The puppies will be personality tested at 49 days with an unfamiliar person and unfamiliar environment. It's rather disorienting for such as young puppy, the only thing they can do is have a natural response (remember puppies are without momma, anyone or anything familiar and without their siblings then are tested one by one.
This should give the viewers (and most importantly, the puppy's new owners), an idea how to pick from the personality testing to fit for you and your lifestyle (training needs, ages of the family, etc). The most important thing over size, color or being a male or female puppy is their personality and how they will live with you for the next umpteen years.
here's the scoring system and Everad's results when he was 49 days old.
Social Attraction Everad's Score 3
instructions: place the puppy in testing area about four feet from the tester, tester kneels, leans backwards and coaxes the pup to them by clapping hands gently.
purpose: degree of social attraction to people, confidence or dependence. Pack drive.
score: (1) came readily, tail up, jumped bit at hands, (2) came readily, tail up, pawed, licked at hands, (3) Came readily, tail up, (4) came readily tail down, (5) came hesitantly, tail down.
Following Everad's Score 3
instructions: the tester stands up and slowly walks away encouraging the puppy to follow. Make sure puppy sees you walk away. Coax puppy to follow by talking to it and attracting its attention
purpose: Willingness to follow a person. Pack Drive
(1) followed readily, tail up, got underfoot, bit at feet, (2) follwed readily, tail up, and got underfoot, (3) followed readility, tail up, (4) followed hesitantly, tail down, (5) followed hesitantly, tail down, (6) did not follow or went away.
Restraint Everad's Score 3
instructions: tester crouches down and gently rolls the puppy onto its back and holds down with light pressure with one hand for 30 seconds.
purpose: Degree of dominance or submissive tendency and ease of handling in difficult situations.
Fight or Flight Drive
(1) struggled fiercely, flailed, bit, (2) struggled fiercely, flailed, (3) settled, struggled and finally settled with some eye contact, (4) struggled then settled, (5) no struggle, no eye contact, (6) no struggle, straining to avoid eye contact.
Social Dominance Everad's Score 3-2
instructions: puppy sits or stands on crouching tester's left side as tester gently strokes puppy from head to back, continue stroking until a recognizable behavior is established.
purpose: Degree of acceptance of social dominance by a person. Pack Drive.
(1) jumped, pawed, bit growled, (2) jumped, pawed, (3) cuddled up to tester and tried to lick face, (4) squirmed, licked at hands, (5) rolled over, licked at hands, (6) went away and stayed away.
Elevation Dominance Everad's Score 4
instructions: the tester cradles the pup under its chest with both hands fingers interlaced, palms up and gently lifts puppy two feet off of the ground, holding it there for 30 seconds.
purpose: Degree of accepting dominance while in position of no control. Fight or Flight Drive
(1) struggled fiercely, tried to bite, (2) struggled fiercely, (3) struggled, settled, struggled and settled, (4) no struggle, relaxed, (5) no struggle, body stiff, (6) no struggle, froze.
Retreiving Everad's Score 4
instructions: tester crouches besieds the pup and attracts its attention with a crumpled up piece of paper. Then the pup shows some interest, the tester toesses the paper (no more than four feet) in front of the puppy, encouraging it to retreive the paper.
purpose: Degree of willingness to do something for you. Together with social attraction and following, a key indicator for ease or difficulty in training. Prey Drive
(1) chased object, picked it up and ran away, (2) chased object, stood over it, did not return, (3) chased object, picked it up and returned with it to tester, (4) Chased object and returned w/o it to tester, (5) started to chase object, lost interest, (6) did not chase object.
Touch Sensitivity Everad's Score 1
instructions: tester locates the webbing of one of the puppy's front paws and presses lightly between his index finger and thumb. Tester gradulally increases pressure while counting to 10 and stops the pressure when the puppy pulls away or shows discomfort. (do not pierce with fingernail).
purpose: Degree of sensitivity to touch and a key indicator to the type of training equipment required.
before response: (1) 8-10 counts, (2) 6-7 counts, (3) 5-6 counts, (4) 2-4 counts, (5) 2-3 counts
Sound Sensitivity Everad's Score 4-3
instructions: the puppy is placed in the center of the testing area and an assistant stationed at the perimeter makes a sharp noise, such as banging a metal spoon on the bottom of a metal pan (loudly).
purpose: Degree of sensitivity to sound (also a rudimentary tet for deafness). Prey Drive.
(1) listened, located sound, walked toward it, barking, (2) listened, located, barked, (3) listened, lcoated, showed curiosity and walked toward sound, (4) listened, located the sound, (5) cringed, backed off and hid, (6) ignored sound, showed no curiosity.
Sight Senstiviity Everad's Score 3
instructions: the puppy is placed in the center of the testing area. The tester ties a string around a bath towel and jerks it across the floor two feet away from puppy.
purpose: Degree of response to a moving object, such as chasing bicycles, children or squirrels. Prey Drive
(1) looked, attacked and bit, (2) looked, barked with tail up, (3) looked curiously, attempted to investigate, (4) looked, barked, tail-tucked, (5) ran away, hid.
Stability Everad's Score 1
instructions. an umbrella is opened about five feet from the puppy and gently placed on the ground.
purpose Degree of startle response to a strange object, Fight and Flight Drive
(1) looked and ran to the umbrella, mouthting or biting it, (2) looked and walked to the umbrella, smelling it cautiously, (3) looked and went to investigate, (4) Sat and looked, but did not move toward the umbrella, (5) ran way from the umbrella, (6) showed no interest.
Structure (conformation) Everad's Score Good +
instructions: the puppy is gently set and held in a natural stance and evaluated for structure in the following categories:
* straight front
* straight rear
* shoulder lay back
* front angulation
* croup angulation
* rear angulation
purpose: Degree of structural soundness. Good structure is necessary.
(1) good, the puppy is correct in structure, (2) the puppy has a slight fault or deviation, (3) the puppy has an extreme fault or deviation.
(first published in the AKC Gazette, March 1979, an article by Melissa Bartlett)
(there's a bunch more summary info for interpreting the scores, but will save the details for the puppy's new owners)
Everad's personality is out of his skin in love with people. He is probably what you would call as socially dominant. He's very good with other dogs, loves puppies, 100% without a doubt loves people and kids. Most people that come over think he will "get enough" attention and back off .. hmm, not Everad, you let him kiss your face and you enjoy it, you've set a precedent with him, from then on, you love him and love to be kissed by him. Around the house? yes, he does get enough attention and affection, as an almost two year old boy he's satisfied with the affection and love he gets, but take him to class or have someone come over, and you are here to be kissed and that's all there's to it. Everad is fast as lightening, we look forward taking him to agility trials as he gets older. He has all of his points in conformation to be a UKC champion and one major. He loves people so much it's nearly impossible to get him to hold still for a judge to look him over. He's been to one show got all of his points and one major on his first birthday. We look forward to him growing up some and taking the gold, b/c this guy is gold through and through.
comparitively for testing results, here's "Tigre's" testiing (remember she's not related to Grace, Everad or the puppies, but to understand the testing and how a puppy can be so different, here's her scores.
Social Attraction: Score 4
Following, Score 3
Restraint, Score 5
Social Dominance, 6
Retreiving, 5
Touch Sensitivity, 3
Sound Sensitivity, 4
Sight Sensitivity, 2
two 3's, two 5's, a 2, 4 and 6.
the test says she will be outgoing, friendly and will adjust well in situations, flexible temperament, the 5s say she is submissive and lacking in self-confidence, bonds closely to owners but is aloof from the score of 6 with one 2 as being dominant and self-assured. (she has moments of both, a protector and loves to be hunged and play catch)
She is outgoing, friendly, wagging tail that clears tables, she is everybody's best friend. She does dominant with a big bark with someone coming towards the yard or house, we are her priority, she's a total sweetheart. When there's discord in the house amongst the canine (over a bone, otherwise never), she is the peacemaker. She's a perfect girl around the house, stays out of the crate at night without any trouble, never distructive. Now that she's 8 months old today, she has found a passion of playing catch, her most favorite things are laying around rassling with Joaquin on the floor, playing easy with Darlin, plays with Hilde endlessly and rough housing, plays with and submits to Everad and Grace. She is a wonderful balance of a sweet and loving poodle.
Note: each litter have similar aspects to their personalities, some will retreive, some will be more outgoing with loud noices or cringling paper, etc. All in all, these are poodles, loving, well bred, intelligent and as all poodles are, they love their people and want to please them.
No comments:
Post a Comment