For the social attraction, the testing person sits a few feet from the puppy and observes how the dog reacts: Does it come? If it comes, is the tail carried high or low? Does he scout his surroundings? Does he run the other way?
When testing the facility to follow, the tester will put the puppy next to him an walk a little. Then see if the dog follows or not? Does he follow and jump up at the test person and even try to bit his ankles? Does he follow from a distance? Does he rather wander off on his own?
The response to obligation test entails that the puppy is put on his back and held down on the ground by placing a flat hand on his chest. Does the puppy protest heavily and tries to bite the hands of the testing person? Does he initially protest but calm down later? Does he remain quiet or does he try to lick hands?
With the social domination test, the tester will sit down next to the puppy and just stroke him. Here we'll observe that some puppies will try to crawl upon the test person others will try to bite their hands or lie on their back and lick hands. Some will even run away.
For the final test the puppy is lifted from the ground supported only at his chest (this way the puppy doesn't see the test person). Does he struggle and try to bite hands? Does he initially struggle but calms down after a while? Does he remain calm and perhaps even try to lick the hands?
The combination of results lets you determine what personality the dog has. For novice dog owner it's best to pick a puppy that hasn't got an extreme test result because those are either very dominant or extremely submissive and will require a handler who is experienced. |
