# Identifying temperament in young puppies?



## Asche-zu-Staub (Apr 25, 2010)

I've been doing loads of research on GSD temperaments. I was curious on how breeders are able to identify the temperaments so young and know how to pair the right person and dog. I cant seem to find any written info on it.

When I bought Aschen (he was 8 weeks), I could tell he would be protective because the way he ran around his toys and barked like, hey! that's mine! get away (I actually liked that about him)! As he's aging, he is protective of us and our property, just like I thought he would be (he doesn't bark over toys...I trained him to share). But, with him it was obvious to me how he would act. 

What signs do puppies show at 4 weeks? How do these very good breeders look at a 4 week stumbling, adorable puppy and say, "This one has the family pet characteristics you're looking for." or "This one has the best prey drive and will be better in a working environment"?

just trying to learn everything I can, let me know your experiences .


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

There are puppy temperament tests such as Volhard's PAT and the PAWS working evaluation. IMO though, it is extremely hard to predict exactly how a puppy will behave once they mature. Certain traits only develop with maturity and a puppy will change a lot once they are removed from their litter, depending on the situation they are raised in. A very pushy male puppy within the litter may not be so pushy when he goes to a home with a mature male dog who demands respect. 

So what I mostly try to test for in puppies is drive and soundness. You can see how much prey, tug and retrieve drive they naturally have. You can test their persistence to get what they want and desire to "hunt" for their toys or food. You can see if they have a natural tendency towards sound, sight or touch sensitivity. You can see how naturally outgoing and bold they tend to be. I don't like to describe puppies are being "dominant" or "submissive" or "laid back" because that stuff is all pretty fluid at that age.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

^^ Agree. You can get a feel for general personality and tendencies but you really don't know for sure. Then once you have a feel for those tendencies you can reinforce or discourage them based on what you do in raising the puppy. Over time breeders build a profile on the pups based on typical responses. If a pup is confronted with 10 different people and reacts in a calm relaxed submissive manner 8 out of 10 times there is a liklihood that that puppy will continue to show those characteristics. Likewise if a puppy is presented with an object in motion and gives chase 85% of the time you can make some good inferences about that dog's prey drive. If the dog gives chase 25% of the time...you can make some good guesses about that as well.

It's possible that if you like a certain trait you are going to inadvertantly reward it and promote the behavior which may not have appeared had the dog went to another person's home. I'm sure every breeder has had a puppy that has surprised them in the end.


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## Asche-zu-Staub (Apr 25, 2010)

Thank you, this is very interesting! I've read over both tests. Is it true that Volhard's PAT is more flawed than the PAWS?


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

It comes from experience and knowing one's lines. 

I know I can't pick puppies for people at 4 weeks, though by the time I do testing I am pretty sure of where each puppy is headed. Funny, I have picked my last 3 females by the time they were 4 weeks.


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

Asche-zu-Staub said:


> Thank you, this is very interesting! I've read over both tests. Is it true that Volhard's PAT is more flawed than the PAWS?


 It just tests for different things. One goal of the Volhard test is to determine if puppies are "dominant" or "submissive", which IMO is sort of a flawed way of looking at puppy behavior.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

I use a working dog test. I have never found any value in the "pet" tests.


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## Smithie86 (Jan 9, 2001)

Same as Lisa. 

Mia is staying. She is Fannie/Enzo and is such an incredible combo of the two. Literally (sp) from the womb, she was the chosen one. And she is a bi-color female .


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## cliffson1 (Sep 2, 2006)

Lisa and Sue are right on the money. Some aspects of breeding cannot be detailed in a book or over the internet, but require the experience of the breeder and the knowledge of the lines. I have little problem matching my pups with families, sport homes, or working homes. Its the same as making a cake from a recipe and a chef making a cake from experience and knowledge.


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