Mentality
We think that a good mentality is one of the main characteristics of a healthy dog. We have good mentality as one of our main goals together with freshness and hunting properties in our breeding. In order to have a measuring instrument of mentality we have made use of SKK’s MH which was earlier called the Unghund (Young Dog) Description. The dog must be at least twelve months old and for Gordon Setter it is good if the dog is closer to eighteen months. There is no upper limit. When you interpret the results it is important to have the age of the dog in mind. A grown up dog has more experience than a young dog and will therefore probably show less fear and lust for play. The test shows you sides of your dog that you might find it difficult to see otherwise. The Mental Describe transferee or the judge will explain how he/she perceives your dog and the information might be very helpful in your continued training and management of the dog.
If enough people test their dogs’ mentality we can get a racial profile. It can be used for breeding work and could be a further complement in looking for the desired characteristics of the breed. Mental Description is not scored. It is important to emphasize that the results do not tell whether the dog is good or bad. SKK’s test is the only one in Sweden as recorded in an open accounting by SKK dog data on the internet. Anyone can take part in the tests.
Mental tests show how the dog reacts at the assessment. It may be the case that the dog is not in good shape at that moment. The dog may be ill, have been the victim of something unpleasant just before the test or there might be other reasons for it not getting a fair result from the test. Therefore the dog might be on again but only at two occasions in total.
Practical tips before you register your dog for a mental test:
It is an advantage if the dog is used to being with you amongst other people, dogs and traffic. If it is used to always being together with other dogs it is good if it has sometimes also been alone with you and has experienced things without the aid of the other dogs. Act calm and safe. If the dog reacts to something with fear, stay calm without comforting your dog since this will only reinforce the discomfort.
Your dog will be disconnected during the tests. If it cannot be called back within two minutes the tests will be interrupted. Normal training where you train your dog to come back on command is therefore important before taking tests. It is therefore important to train the dog to come on command before the test, this is one part of the regular training. |
