We begin this new, weekly column on all things dog by introducing ourselves to you. We are Bruce and Tracy Willoughby, of Dexter, and we currently share our home with 5 Newfoundlands, 3 Shih Tsus, 2 cats, and 3 Percheron draft horses. We have had over 25 dogs during our lives, some purebreds, some rescues, and all have lived in the house with us.

We have been teaching Puppy Orientation and 5-12 Month Puppies at the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club for several years now, and we are coordinators for the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program at the club. The Canine Good Citizen Program is a two-part program of the American Kennel Club (AKC) designed to: (1) teach responsible dog ownership to owners; and (2) certify dogs that have the training and behaviors needed to be reliable, well-behaved members of their families and communities.

Certification takes place through a test given by an AKC-approved evaluator. It is a 10-part test to ensure dogs are in good control and safe around people and other dogs. The specific test items are: Accepting a Friendly Stranger, Sitting Politely for Petting, Appearance and Grooming, Out for a Walk (Walking on a Loose Leash), Walking through a Crowd, Sit and Down on Command/Staying in Place, Coming When Called, Reaction to Another Dog, Reaction to Distractions, and a Supervised Separation. A number of states have issued proclamations supporting the CGC Program, and many apartment complexes and condominiums are now requiring the pets who reside there to have their CGC certificate. The Ann Arbor Dog Training Club offers a CGC practice and test 4 times a year, after each class term.

Over the years, we have had experience in the conformation (show), obedience, and rally rings. And we have friends who do agility, tracking, flyball, lure-coursing, hunting trials, water rescue, therapy work, draft, and other activities with their dogs. In this column if we can’t answer a question you have—and we encourage you to post comments and ask questions—then we’ll find someone who can.

Our teaching philosophy is simple: we use operant conditioning, in which a behavior (for example, a sit or down) or approximation of behavior is followed by positive reinforcement (praise, petting, a treat). We also use a conditioned (learned) reinforcer (a click, sound, or word) to mark the behavior and bridge the gap in time between when the behavior occurs and when we can get a treat to the dog or horse. For our dogs, we usually use the word “Yes.” For our horses, we use a clicker, which seems to work much better for them than a word or another sound. This type of training developed its popularity at Sea World by Ted Turner, who realized that something other than punishment had to be used when dealing with dolphins and killer whales.

Well, that’s an overview of who we are, what our experience is, what we’re interested in, and how we train. We don’t profess to know everything, but we hope that we can be a conduit for information to the Ann Arbor community and surrounding areas. And if we don’t know the answer, we can find someone who does.

We’ll spend the next few weeks discussing the CGC test and related issues.