CCEG1.
 

 The History of Cambridge Canine Education Group  1983 – 2020

 CCEG had a great run between these years, busy classes for puppies to older dogs in obedience and agility,

I love all dogs so CCEG was always a club open to all dogs my own passion being the German Shepherd.

We never turned a dog away and were there to help people with the not so easy to train or not the most sociable around other dogs which I believe is what the starter classes are all about.

Dogs and owners came to join us from Stamford, Chelmsford, Basildon, Ware, Harlow, Stevenage, Haverhill to name but a few!

CCEG started in 1983 in St.Geroge’s Church Hall in Chesterfield Cambridge before that it had been called Dog Training Section Cambridge affiliated to The GSD {Alsatian) Club of the United Kingdom who encouraged GSD training clubs to offer mixed classes for all breeds, in late 1983 came a change of rules and only GSD’s were now able to join so not wanting to conform to this new rule I went solo and CCEG was born.

As the club grew four members showed a desire to help with classes and trained to become class instructors the original team being Mick, Tracey, Jan and Pat

Jan and Pat are still teaching classes with cceg21 and are in MHO the very best of instructors and trainers at all levels and excel at Puppy training classes.

Vickie who took over the classes and now runs CCEG21 had started coming to the hall with her mum and their Dalmatian and a few years later with her own dog to classes and later returned and became a member of the team of instructors.

Others came and went on to open their own clubs or to become behaviourists etc. In 1986 we started using an outdoor venue in Impington to incorporate agility and obedience classes these were held during the day at weekends something not done before certainly not in Cambridgeshire

We offered Kennel Club Puppy, Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards, Our own Platinum Advance Training Award and Dog of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Brave Heart, Awards and held Doggie Fun Days and Doggie Quiz and Curry nights,

Well known and respected dog trainers, behaviourists visited the club to give talks including Roy Hunter, Terry Ryan (USA) , John Rogerson and  Turid Rugaas.

We had dogs and owners coming to join us from Stamford, Chelmsford, Basildon, Ware, Harlow, Stevenage, Norwich, Haverhill to name but a few!

With Pat I also ran Puppy Classes for Village Vets at Milton and Longstaton and with Jan PuppySteps at Caldecote.

During these years together with Alison Rowbotham and Steve Wilson I held ‘CCEG Canine Convention’ weeks in the Yorkshire Dales, a week away with your dog(s), training and talking dogs and learning from morning to night (or when the bar closed!!) with dogs and owners joining us from all over the UK

Even during Covid when the rule of 6 was in place the club was very busy with Puppy and Beginners classes due to many people getting ‘lock down’ puppies and dogs, Intermediate and Advance classes also had numbers equalling normal times. We coped with the extra need for more classes by starting earlier and stopping a bit later. The worse part for me was attending to the number of emails each day to book the spaces available but weekends were a dream taking classes.

 We received compliments from those working/owners in/of Nursing Homes, the NHS, and Childcare Nursery’s on how well we were running classes during this time.

I decided at the end of 2020 to step back from heading up CCEG this was partly due to the travelling involved from where I now live but mainly because of Rema (my GSD) suffering extreme anxiety from fireworks, gun shots and crow scares the last two often being heard at our training venue.

I’d mentioned it to the team that I was thinking of stepping back probably a year before and when I decided it was time asked if anyone would like to take over trying to be fair I offered it to each member of the team in order of their time with and commitment to the club, Jan, Pat and Tracey didn’t feel they had the time to run it Vickie however said she would like to as she was already at the time running her own 1-2-1 dog training, walking and dog behaviour business.

Thanks to a great team of people I hope CCEG gave as much happiness to dogs and their owners as we had offering the classes, as well as Pat, Jan and Vickie to name a few more long time members who made it what it became Tracey, Kari, Gail and John.

From a Google search CCEG is the longest running dog training club in Cambridge and equal 2^nd in Cambridgeshire,

CCEG was of its time and our way of running classes during these years was, according to one member who searched the web for something similar …. Unique

And the Years to come….

These are certainly interesting times for dog training and those involved in behaviour, recently I was sent an article where it’s now looked upon as an Industry!! no longer is it people  passionate about being around dogs and training people to train their dogs so dogs have better lives  but  about making money.

Over the last 40 or 50 years the approach and methods of dog training has changed to the point where real obedience training clubs  have virtually disappeared .

 Walking your dog to heel at some classes means it's OK letting your dog sniffing the ground as long as the dog isn’t pulling, roll over, give paw and go to your bed are the main stay of many training classes.

 I feel (unfortunately) things have changed  to a more casual approach in nearly every area of our lives, changes in every part of our culture, laws and the standard of what and how we do things and It goes without saying dog training has changed, unfortunately for dog owners  I believe the dog remains much as it’s always has been which is where the problems starts, however much knowledge or experience we may have we will  never get inside the dog’s head and seen the world as they perceive it and until a dog speaks to us and confirm our opinion we can only surmise.

If you would like free help and advice about care, training and/or training then please email and I'd be happy to try and help

alan@cceg.co.uk

I'm a member of The British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers

 - and a past member of the

1.

Kennel Club Accreditation Scheme

I left the Kennel Club Accreditation Scheme (KCAI) when members were informed it was closing in 2025

I was a Kennel Club Accredited Instuctor at advance level in companion dog level in Training and Behaviour

2.

NADOI

II did not renew my membership of  The National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors

because of their stance on the e-collar and prong collar

  I have been involved in dog training and training clubs for the last 60 years.

  Over those years I attended over 80 Courses on training, instructing and behaviour.

Many of these were with  the late former Met/Police Dog Trainer/Instructor Roy Hunter first as a Course member and later helping to run and plan Courses.