The Secret Most People Don’t Know

Do you know the secret of making good decisions during dog evaluations?  Keep an eye on your tester dogs!  Keep reading to discover the key steps to creating a core group of tester dogs and understanding what they can tell you about the dogs you are evaluating. Dogs understand each other and by observing reactions of good tester dogs you will build better playgroups.

Identifying Great Tester Dogs

Great tester dogs love their job and help you make good decisions about the dogs you accept into playgroup.  Tester dogs might be dogs owned by staff members or they might be existing playgroup dogs (e.g., client dogs).

Your core group of tester dogs will enjoy dog greetings and should fit the following profile:

• Calm, low-key adult dogs
  • Self-assured during greetings
  • Balanced
  • Predictable greeting behaviors
• Large in size (at least one of your tester dogs)
• Exhibit a wide range of behaviors
• Pull behaviors from other dogs
• Variety in size, sex and personality

Your variety of tester dogs each serve an important role during the evaluation session.  The first tester dog classification to meet an applicant dog is a calm, low-key adult.  Once that meeting goes well, you should consider introducing other personality types including:

• Playmates (to identify play style or encourage play behaviors)
• Subordinates (to rule out inappropriate bully behaviors)
• Button-pushers (to see how dog responds to rude behaviors in other dogs)
• Comfort providers (to put fearful or stressed dogs at ease)

Trust the Message

Observing behavior of the tester dogs you know is a key part of the dog evaluation process.  Always trust the messages these dogs give you by observing their reactions to applicant dogs.  When multiple tester dogs you know well behave differently around a new dog there is usually a reason for it.

There may be times you cannot point to any specific behavior of the applicant dog, but recognize that your tester dogs are saying “no”.  In these cases you need to trust the tester dogs you know, and not accept the dog for group play (even when you can’t pinpoint a specific behavior reason).  Your explanation to the owner is that you know your tester dogs and their behavior with their dog was not what you normally observe in greetings or playgroup.  The decision is that for safety of all dogs physically and emotionally, your playgroup environment is not a good fit for their dog.

Rewards

Be sure to reward your tester dogs as their job is stressful.  Monitor their behaviors and give them breaks when you observe any signals of hesitation to meet a new dog.  As much as we study and learn dog language we will never be as proficient in assessing “good fits” to playgroups as the tester dogs.  Pay attention to their signals and messages to build safer and easier to manage playgroups in your pet center.