7 month-old Grace is an amazing puppy in more than one way. She passed her AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy test tonight with flying colors and is well on her way to passing the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test. She did this despite being hit by a car just two weeks ago! Grace has mastered basic training, is healing well and is on her way to a happy life as a well loved and well trained dog!

Today was Opal's day to shine! Always an eager beaver to show off her service dog tasks, she also did a few tricks and demonstrated a few musical freestyle moves for a group of kids at the Multicultural Center downtown. The kids were a great audience - they asked very good questions! They even remembered what they learned at last month's bite prevention talk!

Two years ago a toddler was killed by two rottweilers in Hopkinton, Iowa when the dogs escaped from a kennel in the back yard. In a coincidental twist of fate, Cindy and Ginger traveled to this same small Iowa town this afternoon to give a bite prevention talk to children at the public library. Children learned how to be safe around dogs in an interactive educational program which ended with the children being allowed to pet Ginger, using the techniques they had just learned.

Cindy and Ginger gave a presentation today to a group of about 40 children at the Multicultural Family Center in downtown Dubuque on safety around dogs. The children learned specific techniques for staying safe in an interactive learning activity and then applied what they learned by petting Ginger.

Watch for the March issue of The Golden View and Cindy's new column on dog training. The column will be in Q & A format and answer questions submitted by readers. The first column will answer the question, "Can you teach an old dog new tricks?"

The Dubuque Dog Scouts troop is now official! We received our troop number today - #224! We are the first Dog Scout troop in Iowa and Opal is the first Dog Scout in Iowa ~ hopefully many more dogs and their owners will follow!

The purpose of Dog Scouts is to promote responsible pet ownership and "to improve the lives of dogs, their owners, and society through humane education, positive training, and community involvement." (Dog Scouts of America) Dogs and their owners have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities to earn merit badges.

The first badge, the Dog Scout title is earned for demonstrating basic obedience, similar to the requirements for the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) or a therapy dog test. It is a pre-requisite to earning all other badges.

All training must be positive (no force - choke chains, leash corrections, shock, etc.) and clicker training is encouraged. Food may be used in training but not in testing.

For more information about the Dubuque Dog Scouts troop, contact Cindy Ludwig via the contact form on this website.

Montana, a 7 year-old Golden Retriever from west central Iowa passed her CGC and Canine Connection Therapy Dog Test all in one night with flying colors ~ Montana is going to make an awesome therapy dog. Welcome to the team, Montana and handler, Tracy!

Cindy and Opal assisted Proudly Accessible Dubuque to help raise awareness about service dogs at the Community Foundation Block Party for non-profit organizations downtown tonight at the Roshek Bldg. Opal demonstrated service dog tasks while Cindy talked with people interested in learning more about service dogs and service dog etiquette. Opal did very well despite the highly distracting environment!