Temperament

Hi Greg
Temperament has a genetic & neurobiological underpinning that each animal is born with, on top of which *early* developmental experience is laid. This includes a huge range of influences ranging from the immediate environment, social group, maternal skills (or lack thereof!), sibling (or lack thereof!), extended family, climate, nutrition, competition for resources, etc.

At various points in growth, the brain is more plastic than at other periods. Early development in the dog is the first 7-8 weeks. That initial period sets the stage for the dog’s life. Plujimaker, Appleby, et al proposed that the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic may be set as early as 5 weeks of age! Adolescence is another critical period where the neurobiological underpinning is in flux and more suspectible to certain influences.

During those key development windows, what does — or does not — happen will shape temperament.

Having said all that, step back to an important question: what do you mean by temperament? CARAT deliberately chooses traits that do not shift much, in my experience as a breeder watching generations of dogs live out their full life cycle and as a trainer watching countless dogs move through life.

Now, a lack of experience, traumatic experience, illness, disease, injury, nutrition, etc can affect an animal or person in profound ways. Just like us, our dogs’ biochemistry changes as they mature. Just like us, a mature dog may no longer react to something that really twisted his knickers when a teenage dog. Maturation inevitably involves age related different responses to various triggers.

What is often mistaken for a temperament change falls into two main categories:
— Inaccurate assessment — dog assessed as low energy or “mellow” when actually deeply inhibited by setting
— Mistaking trained coping skills for temperament change.

This is a complex topic. Our Q&A sessions in the Intro to CARAT course dive into these questions as we learn to question deeply and carefully what we are observing, and putting the framework of CARAT to work to help our understanding. It’s why those sessions often last 1.5-2 hours per session, even though I offer 2 Q&As per week. There is an awful lot to unpack on this topic, and it is endlessly fascinating!

Suzanne