Breed Temperament Versus Personality Type

Every dog breed available has certain temperament traits that are typically associated with that breed. When selecting a breed, temperament is an important part of that decision. 

But within every breed, there are many possible personality types as well. Just because the Havanese breed is known to be a super friendly breed does not – by any stretch – mean that ALL Havanese dogs are super friendly. A Havanese can still have a shy or timid personality type, while still being 100% Havanese. 

So what does this mean and why does it matter?  

Let’s say you decide that you want to adopt a Havanese puppy for your family because you know that Havanese are usually social butterflies and you want a dog that will be very friendly to everyone he meets. In your case, let’s assume your breeder allows you to select your puppy, so you choose the one that looks the cutest to your 5-year old daughter. 

So you take home an adorable little Havanese puppy, but when you invite friends over or try to socialize your puppy, he tends to prefer to not be very social. Perhaps he just wants to stick with you or will wag his tail from a distance, but is too shy to really be a social butterfly at all! You may be very disappointment and feel like you got a “dud” because your Havanese is not a social butterfly. 

In this case, you probably selected a puppy with a Shy-Timid personality type. This puppy is not a “dud” but rather does not fit the typical temperament that is common with many Havanese or the expectation that you had for the breed as a whole. If your breeder had personality tested their puppies and selected a puppy for you, you would have likely adopted a puppy that was a social butterfly and would have been exactly what you were looking for!

Parent Dogs’ Temperament

Many people believe that if you breed dogs with certain personality types, they will have puppies with similar personality types. However, this is not always the case. We have seen very social, outgoing puppies produced by very shy timid dogs and vice versa. There is no hard set rule that indicates dogs will produce puppies with similar personality types. It can certainly happen, but the opposite can as well! 

What Is Puppy Personality Testing & Matching?

In a nutshell, around seven weeks of age, we use a series of 8 simple tests with all our puppies to determine their personality types. Likewise, we have all our new owners complete a New Owner Questionnaire. Using the results of the puppy testing and the New Owner Questionnaire, we determine which puppy is best suited to each new owner based on the puppy’s personality type and the new owner’s preferences and needs. 

In this way, we make sure that an inexperienced new owner with small children, for example, receives a gentle puppy that is easier to work with and will give them a good first experience. By contrast, a more strong-willed puppy would be assigned to an experienced owner who would prefer and enjoy the challenge of working with a very bold confident puppy.

Possible Puppy Personality Types

• Dominant-Aggressive
• Dominant-Aggressive with Bold-Confident tendencies 
• Bold-Confident 
• Bold-Confident with Sociable-Friendly tendencies 
• Sociable-Friendly with Bold-Confident tendencies 
• Sociable-Friendly 
• Sociable-Friendly with Gentle-Cooperative tendencies 
• Gentle-Cooperative with Sociable-Friendly tendencies 
• Gentle-Cooperative
• Gentle-Cooperative with Shy-Timid tendencies 
• Shy-Timid with Gentle-Cooperative tendencies 
• Shy-Timid 
• Shy-Timid with Independent-Aloof tendencies
• Independent-Aloof with Shy-Timid tendencies 
• Independent-Aloof
• Independent-Aloof with Dominant-Aggressive tendencies
• Dominant-Aggressive with Independent-Aloof tendencies

What Personality Types Are Most Common With Our Puppies

By far the vast majority of our puppies test to be somewhere between Bold-Confident and Shy-Timid.  We do not normally get puppies with Dominant or Aloof personalities, so most of our puppies are actually pretty easy to raise and train. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, when you adopt a puppy from an ethical breeder who provides puppy personality testing and matching as part of their program, it is an important decision that can greatly benefit you and your family, as well as your new puppy. When you select a reputable breeder that includes this service, you are reducing your risk of later behavior problems and re-homing. More importantly, you are increasing your chances of successful socialization, training, bonding, and obedience.

Other Information

To learn more about puppy personality testing, please read  Why Getting A Professionally-Matched Puppy Is So Important .  

At Seeking Shalom Acres, we implement the Elite Breeder Puppy Personality Testing & Matching protocol with all our puppies.  You may read this article for a case study on Puppy Personality Matching in Practice.

To inquire about our puppies or our  puppy personality testing , please toss us a question here . We’ll be sure fetch!