Adopting a dog? Consider it's personality. Personalities among humans can clash and so it is between dogs and humans. By knowing the dog's personality, you can avoid headaches later on.

Knowing a puppy's personality before you commit to buying or adopting him will help you to make a wise choice in selecting the right puppy for you. If you already have a dog, doing a personality test will help you better understand why he does certain things or why he can't seem to learn certain rules or commands.

Checking your puppy's personality starts with understanding his breed, because many of his characteristics will be inherited. If you don't know the specific breed, try to determine what breed cross he might be and refer to those personalities to see if they fit.

There are some excellent books in the library to help you figure out how your particular breed of dog thinks and reacts. Alternatively, you can ask a breeder or your vet.

As long as your puppy is over seven weeks of age, you can get a good result from a personality test. The main personality types are responsive, strong willed, energetic, timid, easygoing and aggressive although you're likely to see a mixture, depending on the mixture of breeds and the circumstances. For instance, a dog might be easygoing around the family, but aggressive around strangers. This is common in dogs that are protective, rather than social and friendly.

Friendliness Test

The friendliness test will determine if your dog is a socializer.

Take the puppy into a quiet area, free of other distractions and whine like a young puppy or talk to him in a friendly, affectionate voice. You're trying to see what kind of response you get. If he cocks his head to one side, becomes alert and happy, then he has a responsive personality.

A high-energy dog might ignore you at first, but will soon be running and jumping around barking and trying to nip at your hands or feet in a friendly manner.

A strong willed dog will become alert and will away again barking and eventually come to you. A timid dog will whine back and bark before crawling up to you with his tail down and his ears pulled back.

An easy going dog will show be more laid back and seem not to care. He is quick to lose interest in your whining, most likely because he's decided it really doesn't matter to him.

If the dog lunges at you and growls with his ears and tail standing straight up (rather than curled or dropped and relaxed) he is an aggressive dog with dominant qualities. If he barks, backs away and crouches down yet remains defensive, he is showing fear aggression. Fear aggression is common in dogs that have been abused.

You can do other tests as well. You can test a dog's sensitivity to noises, how he reacts to discipline, and how tolerant he is to pain and discomfort.

Sound Test

For the sound test, put some pennies into a tin can and shake it to see how your dog responds. Keep in mind that dogs have sensitive ears and are able to hear sounds humans can't. This test could reveal that your puppy might have hearing problems or that he is "gun shy".

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