Livestock Guarding Dog in training, Kalife, is now 7 weeks old! He has reached another big milestone and it meant it was time for his PAT (Puppy Aptitude Test) – this is a test which allows us to assess his responses to certain stimuli and scenarios – there are a few sections of the test and here are a few photos and videos from it!

Following Scenario

This test if the puppy or dog will follow you readily.

Restraint Dominance or Back Training

This tests measures how the dog reacts to being put on its back for 30 seconds.

Social Dominance

Test to see the dog’s reaction to us stroking him or her. We do want these dogs being as least habituated to humans as possible, however we do not want them to be aggressive to humans as most dogs will be working with a herder.

Elevation Dominance

Test involves lifting the puppy up to see if he/she tries to get free or just relaxes. Most puppies will just relax and seem to like it.

Retrieving

A test that focuses on a puppy’s chase response.

Chase Instinct

Another test focused on a puppy’s chase response.

The Barrier test

My favorite, this test is basically looking at the intellect of a puppy to see if it can work out to go around the barrier instead of through it to get to what is on the other side.

And finally…

The Trainer Test

Stella Emvula, CCF’s Livestock Guarding Dog Program Assistant Manager, got a bonk on the head as Kalife decided he would rather go through the gate than around.

Hope you enjoy!! 😃 The PATs are easy to do with just one puppy, but when we have litters of 8-10 it can be a bit more “fun”.