It’s official: Magneto is a good citizen. This New Yorker strolls the streets calmly, unfazed by the sights and sounds of the busy city. Horn honks, sidewalk trash, subway smells, touchy passersby—Magneto takes it all in stride. Magneto is a good dog. And his owner has the papers to prove it.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) officially recognizes dogs that demonstrate good citizenship. The official title for these city-wise pups is Urban Canine Good Citizen. The Urban CGC is one of four titles the AKC gives for doggie citizenship.
Dogs must have a registered AKC number and pass the basic Canine Good Citizen test before being allowed to take the urban version of the exam.
The basic test has been around for about 25 years. More than 700,000 dogs have passed. The urban version requires a bit more self-restraint on the part of the pooch.
AKC officials administer the Urban CGC test in tough city settings. Streets, cars, noises, elevators, outdoor cafes, and other distractions are all part of the real-world exam.
Dogs perform a 10-step test of skills. For example, they must wait patiently for “walk” lights at pedestrian crossings, clamber in and out of cars or taxis, and ignore tempting street food. Two of the most difficult parts of the test involve a dog’s tolerating hugs and strokes from strangers and remaining still while its owner browses in a dog-friendly shop.
Some people think the test of doggie etiquette is barking up the wrong tree. “It’s more that the owners could step up their game,” observed one New Yorker.
Why do owners put their dogs through these urban paces? For one thing, it’s a way to “consider others,” as in Philippians 2:3. But additionally, from a practical point of view, some people believe good dog behavior will pay off. Some homeowners’ insurers have agreed to cover certain breeds with the basic canine good citizen title according to the AKC. Further, some think the Urban CGC title might help get a beloved pet into the best co-ops and condos.
What does the pooch get for its efforts? The AKC awards each dog that successfully passes the citizenship test the suffix “CGC” after its name—that and a doggie treat.
Some canines will do anything to stay out of the doghouse.
( Emily H)
Near were I live ther is a place called Whitebird Horse center, It is a place were they rescue horses, I have been ther once and there was so many! But the strange thing is the The reason it is called " White Bird" Is because they have lots of appaloosas there ( Appaloosas are spotted horses) and the appaloosas came from the Nez Prez Indians, and the chief indian back then was named Whitebird! I am pretty sure they have a website
Rebekah S
How is Sawyer doing? Is he over his kennel cough?
Emily H
What state do you live in? I'd love to go and visit Whitebird Horse Center. I love Appaloosas, Akhal Tekes, Grullas, and Tennessee Walking Horses (I have a lot of favorites, lol). What is your favorite breed/breeds of horse? :)
Gabrielle p.
Yes, Sawyer is over the kennel cough. :) There's been more videos of him and his siblings having breakfast, and he's romping around and having a great time!
Emily H. and Gabrielle P.
Is the place called White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue? I looked it up online and found that.
The horse rescue I mentioned above is located in Burkeville, Virginia.
Rebekah and Gabrielle
You two take up about 75% of the comments. No shame, just thought it was interesting that you 2 have had a 6 month long conversation. Thats all.
Preston H.
Wow..I didn't realize that it's been six months already! :)
Emily h,
Do you have any pets? I have a Shetland Sheepdog called Tori; she's a female.
(Emily H)
Yes, I live in Burkeville Virginia. I did more research and found out that they only accept volunteers on Saturdays though. I do not have any pets in my own house, Though I ride at my grandpas's farm. I ride a Brown and white paint tabbing quarter horse gelding, his is really sweet! My fav breed would, ( I have to say I love all of them) Be rocky mountain horses and quarter horses.
( Emily H)
Soory, I ment tabino instead of tabby, And I actully do have pets! Two cats that our family adore ( And spoil) One is a tabby male named Tiger the other one is a black female named Luna.
(Emily H)
I was on the best freinds website and there were sections on " Horse Haven" Do any of you volanteer there? If so what are the horses names breeds, etc?
Emily H.
No, I'm too far away to volunteer at Horse Haven. However, last year, when my family took a 2-week road vacation out west, we stopped at Best Friends to volunteer. The first day I got to volunteer at Horse Haven; we mucked pastures, brushed a horse, and got to explore the canyon a bit with the staff member that was helping us volunteer. It was pretty cool! :)
The names, breeds, genders, ages, and such of the horses are under the Adopt section on Best Friends' sight.
Emily H.
Do you mean tobiano in instead of tabiano?
Emily H.
Are your cats spayed and neutered (made unable to reproduce)?
( Emily H)
Sorry! Lots and lots of misspells in my commenting! Yes, our cats just went in Febuary to get ' Fixed '. What are your plans for horses in your shelter to-be? I
( Emily H)
Wow! So I just checked the website and they made a book about one of the horses named Mr. Bowersox that they rescued from Montana and guess what? That horse turned out to be the horse that me and my sister groomed, Mr. B!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It said that it was about a blind appaloosa pony! I can not believe it :)
( Emily H)
Wow! So I just checked the website and they made a book about one of the horses named Mr. Bowersox that they rescued from Montana and guess what? That horse turned out to be the horse that me and my sister groomed, Mr. B!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It said that it was about a blind appaloosa pony! I can not believe it :)
( Emily H)
Whoops, I think I pushed the save button twice! Hehehe
Emily H.
It's great to hear that your cats got "fixed"! How old are they and where did you get them?
Emily H.
When a person first starts a shelter, there usually will be no money to buy a facility, support yourself, or have paid staff. As the shelter grows and gets bigger, you may be able to buy a facility, support yourself, and have a couple of paid staff. So to say, the shelter could only rescue dogs, cats, and other small animals for the most part at first. When the shelter grows and gets bigger, horses could be included if there were the appropriate supplies and funds to rescue them.
I haven't made any plans for horses yet, just dogs and cats.
emily h.
What grade are you in?
(Emily H)
I think our cats were, I don't really know because their mom was a stray that we adopted and sadly, the mother died due to a car. She had three cats but the third one Sandy, went missing and we have searched high and low, but can not find him. I am in 4th grade, going into 5th. Have you heard of nurse mare foals?
Emily H.
I believe I have heard of nurse mare foals. Do they provide milk for foals without mothers in need of milk?
Emily H.
Are your cats indoor or outdoor?
( Emily H)
A nurse mare foal is a foal who was born so that its mother might come into milk. The milk that the nurse mare is producing is used to nourish the foal of another mare, a more “expensive” foal. Primarily these are thoroughbred foals, though certainly not limited to the thoroughbred industry. The foals are essentially byproducts of the mare's milk industry. A thoroughbred mare's purpose is to produce more racehorses. A mare can give birth to one foal each year provided she is re-bred immediately after delivering a foal. Because the Jockey Club requires that mares be bred only by live cover, and not artificially inseminated. The mare must travel to the stallion for breeding and may be shipped as soon as 7-10 days after giving birth to a foal, but a period of 3-4 weeks is generally allowed. Our cats are outdoor cats, but after they got fixed, we took them inside for a couple of weeks to rest
Emily H.
I don't know that much about the horse racing industry so I just took a guess, but it's really not a good life for the horses! If having foals is the sole purpose of a mare's life, does she get loved or know what it's like to be a horse?
Emily h.
Do you read lots of horse books? (I think it's pretty cool that a girl your age knows so much about horses!)
olivia H
Yes, she does quite the reading ( by the way I am the sister) I think she owes it to our Grandfather :)
Olivia H.
Okay. My sister does LOTS of reading too. :)
Emily H.
In one of my previous comments, I worded something wrong. Sorry!
( Emily H)
It is ok! I have a lot of bad grammar in my commenting! I think you said a while back that you used to take riding lessons, how was it? I have always wondered what it is like to ride with different horses and people, were did you used to ride?
Dogs
That must suck for the dog to go through that.
Emily H.
I took riding lessons when I was pretty young, about 8, so I don't remember much. I took the lessons at Shepard Stables in Brookston. While I was helping to tack the horses up I would take lots of time to brush them--it seemed like I would rather brush and care for them than to ride them! I really wish I would have been older so it would have been a better experience for me.
( Emily H
Me to! I love to groom the horses,clean tack, muck out stalls/paddocks and anything else involed with horses, I don't think riding starts when you get in the saddle, and ends when you get out! I read some past comments and saw that you said you got very crazy for horses, and you lots of books on horses, horse care, how to think like a horse etc, I saw this one book called " Thinking like a Horse" By Cherry Hill, ( She is one of my fav horse authors) I thought that maybe that was the book you were talking about :)
Emily H.
The book I have by Cherry Hill is called "How to Think Like a Horse". I think it's the same book you were talking about; I've started reading the book but haven't really finished it.
Um are u two or three...
Um if you people like horses than just come over to my house and you can take care of them for a week.
Preston h.
How many horses do you have? What breeds are they?
( Emily H)
Really?! What color? Names? Do any of you ride them? Were do you live? ( I live in Virginia)
Gabrielle P.
Have you seen Hercules' story on Loving Heart's Facebook page?
Rebekah S
I don't think I have. I've been pretty busy trying to finish up this year of 4H and I've also had some music activities, so I haven't gotten to spend much time doing anything extra. I'll try and check it out though. :)
Gabrielle p.
Shelter update-
Most of the puppies have approved applications. This means that once they have been fully vetted they will get adopted. The puppies that don't have approved applications are Sawyer, Sherman, and either Stewart or Sylvester.
The cat that everybody thought to be pregnant (Addie is her name) is actually spayed!
The people that are fostering Abby want to finalize the adoption!!!!!!!
gabrielle p.
What are you doing in 4H?
Rebekah S
I'm was doing 4H dog, but the dog part is over now. Now I'm just completing my record book, and there's an end of the year party.
Rebekah S
Wow!! So Addie turned out to be not pregnant after all. :D That's so interesting. Is she kind of chubby?
gabrielle p.
No, Addie doesn't really look chubby.
So get this...yesterday, as my mom and I were helping a couple of LHAS staff members vaccinate the puppies, a person on the board of directors called and said that CoCo, the Chihuahua/Dachshund mix, was lactating (producing milk)! This was pretty shocking since IACC had told them that CoCo was spayed; however, the LHAS staff had never checked for a spay scar. So, if CoCo is pregnant, she couldn't have gotten pregnant at IACC because she would have already have had her puppies by now. As it turns out, CoCo (supposedly spayed) was let out with Rocky (un-neutered at the time) so it's a pretty good guess that Rocky is the dad. But to make matters even weirder, CoCo would have had to have been in heat during the time that she was out with Rocky; if that had been the case, the LHAS staff wouldn't have let them out together.
So, I don't really know what's going on with CoCo! They scheduled an appointment at the vet with her, so hopefully we'll get some answers.
gabrielle p.
Maybe CoCo was just going into heat when she and Rocky were let out together and that stopped her going into heat. I don't really know, but it's a pretty good guess/
gabrielle p.
From what have learned so far, I've written up a dog adoption contract.
Rebekah S
That's so interesting/strange. So IACC told Loving Heart that CoCo was spayed, but she might actually be pregnant? That's a pretty good guess you have there. How old is CoCo again?
Rebekah S
Do you have a copy of the adoption contract that I might be able look at? :) You are really great at writing by the way!!
Gabrielle p.
Yes--IACC told Loving Heart that they had seen a spay scar, but Loving Heart never checked to make sure. CoCo is about 5.
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