Puppy Personality Testing

Right now I'm reading Jennifer Arnold's Through a Dog's Eyes. It's a very interesting book which discusses all sorts of aspects of dog behaviour and biology and how they affect the relationship between dogs and their people. I'll probably talk about some of the issues it raises in more detail once I've finished it, because the book contains many intriguing facts as well stories about special dogs that amazed me. I'd highly recommend it. It's a very good read!

One intriguing part of the book was the discussion of dogs and whether or not they have personalities. According to Ms. Arnold, they do, and I agree. I'd really be interested to know how many dog owners out there don't believe that their dogs have unique personalities! Anyway, there is a dog personality test that Ms. Arnold discusses which is online here. Apparently it can help to determine your dog's personality out of 12 possible distinct personalities, based on three aspects:

• Environmental: whether your dog is organized or spontaneous;
• Social: whether your dog is an alpha (a leader), a beta (a "social climber" who challenges where he stands in the social order), or a gamma (a follower); and
• Energy: high or medium (I'm not sure why there isn't a "low").

I tried the test and Oscar came out an Adventurer - a spontaneous, beta and high energy dog. Sounds about right! What's yours?

The very image of an Adventurer -
he's almost too fast to take a picture of!