After a long wait, and almost a cancellation of the test due to lack of entries last week, I was finally able to put Rowan through the American Temperament Test Society, Inc.'s Temperament Test today!
I won't get the score sheet back for a while, but the evaluator said he scored mostly in the high average to above average range. The only item I was a little unsure about was the threatening stranger. The helper who was assisting was a small, young (maybe late 20s) girl, and she was not very threatening, IMO. It was her first time, she was smiling and her voice was somewhat high pitched, which kind of came across to me as friendly, yet odd. Anyway, he alerted when he heard the noise and was watching, but then also took a step back (behind heel position) when she started to approach. I was worried that might not have been a good response, but according to the judge's debriefing, he was still watching her very intensely. Anyway, he also said something about it being her first time, so I think he may have also agreed that she was not very "intimidating".
Rowan also got distracted because he started to try to mark a pole, and I went to correct him because the evaluator instructed us to only talk to our dog if they are going to urinate or become aggressive. He later said he should have told me it was ok, because a dog right before us had urinated in that spot. Me trying to stop him from marking then just distracted him from the stranger. :/ I was kind of bummed because that item was the one I was the most interested in seeing his reaction to.
Anyway, overall I think he did very well. His best item apparently was the neutral stranger. The evaluator said he did very well by placing his body in between us and sniffing the handshake, showing appropriate protective instinct.
After the test we also had agility class, and he did a great job despite being tired. Overall he had a great day! And after a long day, he is crashed out with his baby sis.
I won't get the score sheet back for a while, but the evaluator said he scored mostly in the high average to above average range. The only item I was a little unsure about was the threatening stranger. The helper who was assisting was a small, young (maybe late 20s) girl, and she was not very threatening, IMO. It was her first time, she was smiling and her voice was somewhat high pitched, which kind of came across to me as friendly, yet odd. Anyway, he alerted when he heard the noise and was watching, but then also took a step back (behind heel position) when she started to approach. I was worried that might not have been a good response, but according to the judge's debriefing, he was still watching her very intensely. Anyway, he also said something about it being her first time, so I think he may have also agreed that she was not very "intimidating".
Rowan also got distracted because he started to try to mark a pole, and I went to correct him because the evaluator instructed us to only talk to our dog if they are going to urinate or become aggressive. He later said he should have told me it was ok, because a dog right before us had urinated in that spot. Me trying to stop him from marking then just distracted him from the stranger. :/ I was kind of bummed because that item was the one I was the most interested in seeing his reaction to.
Anyway, overall I think he did very well. His best item apparently was the neutral stranger. The evaluator said he did very well by placing his body in between us and sniffing the handshake, showing appropriate protective instinct.
After the test we also had agility class, and he did a great job despite being tired. Overall he had a great day! And after a long day, he is crashed out with his baby sis.