Is your dog suitable to be a Doctor or a Professor?
The Examination - what to expect
The examination for potential Dr. Dogs / Professor Paws consists of 3 basic parts and takes approximately 10 minutes:
1. Initial observation of the dog interacting with their owner, strangers and other dogs. Dogs should have a loving bond with their owner and appear relaxed and friendly towards new people and dogs.
2. Temperament Assessment: Examiners begin with a basic health check, examining eyes, ears, teeth and skin condition. This progresses to handling the dog all over, pulling ears, pinching skin, pulling their tail, blowing in their face, touching their paws and checking for possible areas of pain in the back and hips. We do need to handle the dogs quite roughly in order to asses their tolerance levels and reaction to patients (i.e. small children who may inadvertently pull their tail.) Dogs are also assessed for their reaction to loud noises and behaviour around food - they must remain calm and not 'snatch' at food, even when teased.
If a dog is not aggressive but shies away from human contact or seems unhappy, this is not a good choice for Dr. Dog. The programme promotes happy animals as well as happy people and it is not our aim to involve dogs who will simply put up with being patted. They must enjoy their role too!
3. Basic Obedience: Dogs should walk calmly and quietly on a leash with their owners and be able to "sit", "stay" and "come" on command. Owners should display a reasonable amount of control over their dog and the dog should respond readily to instructions.
Potential Dr. Dogs should…..
Appear healthy, friendly and relaxed.
Display no signs of fear or nervous tension.
Happily allow strangers to approach.
Appear interested in people and have an outgoing nature.
Be able to handle a reasonable level of stress.
Feel comfortable in strange surroundings and with crowds.
Allow clumsy / over enthusiastic petting or pinching.
Potential Dr. Dogs should not….
Bark or whine continually.
Display territorial behaviour.
Be aggressive towards other dogs.
Be possessive over food or toys.
Display any signs of anxiety.
We believe that dogs either have the sort of friendly, tolerant temperament required, or don't - and this is something that cannot be forced, but is inherent in a dog's personality. Few dogs pass the rigorous Dr Dog examination, but this does not make the ones that fail "bad" dogs. For this reason, we prefer that people do not engage in extra preparation, resulting in negative reinforcement, in order to "train" their dog for a Dr Dog programme.
