Snopek, Roxanne Willems. Dangerous Dogs, Altitude Publishing: Alberta Canada, 2006

There are a variety of ways a dog’s personality can be assessed before it goes to a new home. Temperment testing involves evaluating a dog’s reactions to a number of specific situations so that, theoretically, his behavior in similar situations can be predicted. Carl Herkstroeter is the President of the American Temperament Testing Society (ATTS), a national non-profit association that promotes uniform evaluation of canine behavior. Established in 1977, the ATTS conducts seminars, trains and registers temperament evaluators, and awards certificates to dogs 18 months of age and older that pass the requirements of the test.

Herkstroeter reports that most shelters and humane societies do not use their standardized test. “There are probably a number of reasons,” he explains. “Our test is very labor intensive. It takes a minimum of 10 people to conduct a test: six station workers, three evaluators, and one test secretary.”

The shelter environment he adds, is a poor situation in which to assess a dog’s personality. The dog may have been under severe stress prior to arrival. He may have been injured or starved and is almost certainly frightened. “We may not see the true picture,” says Herkstroeter, “because it takes time, sometimes a long time, to undo these behaviors.”

The test, which takes about 12 minutes to complete, assesses the dog’s reaction to strangers both neutral and friendly, to sudden sharp noises such as gunshot, to unusual visual stimuli such as an umbrella snapping open nearby, and to unfamilar tactile stimuli. The dog is then subjected to controlled provocation in the form of a suspicious-looking stranger behaving in a threatening manner 38 ft (11.5 m) away. The dog is on a 6 ft (1.8 m) leash for the entire test and the stranger never gets to within 10 ft (3 m) of the dog. The handler is not allowed to talk to the dog, or give commands or corrections.

“As the the dog/handler team progress through the test. “says Herkstroeter, “the stress on the dog builds. We measure the responses to the various subtests. Each test is more stressful than the previous one and it is very difficult for dogs to hide their true feelings.”

At the end the handler is given a critique of the dog’s performance and, if successful, will receive a certificate. If the dog shows unprovoked aggression, panic without recovery, or a strong unwillingness to proceed, he automatically fails. All dogs tested, listed according to breed, become part of the database. But prospective dog owners looking at the scores of various breeds should be sure they understand how to interpret the scores. “Just because a certain percentage of dogs in a certain breed fail, this does not necessarily indicate aggression,” cautions Herkstroeter. “Dogs fail for other reasons, such as strong avoidance. If you look at our statistics just from a perspective of aggression or non-aggression, they can be very misleading.”

Timidity can be a risk factor for fear biting, a defensive rather than offensive type of aggression; however training and socialization can work wonders for such dogs. Ninety-five percent of the dogs that fail do so not because of aggression but because of a lack of confidence. They either avoid confrontation with the weirdly dressed stranger or they refuse to walk on the unfamiliar surface. The rest fail because they take longer than 30-45 seconds to recover from the shock of the gunshot or the unbrella opening. “I’ve tested over 8000 dogs,” adds Herkstroeter. “I’ve had a half dozen or less fail at the ‘friendly stranger’ stage. Three or four of these avoided the friendly stranger and two or three showed aggression.”