Puppy Personality Test

Gloomtastic!

Got a new puppy a few months ago and on the day we got her, we brought her to the vets to be checked over.

The vet rubbed her toes on one paw and said she’ll do one of three things - bite me, lick me or nothing.

She did nothing and he said that she would be an assertive dog and will be quite difficult to control.

Well he wasn’t wrong, she’s a right handful but I’ve often wondered what she would have been like if she licked or bit him. I’ve tried Goggling but nothing comes up, anyone here know?

DBB

Lol... There are a few temperament tests generally used by organisations who train therapy dogs, emotional support dogs, guide dogs etc, and whilst they may give a guideline as to the pup's future temperament, they are not considered reliable.
I haven't come across the toe test that your vet did, but actually I'd have said that a pup who does nothing is most likely to be a biddable adult, a pup who licks also likely to be biddable, and a bitey pup likely to be more feisty as an adult... Any of the recognised temperament tests would tend to predict the less fuss the pup makes when put under a bit of pressure, the more likely it is to be a less pushy adult.
But! As I said... You can't use any tests to accurately predict future behaviour with certainty

Gloomtastic!

Biddable? I can assure you she’s one of the least biddable dogs I know! :eek:

DBB

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Biddable? I can assure you she’s one of the least biddable dogs I know! :eek:

I suspect your vet got lucky with a test that's not a standard one... Perhaps more likely that he was going more by pup's general demeanour during the examination up to that point!

VonVix

To be honest, I don't really know many, or any puppies that aren't "difficult to control" in some way or another at some stage of their puppyhood. Puppies are the worst examples of dogs lol.

One of my boys was a lunatic as a puppy, couldn't touch him without him whipping his head around to bite, couldn't pick him up without him wriggling like a maniac and trying to jam his teeth into your arm, he kept trying to escape the house at any opportunity.

As an adult? Most lovable dog ever, he wants everyone to love him, he wants to be petted by everyone, he just wants to be cuddled and loved, incredibly obedient and great on lead.

So if someone tested him in the manner that your puppy was tested, he would probably fail hard and I'd be told he'd be impossible to keep. Load of codswallop.

tk123

I did an assistance dog training course and we did tests on puppies like that but there was a lot more to it than squeezing a paw. They were being scored on their potential suitability for certain roles. Lucy was always fine with her paws being touched and she’s as relaxed as they come and very biddable... but I picked her because she was the most relaxed pup in her litter so as not to clash with Bailey... who hates his paws being touched unless there’s a treat involved lol!

Cherry Blossom

Do you not think vonvix that the way your pup has turned out is simply a testament to your training though. One of mine was a whirlwind of teeth and fur, more tazmanian devil than puppy. The other was a quiet little thing that never had any inclination to put anything in his mouth and was a little bit of a scaredy cat. I worked hard on both as pups on their respective issues and both grew up to be well balanced, well adjusted dogs. Basicly what I'm saying is that they are what you make them.

em_cat

I’m confused about the vet doing a personality test, tbh I wouldn’t have thought to ask a vet for such a thing. Our vet would be like ya what?

Gloomtastic!

em_cat wrote: »

I’m confused about the vet doing a personality test, tbh I wouldn’t have thought to ask a vet for such a thing. Our vet would be like ya what?

Was offered as opposed to asked for......

em_cat

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Was offered as opposed to asked for......

Fair enough. I just thought it odd. I just can’t imagine any vet I know ever doing that.

cocker5

My guy as a puppy was the devil reincarnated (no word of a lie) from 2-3 ish onwards he is the sweetest, incredibly well rounded well behaved dog I know ... has been no hassle whatsoever since then.. infact he’s been a pleasure... first few years not so much 🀗

VonVix

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

Do you not think vonvix that the way your pup has turned out is simply a testament to your training though. One of mine was a whirlwind of teeth and fur, more tazmanian devil than puppy. The other was a quiet little thing that never had any inclination to put anything in his mouth and was a little bit of a scaredy cat. I worked hard on both as pups on their respective issues and both grew up to be well balanced, well adjusted dogs. Basicly what I'm saying is that they are what you make them.

Training helps, sure, but back then I pretty much knew nothing about dogs, it was my boyfriend who wanted a dog after his passed away a few months prior. But I can't discount the great temperament his parents had. He was jujst a rascal of a puppy for the first 5-6 months.

I don't believe a dog is completely what you make them, 50% sure, but the other half is genetic and near impossible to 'train out' of a dog.

tk123

em_cat wrote: »

I’m confused about the vet doing a personality test, tbh I wouldn’t have thought to ask a vet for such a thing. Our vet would be like ya what?

Possibly they read about it somewhere but didn’t get to the part where it’s supposed to be done in a familiar place that the pup is used to so it’s at ease! The vets office is the last place I’d do a test like that.... it seems like a crappy thing to do as well like I’d assume somebody could make the mistake of taking it as gospel that they have a difficult pup and kind of treat it and ultimately mould it that way?

volchitsa

tk123 wrote: »

Possibly they read about it somewhere but didn’t get to the part where it’s supposed to be done in a familiar place that the pup is used to so it’s at ease! The vets office is the last place I’d do a test like that.... it seems like a crappy thing to do as well like I’d assume somebody could make the mistake of taking it as gospel that they have a difficult pup and kind of treat it and ultimately mould it that way?

Totally agree with this, and indeed with a lot of what's been said above - even if it were relevant to define a pup's whole character based on a simple test done once, the "result" itself doesn't even make much sense. Why would doing nothing when her paws are rubbed mean she was dominant and hard to control?

Surely a dominant, hard-to-control dog would react to having their space invaded? What would the thinking be behind "absence of reaction" being a sign of dominance? Seems completely counter intuitive.

I suspect he was more likely judging by the dog's general behaviour during the examination, and was just showing off/having a laugh with his "I can tell a dog's future character by a single tiny "test" when it's a pup."

Knine

Having brought loads of puppies to the vet, they act vastly different there then they do at home. A decent breeder will be constantly assessing puppies until they leave for their new homes. Even in one litter & all reared the same there will be differences.

The little guy I am holding onto here was getting way too big for his little boots last week. Amazing how quickly his own mammy put manners on him!

tk123

volchitsa wrote: »

Totally agree with this, and indeed with a lot of what's been said above - even if it were relevant to define a pup's whole character based on a simple test done once, the "result" itself doesn't even make much sense. Why would doing nothing when her paws are rubbed mean she was dominant and hard to control?

Well the vets example is stupid but say you're checking a pup/dog out that you might want to train as an assistance dog and you do one of the tests which is make a loud noise when their back is turned / when they're no expecting it.. The pup could be afraid, he could look for a second like 'oh what was that.. oh well who cares' and not be bothered.. or he may not react at all - now is he not reacting because he doesn't mind the noise or could he be deaf etc etc Does the pup naturally pick a ball up - he could be a candidates for retrieving stuff if he's already into picking stuff up. It's for stuff like that to give you an idea very early on.

Once we did that module I was assessing every dog I saw in my head :pac::pac: I still do!

volchitsa

Impossible not to I think. And it must be fascinating to be able to.
Still, not necessarily something to be shared with the owners, IMO, or not casually like that anyway. When we were taking Lola to puppy classes, at one point, when she was about a year old, one of the trainers said something about how well she'd come on, compared to how she was at the start, sort of implied that they had all thought she'd be quite difficult/unmanageable.

Now it's true she was a bit bonkers (I didn't have the experience to know at the time but I realize now she was) but she's just very very energetic and very keen to do things with us, and she looked for attention constantly unless she was completely wrecked. She still does, a bit, but otoh she has no anxiety issues and not a bit of aggression, she's just a dog that likes to be busy and we can handle that no problem. But if they had told us, oh she's going to need constant activity or whatever, I'd probably have been really worried that we wouldn't be able for her. So I'm glad they had the wisdom to keep their opinions to themselves.