Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

Hi Deeann,

My shelter has a prison based dog training program and we have a pack of dogs that go up every 6 weeks for training to become CGC ready. We've found adopters don't know what CGC means and I've called to local trainers and they've never had anyone get their adopted dog certified. The main thing that increases adoptions is the training label and saying their a graduate of a program. We've found that training the dogs and keeping up with training to be pretty easy, but that is mostly due to our fast adoption rates of our prison dog training dogs. I find it serves as a great guideline and goal for the trainers versus having arbitrary goals. It works as a great test of a dog's ability to be in the public and an well-mannered dog. I do find that some of the tests can be very difficult for shelter dogs with the dog meeting and stranger grooming. The main things adopters have been drawn to is house training, crate training, and being friendly with other dogs.

In the end, it all depends on your community! Some communities may have a better understanding of AKC tests and really appreciate that some of your dogs are CGC ready.

I hope this was helpful!

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

Deeann Harper,

Yes, that program has been successful for us.

We did this a year ago for about 6 months. I am an AKC Evaluator.  Do you have the AKC CGC Ready Kennel Cards that you can attach to the dogs' kennel? 

We use lure training and clicker training.  As you know, clicker training is a skill set. So, we used lure training for the volunteers and staff of the shelter.  When I say "we", I mean me and my husband. 

The kennel cards would help the volunteers and staff to reinforce the behaviors that the dog already knows. It is a check list of the test items for CGC.  We found that if all handlers are consistent with reinforcing cues the same way, it works very well for shelter dogs.  We had success with this for the 6 months we were doing this.  Each week we added another cue/test item that we trained with the dog for everyone to continue to work with dog each time the dog was taken out of the kennel. That way it is not overwhelming for shelter staff and volunteers.

We implemented a "doggie day trip" in our rescue.  We also go over the training we have already done with the dog we are fostering for people who will be doing doggie sleepovers or doggie day trips.   The doggie day trip and doggie sleepover ideas came from Maddie's Fund forums.  They have been successful for us as well.

The most important things for adopters are being able to take dogs into public without the dog pulling on a leash. Hints the reason for the dog day trips.  Yes, house and crate training is the very first question people ask about a shelter dog.  I personally don't feel like that is a fair question to ask a shelter with 200+ dogs and less than 20 staff and volunteers.  There are a lot of variables in play for house and crate training.  

Thank you for helping dogs in the shelter.

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

Hi Deeann!

I know it is on the "older" side, but it might be worth looking into Sue Sternberg's Train To Adopt program.

My most favorite thing with her program is how it gives dogs an opportunity to learn how to relax after spending time in a highly stimulating environment in a shelter.

Deeann Harper,

Yes, that program has been successful for us.

We did this a year ago for about 6 months. I am an AKC Evaluator.  Do you have the AKC CGC Ready Kennel Cards that you can attach to the dogs' kennel? 

We use lure training and clicker training.  As you know, clicker training is a skill set. So, we used lure training for the volunteers and staff of the shelter.  When I say "we", I mean me and my husband. 

The kennel cards would help the volunteers and staff to reinforce the behaviors that the dog already knows. It is a check list of the test items for CGC.  We found that if all handlers are consistent with reinforcing cues the same way, it works very well for shelter dogs.  We had success with this for the 6 months we were doing this.  Each week we added another cue/test item that we trained with the dog for everyone to continue to work with dog each time the dog was taken out of the kennel. That way it is not overwhelming for shelter staff and volunteers.

We implemented a "doggie day trip" in our rescue.  We also go over the training we have already done with the dog we are fostering for people who will be doing doggie sleepovers or doggie day trips.   The doggie day trip and doggie sleepover ideas came from Maddie's Fund forums.  They have been successful for us as well.

The most important things for adopters are being able to take dogs into public without the dog pulling on a leash. Hints the reason for the dog day trips.  Yes, house and crate training is the very first question people ask about a shelter dog.  I personally don't feel like that is a fair question to ask a shelter with 200+ dogs and less than 20 staff and volunteers.  There are a lot of variables in play for house and crate training.  

Thank you for helping dogs in the shelter.

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

Deeann Harper,

Yes, that program has been successful for us.

We did this a year ago for about 6 months. I am an AKC Evaluator.  Do you have the AKC CGC Ready Kennel Cards that you can attach to the dogs' kennel? 

We use lure training and clicker training.  As you know, clicker training is a skill set. So, we used lure training for the volunteers and staff of the shelter.  When I say "we", I mean me and my husband. 

The kennel cards would help the volunteers and staff to reinforce the behaviors that the dog already knows. It is a check list of the test items for CGC.  We found that if all handlers are consistent with reinforcing cues the same way, it works very well for shelter dogs.  We had success with this for the 6 months we were doing this.  Each week we added another cue/test item that we trained with the dog for everyone to continue to work with dog each time the dog was taken out of the kennel. That way it is not overwhelming for shelter staff and volunteers.

We implemented a "doggie day trip" in our rescue.  We also go over the training we have already done with the dog we are fostering for people who will be doing doggie sleepovers or doggie day trips.   The doggie day trip and doggie sleepover ideas came from Maddie's Fund forums.  They have been successful for us as well.

The most important things for adopters are being able to take dogs into public without the dog pulling on a leash. Hints the reason for the dog day trips.  Yes, house and crate training is the very first question people ask about a shelter dog.  I personally don't feel like that is a fair question to ask a shelter with 200+ dogs and less than 20 staff and volunteers.  There are a lot of variables in play for house and crate training.  

Thank you for helping dogs in the shelter.

------------------------------
Kim Jackson
AKC CGC Evaluator
President/Founder For The Puppies Foundation Inc.
Corinth, MS
kimj@forthepuppiesfoundation.org
www.forthepuppiesfoundation.org

Original Message:
Sent: 05-30-2025 05:35 AM
From: Deeann Harper
Subject: The Canine Good Citizen Ready program for rescues

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks! 

#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment

------------------------------
Deeann Harper
------------------------------

@Kim Jackson Thank you for the reply and info! It is so helpful! I did find the below kennel card on the AKC website. I think it would be great to be able to display this on each kennel for the dogs in the program. If I may ask, did you approach the shelter with the program or did they seek you out? If you did approach them did you find there was any resistance from the staff or volunteers? 

I have also been discussing doing doggie day trips for the dogs. There is a larger shelter about an hour away from me that does them so I'm going to reach out to them to see if I could come and see how their program works and what it entails. Thank you for letting me know there is info in Maddie's Fund forums as well. I will look for that. 

Thank you again for sharing your experience. It is so helpful and motivating to hear how it was successful for you and the rescue you worked with. 

Thanks! Deeann 

Deeann Harper,

Yes, that program has been successful for us.

We did this a year ago for about 6 months. I am an AKC Evaluator.  Do you have the AKC CGC Ready Kennel Cards that you can attach to the dogs' kennel? 

We use lure training and clicker training.  As you know, clicker training is a skill set. So, we used lure training for the volunteers and staff of the shelter.  When I say "we", I mean me and my husband. 

The kennel cards would help the volunteers and staff to reinforce the behaviors that the dog already knows. It is a check list of the test items for CGC.  We found that if all handlers are consistent with reinforcing cues the same way, it works very well for shelter dogs.  We had success with this for the 6 months we were doing this.  Each week we added another cue/test item that we trained with the dog for everyone to continue to work with dog each time the dog was taken out of the kennel. That way it is not overwhelming for shelter staff and volunteers.

We implemented a "doggie day trip" in our rescue.  We also go over the training we have already done with the dog we are fostering for people who will be doing doggie sleepovers or doggie day trips.   The doggie day trip and doggie sleepover ideas came from Maddie's Fund forums.  They have been successful for us as well.

The most important things for adopters are being able to take dogs into public without the dog pulling on a leash. Hints the reason for the dog day trips.  Yes, house and crate training is the very first question people ask about a shelter dog.  I personally don't feel like that is a fair question to ask a shelter with 200+ dogs and less than 20 staff and volunteers.  There are a lot of variables in play for house and crate training.  

Thank you for helping dogs in the shelter.

Hi!

I volunteer as a dog trainer at a local rescue and I'm looking for ways to enhance the structure and effectiveness of the training I provide for the dogs waiting on their forever homes. My goal is to better prepare our dogs for a successful adoption and provide them with strong foundational skills.

I'm interested in the Canine Good Citizen Ready program. I'm curious if anyone here has experience implementing this program (or a similar structured training curriculum) within their facilities. 

If you have I'd love to hear what your overall experience was like? Did you observe any measurable increase in adoption rates for dogs certified as Canine Good Citizen Ready? Did it seem to increase adopter confidence? What pitfalls (if any) did you encounter when trying to train these behaviors in a shelter or rescue environment? And any other info you think might be helpful. 

Thanks!