Why should families care about titles?

You’ve heard us talk about earning titles such as Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Trick Dog (TKN), Virtual Home Manners (VHM) and others with our dogs but I’m not sure that we’ve explained the reason.

Temperament is subjective. The traits I love in a dog and consider to make up a “wonderful temperament” are not going to be the same as yours. There’s nothing wrong with that but it can make finding the new addition of your dreams difficult.

A friend of mine LOVES the spicy dogs. She wants them to be smart as a whip, constantly thinking, want to go everywhere and be involved type of dogs. One loves that hers are protective, growling at strangers and willing to defend her quickly, and yet another loves the gentle, easy and sweet dogs that lovingly gaze at you and cuddle on the couch. Not one of them is wrong though they are vastly different. This realization led me to seek out an unbiased evaluator of my dog’s temperaments. A professional that would assess their soundness (both body and mind), intelligence, stability and heart—and that’s when I found my trainer.

Working with her the last few years I’ve been able to fine tune my ability to produce puppies with therapy temperaments. As I’m sure you know, it starts with their parents and how the pups are raised. Requiring our dogs to take classes and earn titles in temperament and trainability is proof that they can be trusted away from home, with strangers and unknown dogs in unfamiliar surroundings. The titles prove they are willing and able to learn new things, can focus on a task with distractions and have the confidence to make mistakes and try again. They tell families our dogs are stable, sound and show no signs of aggression even when pushed.

My hope is they give families peace of mind. You don’t have to take my word for it because our dogs have earned the titles to prove their hearts. ♥️

Today, Kindle walked away from class earning four new titles after her name. She’s a special girl and proof that our little ones are getting better and better.