Had a great time yesterday, at my friend's Michelle's. Was helping her to do the temperament tests on her five Canaan Pups. It was great fun, especially as another of our friends, Christine was there as well to help. So after enjoying a catch up gab session we got down to work....so with Michelle out of the room and sight...we started the testing. First up is Frankie....I am not going to go thru each pups test....you can can go to Michelle's site for that (you will find the link under my profile)... What I am going to do is tell you a little about the testing.
I am going to put the testing information inbetween some pictures of the pups...these were taken after it was all done.
It is broken into a number of areas which test for different things....
Firstly the pups are done one at a time ...in a unfamilar area ...with people they don't know
The first test was Social Attraction...where you are looking at the pup's willingness and confidence in approaching a stranger.
It is important to note that you must know your breed when looking at the outcome...as each breed is different in their personality traits...you would expect a golden retriever to be maybe more friendly than possibly another breed etc.
Next we have the Following test....posture/behavior during following reveals degree of social confidence.
Test three is Elevation....response to situation where the pup has no control. In this test the pup is held up by the ribcage, while offering stable support, for 30 seconds.
Now we move on to Restraint test....by placing the pup in subordinate position, this test is highly indicative of the pup's social ranking and thus predictive of pup's willingness to accept leadership and discipline.
Next is Social Dominance...looking at the pup's reflection of acceptance of and acknowledgment of social ranking...see as forgivenss...how quickly does the pup accept and forgive being put into a subordinate position.
Then on to the Retrieve...demostrating the willingness to work with humans.
Then we have the Sound and Sight Sensitivity tests....looking at their reaction to loud sounds and visual stimuli.
These two tests are very helpful when considering which homes are appropriate for a particular pup
Nest we move onto the Stability test....love the reaction to this one....opening an umbrella and watching for the pup's reaction. This is to test the pup's reaction to large, unstable and unfamilar objects.
Lastly we test for Touch Sensitivity....to test for pup's response to unpleasant physical response.
Taking into consideration the breed of Michell's pups...there wasn't one I wouldn't take home or place in a home.
After we reviewed each pup and their responses....we then discussed the various families waiting for the pups...interesting enough both Christine and I matched up the pups and the families exactly how Michelle was thinking they should go....without knowing what she was thinking.
It was a great day....and I loved assisting with the testing and seeing the pups....was great to be able to play with them afterwards!!
Note I need to give credit to the book Understanding PUPPY TESTING by Suzanne Clothier as that is where I got most of the above information ...a easy , great read.
