Talking of matching the right puppy to the right owner, I often wonder how many breeders particularly of the guarding or sporting breeds, make a very good investment in their puppies futures by having them puppy aptitude tested, or temperament tested.
I know that many do but I suspect that the vast majority don’t, which is a real pity. The puppy aptitude test is all about identifying the various drives which each puppy has by a number of calm, non-harsh tests which basically identify the puppy’s character strengths and weaknesses. Clearly this will identify the puppy which is possibly more suited to a home where it will have its drives satisfied with a working life or perhaps a life in competitive trials etc and will also identify the puppy which will probably be quite happy being the quiet, chilled-out coach potato!
Most good breeders have their breeding stock xrayed, eye tested and whatever else their particular breed’s code of ethics requires, but I think the additional investment in puppy aptitude testing would probably do a lot to reduce the number of puppies who end up either being returned to the breeder or even worse, end up in rescue because they weren’t suitable for their new owners in the first place.
Of course, experienced breeders spend a lot of time observing their puppies in the first seven weeks of their lives and can often identify the relevant traits in each individual puppy, but is surprising what an independent puppy aptitude test can tell you. Some breeders of course just present the potential puppy buyer with a choice of any puppy from those which remain unsold and pay little attention to whether or not a particular puppy is way too highly driven for their experience or their domestic circumstances.
With the lifting of quarantine restrictions, many breeders particularly of breeds such as GSD, Rottweiler etc will now travel to Europe with their bitches to put them to a suitable stud-dog. This has its benefits of bringing in new blood-lines but can also lead to problems. Many breeders in Germany and mainland Europe are involved in Schutzhund training with their dogs, which requires a dog to have high levels of drive in certain areas if it is to be successful. These are dogs which require and are used to, lots of stimulus and activity. It stands to reason that these traits will be passed onto their progeny, so therein lies the problem.
This is particularly so in the GSD of the ‘Germanic type’ which are usually highly driven dogs which require a lot of activity to keep them stimulated.
Not every home can provide this which is why one sees quite a lot of hyper GSD these days. Obviously the GSD has always been a ‘working’ dog (now classified as pastoral by the KC), but in using stock which is so highly driven, the prevalence of similarly driven puppies in a litter is going to increase and therefore the calm, laid-back puppy for the novice owner may be harder to find.
Puppy aptitude testing will certainly be a great aid to grading these puppies according to the experience of their new owners.
Peter Mounsey, Ashclyst dog training Devon,
16th November 2010