Temperament Assesment

Australian Labradoodles are loving, playful, and social dogs that thrive with companionship and daily exercise. They are intelligent, eager to learn, and sometimes even outsmart their owners!

Just like people, puppies have different temperaments—some are more active, while others are more laid-back. To help match each puppy to the right home, we observe them over eight weeks and use the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test as a guide.

Temperament testing gives us a snapshot of a puppy’s personality, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Environment, training, and socialization all shape how a puppy develops. With proper training, any puppy can grow into a well-mannered, loving companion. Our goal is to help you understand your puppy’s unique traits so you can support their growth and training from day one!

  1. Social Attraction

shows us the degree of social attraction to people.

How it Looks: The owner of the puppies places it in the test area, and then leaves. The tester kneels down and coaxes the puppy to come to her.


2. Following

helps us to determine how much the dog wants to be a part of our world versus going off and exploring on their terms. It is a good gauge of confidence and independence and willingness to be with and work with humans. Social drive. 

How it Looks: The tester stands up and slowly walks away encouraging the puppy to follow. Lightly clapping hands and using verbal encouragement to get the puppy to follow. 

3. Restraint

is a good gauge for a puppy’s ease of handling in difficult situations. It is also a good indicator of how dominant or submissive a puppy may be and how readily he/she will accept human direction. 

How it looks: The tester crouches down and gently rolls the puppy on its back and holds it on its back for 30 seconds.

4. Social Dominance

helps to understand the degree of acceptance of human social dominance; how forgiving the pup is. 

How it Looks: The trainer allows the puppy to stand up or sit and gently pets the puppy and observed the puppies behavior. 

5. Elevation

Helps to gauge the puppy’s future reaction to new situations and how trusting they may or may not be of humans without panic. 

How it Looks: The tester cradles the puppy with both hands, supporting the puppy under its heat and gently lifts it two feet off the ground and holds it there for 30 seconds

6. Retrieving

Good gauge for the puppy’s willingness to work with humans and an indicator of his/her prey drive.

How it Looks: The tester crouches beside the puppy and attracts its attention with a ball. When the puppy shows some interest, the tester throws the ball no more than four feet in front of the puppy encouraging it to retrieve the ball. 

7. Touch Sensitivity

is a good gauge for training. An extreme reaction to light touch/pain indicates that a dog will respond to light correction. A high threshold for touch may indicate a need for modification in training techniques.

How it Looks:  The tester locates the webbing of one of the puppy’s front paws and presses it slightly between his index finger and thumb. The tester gradually increases pressure while counting to ten and stops when the puppy pulls away or shows signs of discomfort. 

8. Sound Sensitivity

is a rudimentary test for deafness but also a gauge for how the puppy will deal with future loud sudden noises such as gunfire, fireworks, etc. Along with Social and Following this test can help determine whether the dog will run and hide (get lost) or run to a human or be indifferent. Prey and/or flight/fight drive.

How it Looks: A loud sudden noise of a dropped metal bowl

9. Sight Sensitivity

This is a good gauge for a puppy’s aptitude for hunting, retrieval, and apprehension. It also is a good gauge for whether the puppy will be a car, bike, cat, or kid chaser. This is predominately prey drive.

How it Looks: The tester ties a furry object on a string and jerks it acres the floor two feet away from the puppy.

10. Stability

is the degree of startle response to a strange object. In this case an umbrella. clapping hands and calling the puppy. 

How it Looks: An umbrella is opened about five feet from the puppy and gently placed on the ground.