The La Plata County Humane Society, in partnership with pranaDOGS, is now evaluating dogs through the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen Certification. This ten-part test rates a dog's ability to successfully manage everyday life situations. It provides the humane society with the ability to better match dogs to homes and offers a look into problem areas that can then be focused on.
"We've been looking for a way to highlight to the community those dogs that come to us that are really great, especially pitties," said Chris Nelson, the society's director of animal services. "Just like every other shelter, we're overwhelmed with pit bulls. The Canine Good Citizen Test certifies that these dogs have great manners and are not dangerous, as so many people believe."
The society typically has about a third to one half of its kennel space taken up by pit bulls and pit mixes. These dogs are similar to the other dogs that find themselves between homes, but the sheer number of them leaves them staying at the shelter for much longer times. "Our dogs are typically adopted within two weeks, but we have so many pitties that end up staying much longer," says Nelson.
The Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Test has been used in many situations where behavior modification has been put in place to rehabilitate a dog, then certify it was safe in public. Most notably it was used to certify the Michael Vick fighting dogs. They were able to live in a community and were adopted out based on the evaluations. Dogs that pass the CGC test are deemed to be reliable family and community members and are eligible to receive a certificate or title from the American Kennel Club.
pranaDOGS is a dog training company run by Certified Professional Dog Trainer Marcy Eckhardt.
For more information about Boomer and other dogs available for adoption, call 249-2847 or visit the humane society facility at 1111 S. Camino del Rio in durango.
