Introducing...

Tikka, TT

and...Roman, TT

We finally got our first titles! TT stands for Temperament Test and is issued by the American Temperament Test Society.

Each dog had to pass 10 subtests that presented the dogs with visual, auditory and tactile stimuli along with neutral, friendly and threatening situations. Both dogs passed with flying colors. Roman had absolutely no reaction to the gun shot test; in fact, he nonchalantly lifted his leg to pee when the shots were fired. He put himself between me and the "threatening stranger", alerted when the stranger came running at us, but didn't move from his post. The evaluator asked me if this dog was worked in obedience since he was in 'obedience mode' the whole time (walking on my left, looking to me, even though I couldn't give him commands or talk to him in any way). He also said I should consider doing therapy work with him, as Roman scored high on friendliness and had "excellent people skills." (sounds like a job application)

Tikka did surprisingly well, too. She did take the opportunity to take a dump at the friendly stranger station (nothing like a dog to keep you humble), but she stood her ground at the threatening stranger though appeared quite unimpressed (the guy was dressed like a bum, walked like a drunk, waved a stick and yelled incoherently-like a lot of people we see on on our walks to Moscone Park or certain family members). Several dogs that were tested panicked and tried to get away from the stranger, hide behind the handler, or refused to walk over the grating. This is an automatic failure.

Needless to say, my bozos made their mama proud.

Next, the CGC, Rally, Novice and Agility. My cousin said I had too much time on my hands (between all the dog shows, training, fish shows and breeding, it's been a busy summer); Suzy, I tell you, I don't have enough!