If you’ve been around dogs, you probably know that each dog
has a distinct personality. A dog’s personality plays a large role in their
success in our service dog program. Yesterday and today, the Country Capitals
puppies and the Down Under puppies went through temperament testing.
In the temperament test, we look at the characteristics of
each puppy, based on the characteristics identified by Suzanne Clothier, a
wonderful relationships-based dog trainer. This temperament test, plus our
other observations of the puppies, helps us get a clear picture of each puppy’s
personality. We’re able to identify whether a puppy will be successful in our
program, and determine what type of puppy raiser home would be best for each
puppy.
For example, when Nancy, our director, was choosing a puppy
to raise, she knew that she needed puppy who was extremely polite and
understood dog behavior because that pup would be living at the kennel and
growing up with lots of dogs with different personalities. When she saw these
traits in SSD Meade, she knew that he would be the right puppy for her to
raise. And now, almost two years later, we can see that Meade’s temperament
test was extremely accurate. He’s a great dog that understands how to get along
with other dogs.
The puppy temperament test also helps us identify areas of
training that our puppy raisers will need to work on right away.
We’re very excited about these two litters of puppies!
The Country Capitals and Down Under puppies will be joining
their puppy raiser families on Friday evening, and then their real training
begins!
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