Table 3.
Behaviour test at six to seven weeks of age (40–51 days).
| Nr. | Subtest | Description | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Room exploration | The puppy was allowed to explore the unfamiliar room for 1 min. Except for two litters where the breeder remained in the room, only the unfamiliar camerawoman was present in the room. | 60 s |
| 2. | Greeting Test | The camerawoman from subtest 1 sat on the floor and stayed neutral in a predefined position for 30 s without making noises or movements. She sat cross-legged and did not move her hands or head, ignoring the puppy. After 30 s, she tried to initiate contact for 5 s by calling the puppy’s name, chatting in a friendly voice or clicking her tongue. When the puppy approached, she petted the puppy and talked to her/him in a friendly way. After 5 s of attracting the puppy’s attention and/or petting it, she behaved neutrally for 5 s, then initiated contact again. The 5-s sequences of interaction and ignoring were alternated until the end of the subtest. | 90 s |
| 3. | Problem-solving | A paper cup with small holes 1 cm in diameter, so that the puppy could smell the food underneath, was used. First, the cup was placed onto a piece of cardboard (20 × 30 cm) over several pieces of food (depending on the puppies’ diet), in view of the puppy. The puppy could obtain the food by knocking over the cup (solvable condition). Second, the experimenter followed the same procedure, but attached the cup to the piece of cardboard, so that the puppy was unable to move it (unsolvable condition). Each subtest (solvable and unsolvable) lasted 2 min. | 120 s (solvable) and 120 s (unsolvable) |
| 4. | Startle Test | A balloon was burst approximately 3 m away from the puppy. The breeder remained approximately 1 m from the puppy to be able to provide social support and tried to engage the puppy in play after the noise. The average sound intensity of the bursting balloon, as measured by phone app, was 90 dB. This was louder than any noise the experimenter had presented to the puppies before *. | 60 s |
| 5. | Novel Object | A battery-powered toy resembling a paper bag, approx. 20 × 10 × 5 cm, was placed in a predefined position 2 m from the puppy’s starting point. The object was performing erratic movements while remaining in one place. | 120 s |
* Three litters were tested with novel sounds of lower volume, as explained above.