As Your Puppy Ages, Will Behavior Change?

Four Border Collies puppies on a tableAnn Gafke’s Teacher’s Pet, 325 E. Dripping Springs Rd, Columbia, MO 65202
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The answer is Yes & No – based on a four year research project at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74310-7

The research used the Vienna Dog Personality Test (VIDOPET) to study the dogs Sociability-obedience, Activity-independence, Novelty seeking, Problem orientation, and Frustration tolerance. They tested  217 Border Collies from six months to 15 years of age.  They retested 37 dogs four years later.

They found, as in human personalities, the more active dogs among their peers at a young age remained the more active as they aged. However, among the five traits, they found individual differences. For example novelty-seeking – that is a dog’s  interest in distractions – did not decline until middle age and continued to decline, and problem-orientation – that is a dog’s interest in and ability to solve problems – increased until middle age and remained stable after that.

Because of the individual differences among dogs, researchers cautioned against over-generalization of global age trends in dogs.

Those criteria used is in this test are important elements of the training activities throughout our school beginning with puppies to introduce them to the human world we’ve invited them into and help them conclude – Been there, Done that, No need to worry about that. https://dogschooling.com/puppy-kindergarten/

 

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