After looking over what I wrote about Ringo’s mental evaluation test a few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to write up a more thorough description of what it was like. Especially since we were so nervous in advance that we didn’t bother to get a hold of a video camera like most everyone else does these days, and the regular camera hadn’t been charged up so we ran out of batteries halfways in. Oops. ;P For those who aren’t familiar with this sort of test it might also give a better idea of what its like. One important thing to keep in mind is that although the scale is 1-5 for each test, the numbers don’t mean the same each time. Sometimes you want a 1, sometimes you want a 5 and sometimes something in-between. It also depends on the breed what you want, since they’re bred to do different things in certain situations.
The first test evaluates the dog’s interactions with strangers. The owner walks the dog up to the audience, and walks around the audience once. Then the owner walks up to the test leader, who says hello to the owner and then to the dog. The test leader then takes the leash and takes the dog for a short walk, and when they get back she hands the leash back and briefly checks the dog over (checking teeth, feeling along the body, etc). Ringo was reasonably calm walking around the audience, but once the test leader had said hello to him, he turned into a kangaroo. He bounced up to kiss her in the face, and when she led him off he bounced at her side, super-charged. I had thought he might hesitate a little to walk away from my father (he’s very attached to him ;P), but nope. He scored 5 on greeting, 5 on cooperation and 5 on handling, meaning he was very intensive in his interactions. I think 4s would have suggested a slightly saner dog. ;)
The second test focuses on playing. The owner gets a toy (a length of tough rags or something similar) that he slams against the ground a couple of times, then tosses back and forth between himself and the test leader. It is then flung away and the dog gets to run after it. This is done a couple of times. Then the test leader encourages the dog to grab the toy while she’s holding it, to get the dog to play tug of war. For this test, we were surprised to see a low amount of interest in playing from Ringo. Or rather, in gripping the toy and fighting for it. He ran after it when tossed, but he didn’t grasp it, just sniffed it. He also didn’t really get into the tug of war. A poor grip is not uncommon for boxers, but at home tug of war is his favourite game and he seems to have a very good grip. I am not sure what made the difference, perhaps he’s just not bold enough when playing with someone unknown, but either way it was a surprise. He scored a 4 for desire to play, a 3 for gripping and a 2 for the tug of war. Here you probably would have wanted to see 5s across the board, though that would be very unusual for a boxer.
The third test is a test of hunting instincts. An object is dragged by some sort of mechanical contraption along the ground and the dog is let loose after it after a while. This is repeated twice to see if the dog’s reactions change any from the first to the second time. Ringo launched himself very eagerly after the object, but once again failed to grip once he caught up with it. He scored 4 for the pursuit both times and 2 for the gripping. The 4s are probably the ideal result, but the 2s should have been 5s for an ideal result. Again, unlikely with a boxer. A lot score 2s and 3s.
The fourth test is a test of an absence of activity following all the earlier excitement. The owner simply stands in one place for three minutes, with the dog on a leash, and the dog’s reactions are studied. Ideally, the dog stays calm but alert, and surprisingly enough that is just what Ringo did. We had expected him to get antsy, but no. He sat still most of the time, but when the test leader clicked quietly with her pen, he perked his ears up each time. So, he stayed alert. That earned him a 2, which to me looks like an ideal score for this test.
The fifth test is another playing test, but at a distance from the owner. A cloaked person walks out of some bushes a distance away from the dog. The person is supposed to act in a way that makes the dog curious but doesn’t spark any fear or aggression. After the person has walked a short distance, they dive in behind some bushes to hide and the dog is let go. If the dog runs up to the person, they have a toy that they’re supposed to invite the dog to play tug of war with. Ringo was very quick to run out to the person and ran straight up to them without any hesitation. But then he ran straight back home again. The person then started jumping up and down and waving the toy, and he ran back. This went on for a few times, but he clearly didn’t want to engage in real playing at a distance. He seemed to feel a need to keep an eye on the rest of us too. He scored a 2 for initial interest in the figure, which I think is reasonable enough. Higher would show more interest, but might mean a dog more prone to taking off too. He scored a 1 for threat/aggression, which meant none at all and that’s ideal for us. For curiosity he scored a 5 as he ran up to the person without any assistance, so that was ideal, but for interest in playing and co-operation he only scored 2s, and those should have been 5s.
The sixth test is a surprise element to test fear and curiosity. A dummy is pulled up in the air right in front of the dog as its being walked in that direction. The dog is then supposed to go up and sniff the dummy, and then the owner walks the dog past the dummy several times, to see if there are any lingering fears. Ringo stopped when the dummy flew up in front of him, and then took a little detour to say hello to some of the people watching before he walked up. That was probably him ‘stalling for time’ to get a chance to consider it without looking as if he was bothered, and in the end he did manage to go up and sniff it without my father having to go up to it first (he did have to step closer, though). When walked past the dummy, the evaluator thought he increased his pace a little, though I think he mostly jumped over a fallen log. But either way, there wasn’t much lingering concern. He scored a 3 for fear, a 1 for threat/aggression, a 3 for curiosity, a 2 for lingering fears and a 1 for lingering interest. It could have been a little better on some of these, but it was quite good.
The seventh test is similar, but involves a sudden noise just as the dog walks past a certain spot. Again the dog’s initial reaction is evaluated, as well as his reaction when walks past the spot afterwards. Ringo turned right around as the sound happened and immediately put his nose on the object that caused it. He then walked past it several times without caring at all. He scored a 3 for fear (because he did make a bit of an evasive manoeuvre as he turned), a 5 for curiosity and 1s for both lingering fear and lingering interest. I was surprised that he did better here than on the visual surprise.
The eight test is the ghosts. The dog stands with the owner, and slowly two ‘ghosts’ emerge from the woods at such angles that they and the dog form a V-shape. The dog is supposed to show a reasonable level of fear and of threat/aggression, as well as keep an eye on both ghosts. He’s then supposed to walk up to them and check them out when allowed to do so. I had expected a lot of barking from Ringo, because he can be quite vocal at home when something suspicious happens, but here he just stared at the ghosts for the longest time. His tail was almost straight out behind him, his hackles were up, and he stood his ground in front of my father the whole time. He did bark a little towards the end, but on the whole he was very calm about it. He also went up to the ghosts more or less without assistance from my father, though he did not show much interest in them once he realized they were people. He scored a 2 for threat/aggression, a 5 for control, a 1 for fear, a 4 for curiosity and a 3 for taking contact with them.
The ninth test is another set of playing, similar to test two. By now Ringo was very tired and not very interested. He was much more keen on finding some shade. So, he just scored 3 for interest in playing and again a 2 for his gripping.
The tenth and final test is the shots. Ideally, the first two shots are fired while the dog continues to play and two shots are then fired with the dog seated. But since Ringo wouldn’t play at all, my father just ran him on a leash for the first two and then sat him down for the second two. I was shocked to see an almost complete lack of reaction on Ringo’s part, because he has not been happy with shot-like sounds before. But a lot of that has to do with him being high energy and very easily getting tense. By now, he was so tired that he didn’t have any extra adrenaline left. He scored a 1 for the shots, the best possible result, and that was pretty darn amazing.