Today, Cairo got his CAL 1 and CAL 2, took 4th place in Weight Pull (3rd was a pitbull, 2nd was a corso, 1st was a corso) I will add, it was Cairo's 1st time ever in a WP harness, and 1st time ever doing any kind of weight pull. I'm proud of him lol. The CAL judge was extremely impressed with Cairo. Anya got 2nd place driviest puppy (Danyels pup Levi, Anya's brother, took 1st place), and Halo was picked for 3rd but they gave it to a Corso because the evaluator was afraid of pissing off the Corso people at a Corso event lol.
Here is the CAL test description, for everyone's understanding.
CAL 1
In order to be awarded the CAL 1 title, the dogs must be subjected, with favorable outcome, to the following exercises:
Behavior towards friendly strangers
The dog must remain calm in front of friendly persons. On indication of the steward, the handler walks the dog with a
loosened leash and without giving orders. As friendly strangers walk by, the dog must remain calm; he should also remain
calm when the handler approaches or is approached by strangers in order to shake their hand, to ask information. The dog
however should not be touched. Care must be taken that during this exercise everything is handled as casual as possible.
Indifference to firearm noise
For each dog, a pistol is fired twice in rapid succession from a distance of approximately 20 meters. The exercise is
executed with the dog held to a loosened leash of approximately 2 meters of length.
Defense of the handler
A decoy, armed with a flexible stick is placed behind a blind (hiding place). The handler, with the dog on leash (the leash is
approximately 5 meters long) but held to a length of approximately 1 meter, proceeds ahead according to the instructions
given by the steward. A stake is placed at a distance of approximately 10 meters from where the decoy is hiding, and, as the
dog and handler reach the stake they stop. At the same time, upon orders given by the steward, the decoy exits from the
blind and threatens the handler and dog. The handler, remains still by the stake, but incites the dog to face the threat by
loosening the leash, therefore allowing the dog to approach the decoy/aggressor. The dog must react immediately and
energetically defend its handler. There should never be contact between the decoy and the dog. This exercise is interrupted
by the steward when the dog has demonstrated with its reaction readiness, its real defense attitude. The dog that shows
indifference, shyness or manifests fear should not be given a passing grade.
CAL 2: In order to be awarded Cal 2, the dogs must be subjected, with favorable outcome, to the following exercises:
Behavior towards friendly strangers (Same as Cal1) .
Indifference to firearm (Same as Cal1).
Defense of the handler.
A decoy, armed with a flexible stick is placed behind a blind (hiding place). The handler, with the dog on leash (the leash is
approximately 5 meters long) but held to a length of approximately 1 meter, proceeds ahead according to the instructions
given by the steward. A stake is placed at a distance of approximately 10 meters from where the decoy is hiding, and, as the
dog and handler reach the stake they stop. At the same time, upon orders given by the steward, the decoy exits from the
blind and threatens the handler and dog. When confronted with this threat, the handler must immediately let the dog free
and urge it to attack. The dog must immediately and decidedly react biting the sleeve of the decoy and maintaining, possibly,
the hold until the end of the exercise. During this action the dog does not have to be hit in any way, but only threatened. The
dog that does not succeed in maintaining a constant hold of the sleeve for the entire duration of the exercise – unless due to
apparent shyness - must however uninterruptedly maintain a decidedly aggressive attitude toward the decoy. The test ends
on indication of the steward which, in estimating it, does not have to hold in account the length of the attack, and that it is not
needlessly prolonged, but above what is taken into consideration is the decision and reaction readiness of the dog when
confronted with the threat. The dog that shows fear, the total lack of aggressiveness and sleeve hold, indifference, are
always considered highly negative factors.