[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by Longblades

Breed traits are just as much fun and inconclusive as appearance.

My purebred, show lines Lab was a great swimmer and retriever. So was her cousin, my sister's pet store dog who we called an English Shepherd as that was what he looked like.

Some of my training friends took their dogs to a herding instinct test. The Newfie scored higher than the two Shelties, the Basenji and the GSD.

I just helped out a temperament test where the only two dogs who failed when I was there were the two Dobermans and they both failed on the drunk stranger test. They both hid behind their owner. The Golden Retriever was getting more and more worried as the drunk approached him but he did not back off and he passed. All the Rotties passed and the Irish Wolfhound, I swear the IW just stood and thought to himself, "Keep on coming buddy, I weigh more than you and I'm taller than you." LOL

So traits are just a clue to background breed, not decisive. And like appearance, you'll see more clues when the dog is mature.

If any of you ever hear of a temperament test needing helpers I urge you to volunteer to help. It was fascinating to see the reactions.

I would love to had taken my Standard Poodle to a temperament test . He was my hearing dog and trained to be around all kind of people. He had very good judgment in people.