Aptitude and character tests
There's nothing to pass or fail here. An ethologist runs the assessment and describes what your dog is like: how sociable and how bold it is, how easily it gets startled, how quickly it learns.
About the discipline
APWA-ICofA is the personality and welfare assessment protocol developed by the International Community of Animal Behaviour Specialists, an organisation based in Norway. The dog version is just one of several, since separate protocols exist for cats, horses and livestock.
The traits it looks at are the ones that matter at home and out on the street. Among them: lack of fearfulness, sociability, responsiveness to training, lack of aggression, boldness and activity level.
A conventional aptitude test gives you a mark. This gives you a profile, a description of how the dog behaves, with no pass-or-fail verdict attached. So there's nothing to train for beforehand.
The assessment is carried out by an ethologist who specialises in dogs. The organisation runs its own certification course for people who want to become assessors, and at least one accredited assessor for Romania is listed on its site.
How it works in practice
The protocol has several parts. The picture comes from how the dog reacts to particular environments, situations and stimuli, and also from the moments when it doesn't react at all.
The organisation sets the components and their order, and assessors apply them the same way everywhere. That's what lets you compare two assessments done in different places.
You don't need to prepare, and the dog doesn't need a background in any particular sport. A family pet can be assessed too.
Frequently asked questions
You get a description, not a grade. The assessment shows where the dog sits on each trait it looks at (how quickly it recovers from something unexpected, for instance) without calling it a pass or a fail. A low score on one trait isn't a failure. It tells you what kind of work would suit the dog.
Many temperament tests are selection events: they either qualify you for something or they don't. APWA-ICofA was built as a profiling tool, and it pays explicit attention to the animal's welfare while the assessment is going on. Welfare is written into the protocol and carries the same weight as everything else.
At least one accredited assessor for Romania is listed on the organisation's site. Those lists change over time, so check at source before you make plans.
An ethologist who specialises in dogs and has completed the organisation's certification. It isn't something any trainer can run. The protocol is worth something precisely because every assessor applies it the same way.
From the same category
An assessment of how stable a dog is and how it copes with the unexpected.
A test that describes a dog's character and behaviour across several traits.
Tests for the family dog that check it can behave around people.
Short tests that show whether a dog has a natural knack for herding, hunting or water work.
This page is informational. We work in mantrailing, search and rescue and preparation for the TSAC and BH exams - but if you want an honest opinion on what would suit your dog, write to us anytime.