Wendy Volhart Puppy Aptitude Test (PAT)

[Doug Boyder]

For those of you who do not know, the Wendy Volhart PAT has become a Standard Instrument for evaluating the natural working aptitude of dogs from an early age.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dboyder/BoyderCollies/pat.htm

 

I've used the Wendy Volhart PAT under the correct conditions:

- Puppies were tested in the 7th week, preferably the 49th day.

- Puppies were tested individually, away from dam and litter mates, in an area new to them.

- Puppies were tested before a meal when they are awake and lively, and not on a day when they been wormed or given their puppy shots.

- The sequence of the tests was the same for all pups

- Tests were administered by someone other than the owner of the litter.

 

My theory is that herding litters should have a larger percentage of "2" (working) scores. I have found there to be a huge difference between an adult dog that had scored "3" (flexible nature), and a dog that had scored "2" (working) at seven weeks of age!

 

My own litter (bred for Conformation/Sporting) only had one puppy (from a litter of six) with a "2" (working) aptitude. i.e. scored 17%.

 

I am wondering if any of you have performed this test under the same conditions, and what percentage of "2" scores you achieved. Please feel free to reply in person if you wish.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I used to use this with my rescue pups. It was basically a valued added sort of thing as I rarely saw much correlation between the scores and the mature personality. I believe upbringing has much more impact on adaptability and trainability, except for some extreme personality types.

 

Jen's litter would have had a wide range of results, but all of them worked and all of them grew up with pretty consistent personalities. The boldest puppy grew a bit more reserved, the most timid one grew much more confident. Jen had zero prey drive until she was about ten weeks old, then it overpowered everything else about her! Another pup would chase anything until he was around that age, when his sensitivity to pressure kicked in and he refused to even look at a moving object until he was over a year old.

 

So, I'm not sure about trying to evaluate a dog's potential for working before you can actually train them. I think all you can do is make sure it's as good a match as possible from working parents and hope for the best.

 

Barbara Swann discusses puppy testing in her book, The Complete border collie, which I have misplaced. I'm not sure but I think she has a bit of experience placing dogs that work so you might find some information there to satisfy your curiosity.