Dutch Shepherd Forum

I think it's a great thing that your 8 week old puppy is not suspicious of the world. As a young puppy just like a human child they are looking to us as the adults to protect them! In my opinion, young dogs that are acting "protective" or really acting "suspicious" its all tied in. A dog that is very suspicious of people at a yougn age is unsure of himself. Lacks confidence. The opposite of what we look for in a protection candidate. Keep on socializing as much as you can. Also I would imagine the breeder could tell you what kind of temperments your pups mom and dad have...that should give you a good idea what to expect even though its not 100%. Good Luck!

Thanks He is doing really well with everything we are introducing him to

I did the Temperament Test with Vada. Many of the stations were Schutzhund blinds so she was a little pumped. You can not give them any commands and you can only hold the end of the leash. We almost failed but the tester agreed to pass us. I think she has an awesome temperament. Not sure I'd do that test again. Definitely not with a Schutzhund dog. Didn't really seem real world.

lol no they don't suddenly become cujo You don't have to worry about your dog suddenly snapping, but be mindful that they do begin to mature at around 5/6months of age and start showing more adult traits. They also go through a teenager phase and you need to stay on top of their little rebellions. Watch for change in behaviour that you don't like and address it right away, don't hope it will go away on it's own.

You're much better off having a dog that is socially comfortable rather then trying to turn them into a guard dog and encouraging any defensive responses.

And RE the temperament test... I have mixed feelings about it just because it is so dependant on the judge's opinion of what the dog's response should be. Some of the exercises are pretty straight forward, but with the suspicious stranger some dogs fail for acting aggressively, some fail for not acting aggressively. If you have a dog like a doberman, it's pretty clear that you're looking for some level of an aggressive response or at least an acknowledgement of the threat. But what about grey area dogs like a Maltese who were watchdogs but are mainly companions now. I've heard of some small dogs being failed for alerting because the judge felt that small dogs in general should be friendly towards all strangers really not taking into account the breed. I would prefer to see more standardized criteria.