Puppy Aptitude Testing

The purpose of puppy testing is to enable the  right puppy to go to the right home.

Philippa can either test the  whole litter of puppies and advise the breeder what sort of homes would best suit each individual puppy; or she can go with a perspective  owner to view the litter of puppies that they have chosen, and help them to find the  most suitable one of the litter to suit their needs.

The more closely a puppy and new owner can be matched the easier it will be for dog and owner to bond and the respective training should be much easier to achieve.

Conversely the opposite is also true. If a puppy an downer are mismatched, training can become very difficult and it may be harder to strike up a bond between the two.

Puppy testing includes the following areas –

·        Social attraction – Degree of social attraction to people, confidence, or dependence

·        Following – Willingness to follow a person

·        Restraint – Degree of dominant or submissive tendency, and ease of handling in difficult situations

·        Social dominance – Degreee of acceptance of social dominance by a person

·        Elevation dominance – Degree of accepting dominance while in a position of no control, such as being at the vets or groomers

·        Retrieving – Degree of willingness to do something for you. Together with social attraction and following, a key indicator for ease or difficulty in training

·        Touch sensitivity – Degree of sensitivity to touch and a key indicator to the type of training equipment required

·        Sound sensitivity – Degree of sensitivity to sound, such as loud noised or thunderstorms

·        Sight sensitivity – Degree of response to a moving object, such as chasing, bicycles, children or squirrels

·        Stability – Degree of startle response to a strange object

Philippa will monitor the heart rate of the puppy during testing, which will give her an idea of how the puppy manages stress, as well as its overall energy level.

Philippa has tested numerous litters and successfully matched several puppies with their  new owners. The ideal age to test a litter of puppies is at 7 weeks of age, however the tests can be applied up to the age of 4 months. After this age tests can still be conducted,  however they are slightly modified to take into account the age of the dog.