This CGC Advanced story starts with a water break, a seatbelt boop, and a dog who knows exactly what matters most.
She didn’t want water. Not until the seatbelt clicked.
We had just pulled over after CGC-A class. I gave her a nice sniff walk, got her back in the car, and offered the water bottle. She looked at it, then turned her head and deliberately nose-booped the seatbelt buckle. Only after I clipped her in did she take a long, satisfied drink.
That’s where we are now. But to really appreciate that moment, we need to back up about 90 minutes — to the bark, the stare, and the sidewalk gauntlet she had to walk to get here.
Why We’re Here: Advanced Canine Good Citizen & Urban CGC
Lady Priscilla is currently training for both CGC Advanced (AKC Community Canine) and CGC Urban, the two highest-level tests in the AKC Canine Good Citizen program. While the basic CGC tests foundational manners in a controlled setting, these advanced titles require public access-level composure, emotional regulation, and true partnership.
We passed the Canine Good Citizen test several weeks ago. I thought that was the final boss. Turns out, it was just the warm-up round.
Week 3 Class Begins: The Bark and the Reset
Class began, as it usually does, with a bark.
We had just started walking toward the training site when she spotted him — the excitable dog from her first two sessions. She barked once, sharp and immediate, but I was faster. I pulled a clean Chest Stop (a remarkable move that Jenny taught us last week), and she responded instantly: sat, calmed, waited.
Jenny told us we still had ten minutes before class started, so I turned her away and gave her time to sniff the grass nearby. Good thing, too — she had to potty. Crisis averted before it even started.
When we returned, we hung back and watched the other teams arrive. Jenny led us all into the courtyard, and I gave Lady Priscilla an extra beat of distance — not quite in the mix, not quite alone. Just long enough for her to take it in and decide it was safe.
Then we moved forward together.
The First Half: Settles, Stays, and Problem Solving
Everyone sort of claimed a picnic table. We settled at one of the open spots — and that’s when the handler with the excitable dog decided it was the perfect moment to take a lap around the group.
He passed by our table with minimal space. Lady Priscilla barked. Once. She didn’t break her stay. Didn’t follow. Didn’t escalate. I calmly stepped between them, and she settled immediately. He moved on. So did we.
Our first assigned station was table settle: three minutes of calm while the handlers flip through a magazine (on the real CGC Advanced test, it will be filling out paperwork). She nailed it. Not a single adjustment needed.
Then came the real challenge: the 20-foot stay with a recall. She struggled to settle into the stay at that distance, and when she finally did, she tried to blow right past us on the recall. Jenny recommended a pivot — shorten the distance, shape it into a hand touch, and work from there. So that’s our mission this week: practice recalls in public every day, from short and safe to long and focused.
Next station: stairs and metal ramp (required for the CGC Urban, not the CGC Advanced). She’s an old pro at this stuff from our service dog adventures, so it was simple. Up and down, no hesitation, full confidence. She crushed it. I gave her a break.
Then came the impulse control test — the treat bowl walk. We set the treat in the bowl, turned her away, walked twenty feet, and returned. Lady Priscilla passed the bowl without breaking stride. She U-turned in tight quarters next to Coco — a dog she once couldn’t pass without spiraling — and stayed with me the entire time. We stopped beside the bowl. I released her. Then she took the treat.
The Second Half: Stay with Me
And that was only half the class.
The second half began with her own personal Dead Poets Society moment.
Jenny announced it was time to practice small group stays. She assigned us a spot squeezed between Coco and a concrete picnic table.
Lady Priscilla didn’t freeze or bark. She didn’t refuse outright. She simply took two large steps back and repositioned herself at a comfortable angle, so the table was no longer behind her — then executed a flawless sit-stay from there.
And honestly? I let her have it. That wasn’t disobedience. That was intelligent negotiation.
Walk Cycles, Tight Turns, and the Closer
Next, we ran two walk cycles: one slow, one fast. Jenny pointed out a “nice wide sidewalk” … in other words, a space about as wide as our apartment building’s hallway.
Two dogs walking in one direction on one side of the sidewalk. Two others coming toward us on the opposite side. All dogs positioned inside, on the handler’s left. Lady Priscilla was assigned the rear slot behind a calm dog — which meant passing the excitable dog first, then Coco. And to meet the CGC Advanced requirement, we had to do the first pass at a slow walk.
She was perfect. I cross-body blocked a bit, like Jenny had suggested before the walk, and talked to her softly the entire time. She kept her eyes forward and walked right through.
Second rep was a fast walk. She preferred that one. Honestly, so did I.
Then came the tight passes. We divided into two sidewalk teams — paired again with Coco, while the other two dogs moved about ten feet away. This time we practiced U-turns: walk directly toward each other, and right before you collide, turn and walk away.
Lady Priscilla didn’t hesitate. She glanced at Coco, just a brief, friendly acknowledgement. Then pivoted perfectly when I cued the turn.
Then came the closer.
Same head-on setup, but this time: stop face to face. Hold for two seconds. Then pass directly.
She walked. She paused. And she passed.
Like Coco was just another stranger at CVS.
No bark. No tension. Just a calm, informed choice to stay with us.
From Belief to Proof
That’s how we earned the boop.
Back in CGC class, I thought we were already in grad school. And we were. But this? This is the accelerated PhD program. Same dog, same team, but the stakes are higher, the work is deeper, and the growth is louder in the quietest ways.
Jenny said we were ready for this class, and I believed her even when I couldn’t see it. Week 1 ended in human meltdown. Week 2 was better, but still ragged. And with fewer weeks to train than we had in CGC, the pressure felt real.
But Week 3? This is when I finally saw the path. The first two weeks were a leap of faith. This time, I saw the way forward — and we walked it together.
Want to know more? See what happened when we practiced CGC Urban skills the following week at Home Depot. Follow Lady Priscilla’s entire CGC journey from the beginning or learn how the Lady Priscilla Method got us to this point.
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