Good Citizens Scheme and pet obedience

A well behaved pet is a joy to own.  Like most things you do not get something for nothing so to own a dog that is not a pest, a nuisance or disobedient does require a bit of effort in the form of training.  The philosophy of Happy Hounds is to train the handler how best to train their own dog, usually the younger the dog the quicker the results.

Happy Hounds training follows the Kennel Club’s Good Citizen standards and handlers progress their dogs through the appropriate grades.  Young puppies graduate from our Ashwood Vets experience to bronze class.  Older puppies can still join us for the puppy foundation and large puppies may go straight to bronze training.

 Once handlers reach an acceptable standard of control they can be tested by a Kennel Club approved examiner and progress to the next grade, silver and gold.

Each of our trainers know the exacting standards for the grading and our KC qualified trainers; Barbara, Chris and Jane can act as assessors for other Clubs.

The Good Citizens scheme is a purely about enabling humans and dogs to live in harmony though it does give a basis for competitive dog obedience.  At Happy hounds we prefer the newer Rally Obedience which is less formal and more varied.  Many of our handlers enjoy the Rally Obedience or Rally-O to supplement the general training and some have gone on to compete. Others prefer other activities such as heelwork to music, agility and flyball.