Choosing the right puppy

Adult dog test
The goal is to find a dog that is friendly and trainable without being skittish or aggressive. Cross off your list of potential adoptees any dog that reacts aggressively to you or anyone else at any stage of the temperament test. Aggressive behaviour includes staring; standing stiffly at attention, possibly with a raised, slightly wagging tall; lifting or twitching the lips to show the teeth; growling, even if the tail is wagging; and snapping or biting. If you are unsure of yourself around dogs, ask an experienced dog handler to evaluate the dogs for you.

In each example below, the responses are ordered from fearful to dominant. The "moderate," or preferred, response is in italics.

(Considering adopting a dog from a shelter? Click here for tips and advice.)

1. When you first look at the dog -- in a dog run, or brought to you by another person -- does the dog back away from you? Approach you in a friendly manner, with a slightly lowered head and wagging tail? Stand stiffly at attention and watch you?

2. Put the dog in a flat collar (not a choke collar) attached to a four-foot leash. Walk around the room and see if the dog will follow you. Does he plant his feet and refuse to move? Move toward you when you call him in a friendly voice? Lunge against the leash or bark wildly?

3. Stroke the dog's back. Does he flinch or cower? Wag his tail and stay close to you? Move away from your touch or ignore you?

4. Ask someone to make a sudden noise, such as by hitting a metal desk or chair. Does the dog cower and try to run? Startle, then look toward the noise or at you? Bark wildly or lunge at the noise?

5. While petting the dog, run your hand down each leg to the foot and pick the foot up for a moment. Run your hands up the dog's neck to his ears and stroke them. Does he flinch and jump when you try to touch his feet or ears? Allow you to touch them without making a big fuss? Struggle or growl when you try to touch them?

6. Put a small amount of canned dog food in a dish on the floor. Let the dog smell or start to eat the food, then push the dish away from him with a broom or long stick. Does he cower? Watch the dish move or follow it to continue eating? Growl, bark, or attack the stick?

7. Take the dog for a walk outside with a flat collar and short leash. Does he seem skittish or frightened? Happy and excited? Does he lunge against the leash or bark continuously?

Observe his reactions to other people, cars, and animals. Is he nervous? Interested but controllable? Hyperactive or threatening?

Click here to see aggressive leash behaviour.

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