Class trains both dogs and owners

“Ruff, ruff, ruff” was the closest anyone came to a speech during the recent graduation night at the dog obedience class at Veterans Memorial Regional Park.

The dogs in the class seemed happy to be there, even as their people seemed a bit apprehensive of the final exam for the “Canine Good Citizen” award, which was rough, rough, rough.

The test would have been hard for some people to pass with instructors dropping phone books, pushing strollers, talking loudly and making funny noises all over the place.

And that ability to ignore distractions was just one part of the 10-part test for the award.

Dogs were judged on their appearance and ability to accept strangers without jumping up on them. They also had to sit politely for petting, walk calmly on a leash with their people, walk through a crowd, sit on command, come when called, react well to another dog and behave upon separation from their owners.

“Training a dog is work,” said Debbie Hood, who brought Trooper, her mixed breed rescue dog to the 8-week, $80 course at the park.

“It’s not just do it once and forget it. It’s constant reinforcement,” said Hood, a veterinary assistant.

The dogs learned a lot, but they weren’t the only ones who had to adhere to a lesson plan.

Keith Hasselstrom came to the class with his wife, Myra; son, Kaleb; and Bailey, a 1-year-old beagle.

Myra grew up with a beagle, but Bailey is Keith’s first dog.

Keith said he learned as much as Bailey did.

“I learned that I’m trainable if I put the time and effort into it. I think with a beagle it takes a little more diligence, but I have a good confidence level that he’ll eventually come around to doing the things I want him to do,” said Keith, a software engineer.

Myra, who is expecting a second child, suggested the class.

“I needed him to be trained as well,” she said of her husband.

Leigh Truax, came with Jake, a Staffordshire terrier, who “had no house manners, no obedience whatsoever.”

Truax found the 8- or 9-month-old Jake wandering her neighborhood and took him in.

Jake, a friendly dog who wants to lick everybody, is better now, she said.

Jake is not the first dog Truax has had in the program. She brought her first dog, Baby, to the class 20 years ago.

“Every time I get a new dog, I just bring them here,” said Truax, a retired dog groomer.

Linda Westerhoff, a class instructor who has been with the program since 1981, said the dogs get one “second chance” on one aspect of the test and then they have to pass all of the other portions to receive the CGC award.

Failure to win the award doesn’t reflect badly on the dogs or their owners, said Westerhoff, a retired Prince William County pre-school teacher.

“If they don’t pass the CGC, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a good dog. It just means that for this night — this moment — they just didn’t do it,” she said of any given test requirement.

There is, however, recognition that the dogs and their owners have put in the effort.

Dogs who complete the training receive a diploma saying they’ve had basic obedience training.

Westerhoff said she likes the class because dogs treat everybody the same.

“It puts all people on an equal playing field. You don’t know whether you’ve got a millionaire or a ditch digger. A dog will humble anybody. You don’t have to be anybody special,” she said.

For more information about the obedience class, call Veterans Park at 703-491-2183.