DefinePK

Abstract

We observed and examined the behaviours of 40 puppies of German Shepherd and Belgian Shepherd breeds (20 of each breed) at the same age. We categorized the nervous system (temperament) of half of them (10 German Shepherds and 10 Belgian Shepherds at the age of 80 days) per the Breto method. The temperaments of the remaining 20 dogs from both breeds remained unknown to us. We compared the behaviours of all 40 puppies with known and unknown temperaments at a later age (8 months) through the “lure” method. We found out that the puppies whose temperaments had been previously established exhibited fewer pathoethological phenomena compared to the others (whose nervous system type could not be established by our team), which means that mandatory categorization of the dog’s nervous system (during the period of primary socialisation, when the results are most accurate) for the sake of a proper approach to its training can help the building of a successful behavioural model and the avoidance of pathological conditions.