Does Personality Tests Predict the Future Performance of Puppies?

As a super dog lover, I have always troubled by one question — how to train a puppy into a dog with appropriate temperaments? I used to believe that dogs only hurt people who hurt or threatened them, and I have seen lots of dogs that never bite people. However, I used all the knowledge I can find and experiences I had on training my puppy, she still bites people after she grew up. Then, I started to doubt that maybe some puppies are born with some special personalities which lead them grow into bad temper dogs.

Recently, I found an interesting study that related to my concerns on the journal site PLoS ONE. The study was published by a team of researchers from the Messerli Research Institute, and they are trying to figure out whether the puppy personality tests can predict adult dog behaviors. They used many different behavioral measurements at the 3 stages of dogs’ life to compare the dogs’ behavioral changes. For example, they measured the force with which the neonatal (2 to 10 days of age) sucks at a finger in order to predict the playfulness and motivation when they grow up. Also, they measured all kinds of puppy’s (40 to 50 days) behavioral responses to strangers, novel situations, threats and many other items (some of the sub-tests used are in the figure below).

I believe that it would improve both dog owners’ and dogs’ life if people have clues on how to select the best puppy to fit their needs. Unfortunately, the result of the study showed that all the neonatal tests the researchers used are not able to predict later dogs’ behavior. Also, most puppy tests do not have abilities to predict adult behavior. The only behavior seems to be predictive is the puppies’ engagement in exploration. The more the puppies explore their environment, the more likely they love exploration as they became adults (2 years of age).

Although this study did not solve my question, and seemed like a waste of time. It still points to a new research direction. Since all the dogs used in this study are Border collies, the results might be different if they used another breed. Also, I would be interested to know the same research done on other kinds of pets.

Student ID: 260415310

Reference:

* Riemer S, Müller C, Virányi Z, Huber L, Range F (2014) The Predictive Value of Early Behavioural Assessments in Pet Dogs — A Longitudinal Study from Neonates to Adults. PLoS ONE 9(7): e101237. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101237