ZAP

Society as a whole is being increasingly critical and applying significant pressure on dog breeders, handlers and pedigree dog breeding societies. Bans on dangerous dogs, and unscrupulous dog breeders and trainers are being more and more widely discussed. And the discussion always returns to devastating bite incidents involving dogs. The fear, which is largely the trigger and cause of these discussions and requirements, that is at the heart of this issue must be taken seriously. Meaningful measures need to be taken to show that we are taking the situation seriously, and want to find solutions and foster a feeling of good will.

Even-tempered dogs who have strong nerves yet are not excessively aggressive are in demand nowadays. The dogs must be able to adequately deal with the constantly changing demands of their social environment. By introducing the concept behind the character judgment, the society is implementing its wish to place our dogs’ nature and its fundamental importance at the forefront, and to make it possible to assess its influecing factors.

And this is therefore important to later align canine efforts and work, to understand the reasons behind unwanted behavior traits and disorders – also known as character deficiences – and to help prevent these emerging further in the world of dog ownership in a way that is appropriate both for the animal and for society as a whole. We are responsible for using the knowledge arising from biological behavioral research on the nature of dogs available to us presently and for considering the knowledge gleaned from cynology.

The key guiding principles are therefore using knowledge gained from biological behavioral research to better understand the dog, its behavior and its behavior development. In doing so, it is important to consider the interplay between inherited and acquired behavior control traits, and between fear and aggression. There is no doubt today that a dog’s nature is not predominantly determined by genetics. Instead, it is the combined result of countless interactions between hereditary dispositions and natural, social and civilizing environmental conditions. Therefore, only the foundations of nature are inherited. Nature itself is not inherited, but rather it develops as a result of environmental conditions on the basis of genetic dispositions. Hereditary dispositions are not based on specifi  nature or behavior genes, but rather on genes that when combined have an effect on the organism’s development and behavior foundations. This means that one and the same gene influences the inheritance of physical and behavioral traits.

Even if you discount necessary environmental influences as part of this consideration for ease – nature cannot be bred by itself. Our dogs have innate regulation mechanisms. They have an innate ability to learn.

Using the different innate strategies for gaining experience, it is possible for the dog to complement its behavior to the conditions within its “personal” environment. Learning is therefore not something distorting or overlapping, but rather fulfills the innate drive for openness and incompleteness. Learning – particularly formative and character-like learning – therefore allows a dog’s nature to develop. A dog’s nature is the result of a dynamic development process between genetics and environment. Unfavorable environmental deficiencies cannot be compensated for through breeding. Dogs who are unable to fulfill their innate drive for learning an open behavior program naturally develop behavior that is more or less distorted.

In future, the society will not only support its members to teach a dog to perform to BH/IPO standards. By introducing the character judgments, we want to encourage dog owners to ensure that a dog is not deprived of anything that they need for their behavior and nature to develop healthily (Kaspar Hauser effect). Furthermore, we must not expect anything unnatural from the dog, which may harm the development of their nature. Deprivation or excessive demands result in fear or aggressive behavior.

The way dogs live alongside humans has changed and our dogs must be introduced to these changing conditions. A puppy’s willingness for social convergence or confrontation with the environment crucially depends on their past experiences during rearing, and on the coping strategies they have learned and acquired until this point, as well as meeting their natural social needs. Without the right rearing and developmental conditions, our dogs cannot themselves show which genes they are really

carrying, which is why humans must bear this responsibility to demon- strate what the dogs cannot achieve.

As part of a character judgment, a dog’s behavior and its flexibility is recorded by confronting them with different stimuli that may trigger or provoke a particular behavior. A conclusion can be drawn on the dog’s nature based on their behavior throughout the entire assessment, with the aim of checking the dog’s suitability for living with humans in today’s world as objectively as possible.

The dog should not be handled in obedience. Commands must be kept to the very minimum. For this reason, performance examinations (BH, IPO, etc.) that predominantly test learned and conditioned behavior are no substitute for character judgments. Character judgments are split into the following

Categories:

Impartiality: The dog should allow their handler and an unknown person, e.g. the judge, to touch them at different points on the body.

Social behaviour: Interaction with people, individuals, groups

Noise sensitivity: In this section, the dog is subjected to different acoustic stimuli, e.g. rattling, engine noise and blanks being fired as the loudest stimulus.

Certainty of movement: Sensitivity to heights (e.g. assessed by looking at a dog’s movement behavior across tables) as well as a dog’s movement on flat ground.

Play and predatory instinct/behavior under stress: The assessment is based on how the dog plays with their owner (teamwork) and with an unknown person (representative). Furthermore, the intensity towards obstructed prey (willingness to find) and their willingness to play under increased demands (moving table) are also assessed. Only a dog that feels comfortable in its environment and can cope with the situation is able to play.

Basic nature: Behavior in isolation and when meeting an unknown person.