfowl long before there were Spaniel field trials. The Cocker Spaniel, recognized by The Kennel […]

by Elissa Kirkegard Ch. Realta's Galileo CD TD SH MHU QAA CGC (IWSCA ALL AROUND RETRIEVER AND IWSCA WCX) Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks? Nine year old veteran retriever and hunting dog, Gali, owned and handled by Elissa Kirkegard, took to the spaniel hunt test game with gusto. This is the […]

What is Scent Work? AKC Scent Work is a sport that mimics the task of working detection dogs to locate a scent and communicate to the handler that the scent has been found. Real-life detection dogs are trained to search for a variety of things--drugs, explosives, human remains, currency, other contraband, living humans (such as […]

By Milton S. Holcombe On the weekend of April 18-19, 2009, the first revised edition of the AKC Advanced Judges and Handlers Seminar was held at Forest Lake, Minnesota. This seminar was sponsored by the Northern Flight Hunting Retriever Association and the Lake Country Retriever Club. Chuck Stokes was the lead person for Northern Flight […]