Corgi Forums

Chip's Mom · **Good Citizenship -** 09-11-2006, 07:56 PM

Chip started his advanced obedience class tonight and did fairly well. We are shooting for the good citizenship certificate. The test is in December so we have three months to learn. Found out tonight that Chip watches my hands and takes his cue from them instead of verbal commands so we have got to get into sync with that.

Michael Romanos · 09-12-2006, 05:58 AM

Bonnie - we have a similar scheme here in NZ. Our local dog training school has a Good Citizen training programme and certificates are awarded when a pass is achieved. They hold these training sessions on Saturday mornings.

Chip's Mom · 09-12-2006, 06:29 AM

Did you have any problems with anticipation from Taylor while you were in training? Chip will watch my hands and do the command before I tell him too. It's my fault so I have got to learn to correct that. Unfortunately, I am a hand person - move my hands when I talk, etc.

Michael Romanos · 09-12-2006, 07:21 AM

You're in trouble. Watch you hands!!!! Wear men's clothing which usually have pockets so you can place your hands in your pockets when not required by your palm-reading Corgi. Chip will read you like a book. Wear green or orange gloves - Corgis have trouble identifying either colour. Whatever you do, don't wriggle your fingers - trust me, don't do it. It's double Dutch to us but to a Corgi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Seriously, Corgis pick up on hands and arms and shoulders and body language and where hands, arms, shoulders point, they go .......somewhere anyway. In agility, eventually, Corgis will ignore your commands/comments whilst training or in competition and look for your body parts. So in the heat of the moment you can say JUMP when it's a tunnel or WALK ON when its a tire or GO THROUGH when its a weave - they'll thankfully ignore that and judge what to do by looking at your hands and shoulders.

Chip's Mom · 09-12-2006, 07:34 AM

Michael:

I have no idea what you just told me. An example - last night I put Chip in a sit stay, and as soon as I moved my hand, he came to me. He is supposed to wait until I say "come" He watches my hands and does what I am going to tell him to do before I tell him to do it. LOL. We also worked on walk and circle around so he is sitting on my left side. This is the first time we had done this and he did it without being told. The instructor asked me if he knew to do that (she was impressed) I was at a loss so I just said he must know because he did it. I guess I am just overwhelmed this morning and want to teach Chip right. I don't want to flub it up because Chip is so smart and I never trained a dog before.

tandemgal · 09-12-2006, 07:41 AM

Sounds like you and Chip are off to a great start. Why cant he look at your hands? Is Good Citizenship all about verbal commands? I have a friend who has labs - she does field training and events and it seems all about hands. Guess different training for different work.

Fluffypants · 09-12-2006, 07:43 AM

Don't worry Bonnie - you are going through training to learn, which is the right thing to do. If you knew everything, you would be TEACHING the class, not attending it!

Jackie is a big anticipator also. If we do a series of commands (ie. SIT, followed by DOWN) more than twice, she starts thinking too far ahead & DOWNS when I say SIT. It gives everyone in class quite a laugh.

Jackie just finished the CGC/TDI class at our school, but couldn't take the test because they gave it last week, and I was away. So we plan to keep practicing for the next one!

corgimom · 07:48 AM

Bonnie,

In Cody's class, when we told them to Sit/Stay or Lay/Stay, we gave the command and at the same time, put our hand out flat up towards their face as part of the command - so we were encouraged to use our hands. Also, when we yelled to them to "come" we were also encouraged to use our hands.

When Cody is sitting, and I want him to lay down, I just move my right hand(held out flat) in a down position and he automatically knows to go down without me saying a word - we were taught that also.

Chip's Mom · 09-12-2006, 07:59 AM

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement. I guess that is what I need this morning. Yes you can use hand signals but Chip has a way of reading my body language so I just need to learn how to use that constructively. The instructor calls it anticipation and Jessica can explain it alot better then me. Also, I am not sure exactly what the circle thing was - I got confused when she was impressed and couldn't figure out what we did that was so great LOL. I will try to figure that one out next week.

Checkers · 09-12-2006, 11:02 AM

The circling thing is often called "finishing" and is taught (and used in OB classes) so the dog always ends up back in a heel position. If he is doing it automatically then that is great! Sounds like you are doing good with him.. keep up the good work!

-Cheryl

Chip's Mom · 09-12-2006, 12:23 PM

You are right Cheryl - thanks for filling in that gap. How do you practice it?

corgimom · 09-12-2006, 01:32 PM

Bonnie,

In Cody's class, with getting him back in the heel position on our left.The way we would practice it is Cody would sit in front of me and then I would take a treat with my left hand and then step back with my left leg only(sort of a bit of a lunge), and at the same time, with my hand moving towards the back and making a circle with my hand which encouraged his nose to follow, which then brings him back at my side into a sit position and then he gets the treat - does that make sense?

Anyway, that is how our instructor taught us.

Chip's Mom · 09-12-2006, 01:47 PM

Yes it does. I think. Cody was facing you sitting in front and you want to position him to your left side in the heel position so he circles around you until he is on your left side in a sit position. Do I have it correct?