How I Tell Temperament In 48 Hours
By the founder of the Australian Cobberdog. Beverley Rutland-Manners
I've been told "You chose the perfect puppy for us" for many years. This is how I do it.
For years, I did what everyone else did, and I waited until my puppies were at least seven to eight weeks old. Then I would carry out a series of pre-determined tests, most of which took at least two people and a few days to complete.
Then one day, I had a lightbulb moment. What if there was a better way? I reasoned that the most powerful motivation a newborn puppy has, is the pressing, urgent need for survival. Surely, I thought to myself, with survival mode at its strongest, this would be the perfect time to assess its temperament? I figured out that warmth and nourishment are the critical needs of any newborn, so when the next litter was born, I decided to test out my theory. It was a large litter, so there was a lot of shuffling going on for positions at the milk bar. Once their mother was finished giving birth and was comfortable, I sat by their side and observed the newly born puppies.
Previously, like all conscientious breeders, I had spent a lot of time helping the smaller or weaker puppies to get their fair share of their mother's colostrum and later, her nourishing milk. This took a lot of time especially when you think it was every couple of hours for the first week at least.
Then one day, I had a lightbulb moment. What if there was a better way? I reasoned that the most powerful motivation a newborn puppy has, is the pressing, urgent need for survival. Surely, I thought to myself, with survival mode at its strongest, this would be the perfect time to assess its temperament? I figured out that warmth and nourishment are the critical needs of any newborn, so when the next litter was born, I decided to test out my theory. It was a large litter, so there was a lot of shuffling going on for positions at the milk bar. Once their mother was finished giving birth and was comfortable, I sat by their side and observed the newly born puppies.
Previously, like all conscientious breeders, I had spent a lot of time helping the smaller or weaker puppies to get their fair share of their mother's colostrum and later, her nourishing milk. This took a lot of time especially when you think it was every couple of hours for the first week at least.
This time, I decided to just wait and see what the puppies would do by themselves.
What I Noticed
For the sake of clarity, let's call these example newborn puppies A B and C.
Puppy A. This one could be either the smallest or the largest in the litter. Size didn't have any bearing, neither did gender. If this newborn was latched onto a nipple and a sibling tried to snuggle in or otherwise challenge this puppy, it hung onto that nipple like its life depended on it and it went to extreme lengths to maintain control, twisting and turning with all its might. A simply refused to give up its place, sucking even harder to make up for what it might have lost in size comparison.
Puppy B investigates its place at the milk bar. Newborns are usually drawn towards a sibling who is already attached to a nipple. I've never really worked out why this is. Maybe it's the smell of milk, maybe something else. But its reaction tells us a lot about its character. B might say "ho hum, I'll just look for somewhere else." and wriggle off to somewhere else. Or it might put up a fight until it realises A isn't going to let it in. But whatever it might be, the level of resistance gives valuable clues about its nature.
Puppy C is the gentle one. This puppy doesn't even challenge other siblings who are already latched on. C just looks for an empty space if there is one. If there isn't one, C will just go to sleep and wait, or else suck on a clump of its mother's coat for comfort C is the newborn who has to be helped in case all the milk is gone by the time it finds an empty spot.
I was excited with these early observations, and I determined to keep watching and to take notes.
Over the next couple of days I kept watching and taking notes. I was aware that after the first 48 hours, the puppies could well behave in habit patterns they'd acquired but I was thrilled to notice that none of the puppies 'changed character'. They all stayed exactly as I had identified them. But there was more work to do before I would be satisfied with my new method. When I went through the old procedure at seven weeks old, I was particularly interested to notice that none of the puppies in that litter deviated from my first assessments. Maybe I was onto something!
But I asked myself "Could it be just this particular litter? Maybe it had something to do with the mother or father? Bloodlines for instance?"
The only way to answer this question was to try out the methodology with unrelated lines. So over the next few months I repeated the procedure with other mothers and fathers, and the results were exactly the same.
