How We Evaluate and Match Our Puppies
1. Why We Evaluate Our Puppies
Litter Evaluation Report - Temperament Testing, how it is conducted, and what it means. As taught to Laura and Jessica by Tina Barber, Shiloh Shepherd Breed Founder.
The purpose of the Shiloh Shepherd Temperament Test is to evaluate the temperament of each puppy, to be able to properly match a puppy with its new owner.
Around eight weeks of age, we conduct a litter evaluation for temperament, evaluating each puppy in a litter. The purpose is to read the reactions and body language of each puppy to better predict the future temperament of the puppy, to assist in the placement of puppies. Keeping in mind their temperament as they grow, can be influenced by the environment it is raised in, how much attention the new owner gives it, the experiences it gets, as well as the type of training/molding/shaping of behavior the puppy receives as it grows. A puppy that is ignored growing up or not given the proper attention or environment in which to flourish, or is bullied by another dog, can be the puppy that, as an adult, ends up being rehomed, as the family becomes unhappy with it, due to temperament problems.
2. Our History With the Litter Evaluation Report
Jessica, my partner in breeding, and I were trained by and continue to utilize the litter evaluation report, or LER, developed by the Shiloh Shepherd Breed Founder, Tina Barber. We have standardized other breeders with ourselves and have been re-certified by Tina Barber’s daughter, after Tina died in 2011. Jessica and I are two of the last remaining Shiloh Shepherd breeders to be directly trained by Tina Barber. We take conducting litter evaluations very seriously, as our puppies depend upon us to match them with the best families for them.
What sets us apart
Being trained to conduct an LER and having the experience and judgment to interpret what you're seeing are two different things.
Jessica and Laura have decades of experience conducting evaluations, along with the ability to compare their original assessments with how those puppies actually developed into adult dogs. Through the relationships we maintain with our clients, we receive feedback that allows us to see how accurate our predictions were and apply what we've learned to future evaluations. Our experience comes not just from decades of administering the same test, but from seeing how our assessments hold up over time.
Through these relationships, we've been able to see just how remarkably accurate our original assessments have been in predicting the temperaments of the dogs as adults.
How we got to where we are
We were trained directly by Tina Barber, founder of the Shiloh Shepherd breed and creator of the Litter Evaluation Report (LER). We were taught not only how to conduct the evaluation, but how to interpret it — understanding what each puppy's reactions, body language, and behaviors mean. We have more than two decades of experience conducting evaluations and developing our observational skills and judgment.
We understand the difference between administering a test and interpreting its results. Simply following the form does not provide the knowledge and experience necessary to properly evaluate a puppy. We take extensive, detailed notes throughout the evaluation rather than simply circling answers on a form. We evaluate the puppy as a whole, considering all its reactions and behaviors together rather than drawing conclusions from individual test results.
We apply our knowledge of Shiloh Shepherd temperaments and bloodlines to better understand what we're observing.
We use our experience and judgment to make informed placement decisions, matching each puppy's individual temperament with the needs, expectations, and lifestyle of its future family.
Our relationships with puppy owners allow us to follow how the puppies develop into adulthood.
The feedback we receive about our puppies' adult temperaments and behaviors gives us an opportunity to compare the dogs they became with what we observed and predicted during their litter evaluations.
We evaluate the accuracy of our predictions over time, which helps us recognize where our assessments were on point and where they may have differed from the dogs' eventual development.
We apply that knowledge to future evaluations, which builds on decades of experience and strengthens our ability to interpret what we're seeing.
3. How We Conduct the LER
We evaluate each puppy individually in a location that the puppy has never been. The puppy is away from their comfort zone, littermates, dam, their human, all smells, sites, and sounds that they grew accustomed to, for the first eight weeks of their life. The tester is a person whom we've trained, who has their hands on the puppy throughout the evaluation process. The tester is a complete stranger and unfamiliar to the puppies. The evaluator is the one who observes, records the puppy’s reactions and responses to each test and evaluates each puppy for proper placement.
4. What We Look For
The following are the seven components of temperament we look at during the LER: human interaction and sociability, forgiveness, submission, pain, retrieve drive, fight drive, the maze/problem-solving, and gun sureness. These, as a totality, give us an understanding of what the puppy’s temperament is about, and what sort of placement, family, lifestyle, or environment it would best excel in.
The Evaluator watches the puppy’s tail position, posture, movement, head position, ears, speed of movement, interest in surroundings, and recovery during the testing period to give the information we need to understand how the puppy perceives its world.
Note, and this is very important to keep in mind: We consider, as a whole, the entirety of the temperament test of the puppy, before making any final conclusions as to the final temperament of the puppy. And, this is an estimate or understanding of the temperament. Tina said that what we see could go 2 degrees either way.
5. How We Match Puppies With Families
The puppy that would test well for doing search and rescue work as an adult has a different temperament than one that would go on to do therapy work as an adult. The first puppy would thrive in the rigors of search and rescue training, whereas a therapy dog would enjoy sitting next to children, being read to, or visiting the elderly in care homes. While one puppy would be very content in a quiet, subdued household, another puppy would excel in an active family that did activities and got out a lot.
6. How We Make Placements and What Families Receive
The litter evaluation, which takes place around 8 weeks of age, helps us determine which puppy should go to which family.
We use the information from the client's Puppy Application, along with the results of the Litter Evaluation, to match families with the puppy that we believe will be a good fit for their home and lifestyle.
Once placements are made, we let clients know which puppy has been matched with them and provide them with their puppy’s LER summary and photos.
We like to make it very clear that when filling out the Puppy Application, clients should explain what is important to them and where they can be flexible.
We need them to be sure to provide a phone number for their puppy placement phone call, which typically occurs the same day, following the LER, or the very next day.