The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme Gold Award is the highest level of achievement of the Scheme. It builds upon the skills learnt in the Silver Award and develops more advance training skills of the dog and handler. The Gold Award is a natural progression of practical dog training skills and introduces new concepts such as relaxed isolation, stop the dog and send the dog to bed exercises, which are important in every day life situations. The Gold Award aims to provide handlers with a greater knowledge and understanding of their canine companion. Dogs that are awarded a Gold Certificate should reach the required standards in all exercises and be a worthy representative of the Scheme’s highest standard. Where possible it is preferable that certain exercises are tested at indoor and outdoor locations.

A dog is never too old to learn. My 10 year old rescue, Cassie, attained Gold level as Sue’s oldest ever student at Muttamorphosis in Denton Burn.

Why train a dog with someone else when I am a trainer myself?

• Because of the invaluable socialisation opportunities it affords your dog
• Because you learn tips and tricks from other professionals in the field
• Because you connect with peers who have the same mindset as yourself and if you are in disagreement with anyone you can discuss issues at length for the benefit of the dogs.