Dutch Shepherd Forum

Your post doesn't tell me who you are. Are you Justin from O'Fallon?

Christie M wrote:Justin is actually here in TN for the holidays and will be training with us. I will make sure to make him aware of this conversation. I am quite sure he hasn't checked the board recently and doesn't know he has a PM.

Christie I just received a message from someone that I think is Justin. However his post doesn't say who he is.
Thank you for trying to get us together. I'm sure it will happen some time early in the new year. Also, after I see his puppy play\work I will ask you for your impressions of the little guy. I'll be interested to learn if I see the same things that you see in him or if I'm way off base.

Something I'll mention from observing shelter dogs (of all breeds)... doing a formal temperament test has to consider the entire surrounding environment. It is a new room? Is a thunderstorm coming? Was there something new, some new noise in that room that was distracting/scary?

All these things can cause a possibly otherwise stable dog to appear fearful, skittish, etc. But could be due to something we don't know about. Sometimes when a dog comes in and doesn't pass a temp test, they'll let them settle a few days, then re-test. But its important to note two things: Something that could be fairly easily trained with could skew the test to look bad....but if it looks good, it could be missing something. It gives you a good idea of where to start with a dog, but of course they are animals - and training/environment can end up to determine a lot.


Oh, and my rescue ACD at 2 years couldn't care less about fetching, only chase. By rewarding the retrieve, over the years, she now has an great drive to play fetch. Most people don't believe that the behavior had to be taught! Of course, she does have a 'built in' herding instinct that is good, I just shaped it a bit

CAHerder wrote:Something I'll mention from observing shelter dogs (of all breeds)... doing a formal temperament test has to consider the entire surrounding environment. It is a new room? Is a thunderstorm coming? Was there something new, some new noise in that room that was distracting/scary?

The way the formal puppy temperament test is supposed to be set up, it is supposed to be a place where the pup has never been, with a testing person the pup has never met. What you're probably talking about is just a general shelter temperament test. If the pup is truly stable and confident, you can plop them in a strange room with a strange person and make reasonably scary noises and none of that should really phase the pup.