CGC Training: Week 1

My local Kennel Club is holding Canine Good Citizen training at the Riverside Park each Wednesday for four weeks.  It's free and open to anyone, so I decided to take Sasha down there and give the training a shot. The test can be taken at a dog even the weekend after the training is done.
I want Conker to get his CGC more than Sasha, but he still has stranger issues while on-leash and I'd like to know what needs to be done in to get the CGC, so I figured I'd take Sasha since she's the most mellow of my three.

There was a good assortment of dogs there, most of them common breeds.  Labs, Golden Retrievers, a German Shepherd and a couple mixes, Rottweilers, Dobermans, too many to count Poodle-oodles, some Doxens... And a couple lesser seen breeds, like the Ridgeback I'd met before, a pair of gorgeous Afghans, a long-haired Corgi, a Newfoundland... It was neat seeing all those dogs there in one place.

The class is taught my some really nice older people, the group I was in anyways.  They used a combination of negative and positive reinforcement.  Meaning, if you dog isn't heeling, give a "pop" so they do, but praise and treat if they listen.  If they don't sit, pull up on the collar or lure into a sit with a treat and praise well afterward.  I don't have a problem with this kind of training, it's actually almost the same as what I already do with Sasha. 
They do want you to use a prong or choke chain until your dog is good, but they let me use Sasha's chain martingale without a problem.

We basically learned what to expect from a CGC test, what they will do with the dogs then learned how to get the dogs to heel, sit and stay.  I guess we'll be learning longer stays, long come and laying down next week.
Sasha did great with everything but when I had to tell her to sit.  See, whenever I'd get her to move so she would stand she's sit before I even told her to, so I was walking around trying to say "sit!" before she did.  The teacher lady laughed and said Sasha was fine, and it was good that she kept sitting automatically this soon in the class.


Anywho, that's all for now.  I'm going to work on Sasha's stay and get her to learn "down" before next week so I'm ready for it.  Next update on the CGC training will be Wednesday the 31st.