S — Socialization
Meeting the world, calmly
New people, other puppies, sounds, surfaces and handling — introduced early and positively, so your puppy grows up curious instead of fearful. This is the part that can't be made up later.
AKC program · puppies under 1 year · evaluator since 2010
A six-week puppy class and a 20-item assessment — socialization, training and responsible ownership. The foundation your puppy stands on for everything after.
AKC
Evaluator
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is the American Kennel Club's foundation program for puppies under a year old. Puppy and owner complete a six-week puppy class taught by an AKC-Approved Evaluator, then are assessed on a 20-item checklist covering the owner's responsibilities, the puppy's behavior, and a set of pre-Canine Good Citizen skills. At Smarty Paws it is taught and tested by Christen Cupler, an AKC-Approved Evaluator since 2010. The assessment is $10, and it is the recommended first step before the Canine Good Citizen title.
On this page
The idea
S.T.A.R. is the AKC's shorthand for what a responsible owner gives a puppy in its first year. The program simply makes sure your puppy gets all four.
The first few months are the most important window in a dog's whole life. What a puppy meets, learns and practices before about a year old becomes the default it carries for the next decade or more. AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is built around that window — not to teach tricks, but to lay down the socialization and manners that make a confident, easy-to-live-with adult dog. Miss the window and you spend years undoing what never got built; use it well and everything after is easier.
S — Socialization
New people, other puppies, sounds, surfaces and handling — introduced early and positively, so your puppy grows up curious instead of fearful. This is the part that can't be made up later.
T — Training
Sit, down, come, and walking on a leash without a battle — plus name response and attention. All of it taught with food and play, never corrections.
A — Activity
A realistic plan for daily play and exercise that fits your puppy's age and breed. Enough of the right activity prevents half the "problem" behaviors people call about.
R — Responsibility
Health and vaccines, identification, cleanup, and signing the AKC's Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge. Half of a well-behaved dog is a prepared owner.
The assessment
It is a checklist, not a pass-or-fail exam with a stopwatch. Over the six weeks we work up to each one, and on graduation day your puppy shows what it has learned.
The AKC groups the twenty items into three parts: what the owner does, how the puppy behaves, and a set of pre-Canine Good Citizen skills that preview the test your dog can take next.
Part 1 · Owner responsibilities
Part 2 · Puppy behaviors
Part 3 · Pre-CGC skills
How it works
The AKC program is built around six class sessions, so Smarty Paws runs it as a six-week puppy class taught and tested by Christen herself.
STEP 01
Call to find the next class and check that your puppy is the right age and up to date on early vaccines. You will get the Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge and a plan for the six weeks.
STEP 02
Each week builds socialization and a new skill or two — handling, sit, down, come, leash manners — in a positive, food-and-play setting alongside other puppies the same age.
STEP 03
The learning between classes is what makes it stick. A few minutes a day on the week's skills, plus the socialization homework, and your puppy arrives at graduation ready.
STEP 04
On the final day Christen runs the 20-item assessment, and — at your request — offers the pre-CGC test items too, so your puppy can start down the Canine Good Citizen road right away.
The payoff
There is a certificate and a medal, and your puppy is entered in the AKC's S.T.A.R. Puppy records — a nice milestone, and a genuine credential to build on.
But the real reward isn't paper. It's a puppy that greets people politely, walks on a leash without a fight, comes when called and takes the world in stride — the difference between the next ten years being easy or being a project.
Your trainer & evaluator
Christen Cupler is an AKC-Approved Evaluator — and has been since 2010. That is the credential that lets her both teach the S.T.A.R. Puppy class and administer the assessment, which means the training is pointed squarely at the standard your puppy will be evaluated against. No handoff to a stranger for test day.
She has worked with more than 1,000 dogs since 2009, of every age and size, and lives with two of her own — Linc, a titled Goldendoodle, and Armani, a Standard Poodle. Everything is taught with positive reinforcement: food, play and clear timing, with no prong or shock collars, ever.
Because she is also an evaluator for the levels beyond this one, the same person can carry your dog from a wiggly eight-week-old all the way to a Canine Good Citizen title and past it.
American Kennel Club — approved evaluator since 2010
Do More With Your Dog — Triple Crown Instructor
Cost & enrolling
The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy assessment is $10. The six-week puppy class that leads up to it is booked separately — call for the current class schedule and pricing.
Not sure a group class is the right fit, or your puppy needs a head start first? Private in-home lessons build the very same foundation one-on-one, and plenty of families do a little of both. Christen will help you map it out on a quick call.
Assessment and testing fees are the current listed AKC evaluation prices. Class scheduling and pricing are confirmed when you enroll.
From class
Real puppies from Christen's classes.
What comes next
The pre-CGC items on the assessment are there on purpose — they point straight at the next title, and Christen can evaluate every level.
After S.T.A.R. Puppy comes the AKC Canine Good Citizen ladder — a genuinely useful sequence where each level takes the same manners into a harder setting and ends in a real, recognized title your dog keeps for life. The Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test is the ten-item next step, followed by Community Canine (CGCA) and Urban CGC (CGCU). CGC is the title many landlords and insurers recognize, and the usual prerequisite for therapy-dog work.
Between classes, or to work on something specific, private in-home lessons pick up right where the puppy class leaves off — same trainer, same positive methods, in your own home. And when you are ready to test, you are testing with the same evaluator who trained you: no stranger on graduation day.
Frequently asked
The things new puppy owners ask most. Anything else, call or text 412-568-3139.
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is the American Kennel Club's foundation program for puppies. Puppy and owner complete a six-week puppy class taught by an AKC-Approved Evaluator, then are assessed on a 20-item checklist covering the owner's responsibilities, the puppy's behavior, and a set of pre-Canine Good Citizen skills.
It is the recommended first step before the CGC.
S.T.A.R. stands for the four things a responsible owner gives a puppy: Socialization, Training, Activity and Responsibility. The program is built around making sure a puppy gets all four during the critical first months.
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is for puppies up to one year old. Earlier is better — the socialization window in the first few months is when this foundation is easiest to build and hardest to replace later.
The 20 items fall into three groups: six owner responsibilities (health, ID, cleanup, an exercise plan, completing the class and signing the Responsible Dog Owner's Pledge), five puppy behaviors (no aggression toward people or other puppies, tolerating a collar or harness, being held, and giving up a treat or toy), and nine pre-Canine Good Citizen skills (accepting a stranger, petting, grooming, walking on a leash, sit and down on cue, coming when called, a short stay, and staying calm around distractions).
Yes. The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy program is built around attending at least six sessions of a puppy class taught by an Approved Evaluator, so Smarty Paws runs it as a six-week group puppy class.
If you would rather start one-on-one, private in-home lessons build the same foundation and can be arranged separately.
The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy assessment is $10. The six-week puppy class is booked separately — call 412-568-3139 for the current class schedule and pricing, or to arrange private in-home puppy lessons instead.
Puppies who pass earn the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy certificate and are recorded in the AKC's S.T.A.R. Puppy program, and owners can order the S.T.A.R. Puppy medal.
More importantly, your puppy leaves with the socialization and manners that make everything after it — including the Canine Good Citizen title — far easier.
No — it is the step before it. S.T.A.R. Puppy is the puppy-level foundation and includes the pre-CGC skills; Canine Good Citizen is the ten-item test that comes next, usually once the dog is a bit older and steadier.
Christen can evaluate both, so the path runs start to finish with the same person.
Christen Cupler, the owner of Smarty Paws K9 University and an AKC-Approved Evaluator since 2010. She teaches the class and administers the assessment herself, so the training is aimed squarely at the standard your puppy will be evaluated against.
The S.T.A.R. Puppy award itself is earned through the six-week class, because the AKC program requires six class sessions. That said, private in-home lessons are an excellent way to build the exact same foundation skills — socialization, handling, sit, down, come and leash manners — and many families do both.
Call and Christen will help you map out the right mix.
Smarty Paws is based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania 15317 and serves the surrounding Washington County area, including Washington, McMurray, Houston, Muse, Cecil and Eighty Four.
Call or text 412-568-3139 for class locations and scheduling.
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy · Enrolling now
412-568-3139Call or text with your puppy's age and breed, and Christen will tell you the next class date and whether a group class or a private start is the better fit. The best time to build this foundation is now — it gets harder every week.