AKC programs
What is the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy test?
Most puppy classes end with a handshake. S.T.A.R. Puppy ends with a test, a medal and a record at the AKC, and it grades the owner as carefully as the puppy. Here is what the evaluator looks for.
The short version
The short version: six weeks of class, then 20 steps that grade you as well as the puppy
S.T.A.R. Puppy is a program rather than a one-off exam. The AKC asks that the puppy attend a class of at least six weeks, with an Approved CGC Evaluator signing off the final test. At the end, the evaluator works through 20 items. Roughly a third of them are about you: whether the puppy's health is looked after, whether you have an exercise plan, whether you bring bags to class.
Pass, and the puppy is listed in the AKC's records and receives a medal and a certificate, with an official title available if the puppy has an AKC, PAL or Canine Partners number. Mixed breeds are welcome throughout. The AKC describes the program as preparation for Canine Good Citizen training, which is how we use it: a first goal with a clear finish line, and the habit of practising toward something.
The 20 steps
What the 20 steps cover, and what the owner items look like on Cape Ann
The six owner behaviors are the Responsibility in S.T.A.R.: the puppy's health and vaccinations, receiving the AKC's Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge, describing a daily play and exercise plan, attending at least six classes with an evaluator, bringing bags to clean up after the puppy and having identification on it. In Gloucester a city license from the City Clerk at 9 Dale Ave, $20 for a spayed or neutered dog with a rabies certificate, covers the ID and the vaccination items in one tag.
The five puppy behaviors are about temperament: no aggression toward people or other puppies across the class, tolerating a collar or harness, being held, and giving up a treat or toy. The final nine are pre-Canine Good Citizen skills: petting and grooming by someone else, leash walking, sit, down, recall, staying calm near a distraction and staying briefly with another person. The exercise plan is where local rules bite: Rockport asks for a leash or direct voice control and Halibut Point State Park requires leashes on every trail, at the time of writing.
- Owner behaviors (6): health, the pledge, an exercise plan, class attendance, cleanup bags, ID
- Puppy behaviors (5): no aggression, accepts collar or harness, can be held, gives up a treat or toy
- Pre-CGC behaviors (9): petting, grooming, leash, sit, down, recall, distraction, staying with another person
- Exact items and wording are the AKC's; read its page before test day
At Dogtown
How it works at Dogtown: 12 sessions across six weeks, for puppies from 8 weeks to 6 months
Dogtown's AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy course is a fixed 6 weeks and 12 sessions, two a week, for puppies between 8 weeks and 6 months at enrollment. Gabriella Pope, our Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist, leads it fear- and force-free: confidence, manners, socialization, handling, leash skills, recall and foundation obedience, each mapped to the AKC's list. Sessions start from $94 and the plan is confirmed after a short assessment.
The building does a lot of the work. A puppy practising the grooming item can do it on a real table with a real dryer humming through the wall of the grooming studio. The distraction item has 10,000 square feet of turf, pools, platforms and passing playgroups to draw from, at a distance Gabby controls. Ask us how the end-of-course test is administered; what a puppy retains depends on the daily practice at home.
- 01
Contact form with the puppy's date of birth and the words S.T.A.R. Puppy; reply within one hour on business days
- 02
Short assessment with Gabby to confirm the fit and the start date
- 03
Twelve sessions over six weeks, working through the puppy skills and your owner items
- 04
Homework between sessions, including the owner items
- 05
The 20-step test at the end of the course, then go-home lessons and a next step if you want one
For your puppy
What it means for your puppy: a syllabus, a calm evaluator and a ceiling on how scary things get
For a confident puppy it is the ideal first course: structure, a published standard and a stranger who handles its ears and feet in week six without drama. Tiny Tails graduates often step straight in, since the handling and settle work is already underway. For the 5-month-old who missed a puppy class, it is the last program with the word puppy on it.
For a worried puppy it is not first. A pup that hides from strangers or freezes on a new floor is asked to do both in the test, and pushing it there would teach the wrong lesson. Brave & Balanced, from 4 months, builds the confidence first, and S.T.A.R. Puppy or Canine Citizen Academy follows when the puppy is ready. Gabby decides the order at the assessment, and she will not enter a puppy for a test it is not ready to enjoy.
- Confident 8 week to 6 month puppies: enroll directly
- Tiny Tails graduates: a natural second block with a certificate at the end
- Puppies past 6 months: Canine Citizen Academy takes the same ideas into adolescence
- Fearful puppies: Brave & Balanced first, the test later
At Dogtown
The puppy programs behind the test
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy, Tiny Tails Puppy School and Dogtown Academy days, all led by the same trainer.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Does my puppy need to be AKC registered to take the S.T.A.R. Puppy test?
How is S.T.A.R. Puppy different from the Canine Good Citizen test?
What happens if my puppy does not pass an item?
My puppy is 7 months old. Which program instead?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Twenty steps, one proud puppy.
Send the contact form with your puppy's date of birth. The training team replies within one hour on business days and books an assessment with Gabby before the six weeks start.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
