Today: An award-winning weekend.
[tweetmeme source=”elizabethev” only_single=false]It’s been an award-winning weekend in our condohold. We’re still waiting for the results from Saturday morning’s 5k, but Nick likely placed in his age group. I have no idea how I did, mostly because my watch busted at the starting line. And I forgot to check the clock at the finish.
Regardless, Feed the Need is one of my favorite spring races. I like the vertical climb at the beginning, and rolling hills through the woods. Best of all, they collect hundreds and hundreds of food items and raise important funds for local pantries. We left before the awards ceremony, mostly because I was hungry, and made a beeline for the bananas at Whole Foods.
While we have no medals to show for Saturday, Clark has plenty of proof of his award-winning prowess. After months of preparation, Clark and I met with two AKC evaluators at The Pawsitive Dog for the Canine Good Citizen test. Despite a bad case of nerves on my part, and a bit of rambunctiousness on Clark’s part, the little dude passed with flying colors.
The test consists of ten items:
- Accept a friendly stranger
- Sit politely for petting
- Appearance and grooming (inspection of paws, ears, and overall appearance)
- Walking on a loose lead (with left, right, and about turns)
- Walking through a crowd
- Sit and down on command, staying in place
- Come when called
- Reaction to another dog
- Reaction to distraction, or a loud noise
- Supervised separation (handler leaves for three minutes)
We got off to a shaky start (I volunteered to go first, lest I faint in the waiting area, which may have worked to our favor), with Clark giving an exuberant welcome to the evaluator, when he was supposed to have remained seated at my side.
The remaining items went smoothly, but waiting for the evaluator to complete her paperwork felt akin to waiting for the trooper to announce the results of my road test fourteen years ago. During the latter exam, I accidentally went 15 miles over the speed limit and hit the curb twice during my three point turn (which turned into a five point turn). I was resigned to have failed.
Fortunately, in both cases, the results were much more favorable than I expected. And fortunately, for all of you on the roads, my driving has much improved. Clark was awarded a big ol’ PASS on his Canine Good Citizen test. We have less than a week to go before we take the Therapy Dog exam, which I am very excited about. We are crossing our fingers (and paws) that this exam goes just as well.
Now if only he could teach me how to react to distraction and loud noises.
Also On Tap for Today:
- Enjoying the beautiful weather
- Writing a letter to my middle school penpal 🙂
- Good advice for finding your next good book
What was the highlight of your weekend?
Comments (9)
Laura Williams
April 29, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Congrats to you all! There’s no way my dogs would pass the Canine Good Citizens test, so that’s amazing!
funandfearlessinbeantown
April 30, 2012 at 7:52 am
Congrats to everyone! The highlight of my weekend was finding our rehearsal dinner venue and getting an amazing 12 hours of much-needed sleep on Saturday night!
Alex @ therunwithin
April 30, 2012 at 11:08 am
in high school my team and I would run around Wompatuck state park! Small world, I love it in there.
Elizabeth
May 1, 2012 at 3:58 pm
It is a small world! I love it in there– so serene.
Elle
April 30, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Thanks for visiting my blog today and leaving a nice comment, too. Congratulations to your pupper…. I think this is such a great program.
Elizabeth
May 1, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Thanks, Elle!
bridgetwickes
April 30, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Go Clark go!! What a good boy! We were supposed to do this with Bromley but couldn’t make the day our class was doing the test and just haven’t thought to do it since, but now I want to!!
And yay for 5k’s!!
Halley Sikes (@blunderblog)
May 1, 2012 at 3:13 pm
What will happen with Clark once he is a therapy dog? Does he get a day job? You don’t give him away, right?
Elizabeth
May 1, 2012 at 3:57 pm
It’s high time he started earning his keep! Just kidding… sort of. Nope, we don’t give him away. We commit to 4+ therapy visits a year at hospitals, schools, nursing homes etc. in order for Clark to keep his certification. 🙂