Question about temperment testing???

[mistee06]

okay so, i "temperment tested" this dog...to see if i could tell if this bull "domino" (read in memorial section about him) was agressive or not...anyways i didnt really do an elaborate test because i dont know how. short ending to a REALLY LONG story. "domino" got put down the day after i met him because of biting a volunteer dog walker (after i put unpredictable/dangerous on his cage door).

anyways i wanted to know what everyone uses to do temperment testing???


the lady at the SPCA that i got Mistee from has asked me to be their "pitbull specialist" (whatever that means..haha she knows i love them and will do anything possible to save each and everyone once i get the resouces). she woud like me to do temperment testing on any bully breeds that come into the shelter.

i heard that if you baby talk to them and they start wiggle butting thats a good sign? i tried it on a few non-bullies and it seemed to work? but i dont want to rely on this alone...as that seems to be niave and too easy, .


i'm open to any suggestions and thank you in advance for them

-Kim

[msvette2u]

I never had a formal temperament test when I was taking care of the shelter, but I watched their behavior closely if they were an adoption candidate. I usually did not adopt out pit bulls but rather sent them to a rescue where they could be observed by people who know the breed better than I did.
Interestingly, I had a pit bull mix that displayed the same behaviors - humping and holding quite aggressively, but not biting, I didn't interact with this dog except to feed it after that and I ended up putting him to sleep due to that initial behavior. I am still not sure if I made the right choice but it seems to me that there's too many dogs without issues that need to be rescued, to try to save the ones displaying issues from the git-go.

[dogcrazyjen]

No offence, but if you don't know what to do, I would decline to do anymore tests. You could be held liable if anything happens. There is a lot more to temperment testing dogs than loving them. I commend you for working with them, but for your own safety I would let a trainer do the job. There are a lot of other things you could do for these dogs.

[cheekymunkee]

No offence, but if you don't know what to do, I would decline to do anymore tests. You could be held liable if anything happens. There is a lot more to temperment testing dogs than loving them. I commend you for working with them, but for your own safety I would let a trainer do the job. There are a lot of other things you could do for these dogs.

Unless you know exactly what you are doing & are VERY experienced with pit bull temperment & canine training I would pass.

[msvette2u]

That's why I always left it to the pit bull experts to TT these animals. Too much risk to the public for me to rely on my own instincts about the animal.

[Maryellen]

i agree with everyone above, do not do any temperment testing until you have more experience, cause if you make a mistake it will come back to you.. i posted in rescue a topic about how to TT test a dog, which can be used by anyone that has some experience.. making a mistake testing a dog will result in lawsuits, medical bills, and who knows what else.. please contact someone that is more experienced in testing dogs at shelters and dont do it yourself... and you never never leave a person or child alone with a dog you are testing, whoever tyler is is very very lucky he didnt get bit or killed while you left him in the dogs same area with the dog...

[mnp13]

If you are unfamiliar enough with dog behavior that you need to ask about how to do a temperament test, then you really shouldn't be doing them. I don't mean that to be rude, but testing any dog is more about intuition and experience than a 'test'

[cheekymunkee]

ALL bully breeds are different, an Am Bull has a different temperment than a pit bull, a Cane Corso has a different temp also, these dogs all look VERY similar, you need to know the difference & you need to adjust your TT test to reflect the difference. Can you tell the breeds apart just by looking at them? Most people cannot. Not only that, ALL bullies don't need & should not be saved. And I have seen a dog be baby talked to one minute & get all wiggly butted & try to take your face off the next. IMO, leave it to the experts, please.

[mistee06]

i am not planning on doing anymore until i get trained...the spca supervisor asked me to go to some training thingies with one of her workers to get trained on how to do some things with temperment testing. she said she'd like me to get trained up for everything since i seem willing to do so, and want to eventually start a rescue when i have enough resources. she gave me some papers and such to read about it and i'm seriously considering it...one of the training courses is actually watching a bunch of apparent "aggressive" pitbulls in Grande Pairie (about 2 hours away from here) doing the canadian good neighbour tests. i told her i'd definately go to that if i got the time off from work.

i'm glad everyone is being so supportive and helping me out by all the suggestions on what to do. i know i shouldnt done anything with this bully, it was my stupid mistake.

there is more on the story that i found out yesterday but i'm too tired (its 6am and i'm in my last hour of work) to type it out for everyone but here's the jyst.

"domino" had atleast two needle syringes lodged in his back, they think that when the girl went to pet him she may have touched them, even though she said she didnt get near his back, he may have been defending himself, although he did snap at the vet when he was just looking at him, and he also had a visible healed fracture to his skull that looked to be caused by a "blunt object" (most likely a hammer or a crowbar ), the vet found large traces of some kind of steroid type drug in his body and figured out that he was UNDER a year old. (this dog was ripped...like seriously i didnt know a pup could look like he did)

the vet(who is the same one that i trusted with my mistee) decided that it was in "domino"s best interest to be pts. because he was in alot of physical pain and seemed to be emotional detached to humans, which didnt seem right since he was a bully.

okay so i ended up writing the whole thing...once i get started i cant stop he could have been such a great dog.


anyways, me and a few other people are thinking about writing a newspaper add about him...but we cant think of things to say if you have any suggestions please PM me it would help alot....if things like this continue i'm afraid BSL will head my way and no one wants BSL to happen ANYWHERE...

[cheekymunkee]

I am VERY glad to hear you are going about this the right way!! This breed DOES need all of the help it can get, but in some cases...........the help only makes things worse for them. Learning as much as you can & going about it the RIGHT way assures that only the best of the breed get into new homes. Good luck in your training!! It sounds like Domino had some serious problems caused by his owner. So very sad.