Temperament Testing - Page 4

I don't see anyplace on the ATTS sight that said an agressive response meant a fail. In fact it says something to the effect that a schutzhund trained GSD lunging and barking would pass but a Siberian most likely would fail, because it goes by the breed standard. It also said you can't use part of their test w/o consent so just go to the link and read what goes on here. http://www.atts.org/testdesc.html  If it meant a fail, I woulda flunked years ago.....

Larrydee:

>So how does a breeder tell you what kind of temperment an 8 week old puppy has?  You see it all the time this pup is suited for sport this pup is a family dog??  What gives?

MVF already mentioned the Volhard test and others, but another thing is when you raise a litter of puppies, you get to see how their personalities and dispositions develope. If you've been with the little nippers since Day 1, it gives you better understanding of how each one is. From that, you can ask the customer what they're looking for in a dog, and help find the best match for them. I find when a stranger tries to do the Volhard test on the puppy the results are often skewed because the pups don't know the new people, and thus can act different than they normally do. I've watched a customer try doing the Volhard test on a litter of my pups... the pups just seemed confused by her strange behavior.

Trailrider, you're right.  You're dog protecting you, by going out at the end of the lead and growling at the person who is threatening you is not a fail during the test.  They expect that out of a GSD!  If it were a different breed of dog then it would be marked down if it was too aggressive toward the threat from the way they told it to us before we did the test.  They said that Chaos acted just as they would have wanted him to on all aspects of the test.  Louise's opinion means nothing to me.  Any and everything I've ever put on this board, she shoots down in a matter of minutes or when ever she gets around to reading it.  I've learned to ignore her. 

Shepherd Woman:  Louise's opinion means nothing to me.  Any and everything I've ever put on this board, she shoots down in a matter of minutes or when ever she gets around to reading it. 

SW - I was referring to what Sam1427 posted. So, congratulations to you on passing your TT!

LOL see what I mean?

Hopefully most people spend enough time with their pups that they have an inkling of the dogs temperment. Depending on the pups age should determine the intensity of any testing. Be careful also having an unknown stranger test your dog as they need to be knowledgable and also share with them your thoughts on the pups temperment. On a young pup especially going thru a fear stage you could do some damange which you sometimes see posts here about someone wanting to return a pup and the breeders feels the buyer may have caused the issues. Go slow if you feel the pup is less than confident as you can build their confidence even though it may not be the best choice for a protection dog etc.

Funny how the so called Mods of this forum won't explain why they deleted the other Temperament Testing thread I started a couple of days ago.  There was nothing wrong with it and I think the Mod thing has gone to their heads, lol.

We've not had a TT opportunity local since 2006. I've watched their website for a while and no TT opportunity is listed for the entire state of Ohio for 2008. Stinks.