Posted: 20.04.08 16:08. Title: Vilda-Meduza´s Anam Cara

I just have to brag about my beautiful Pärla who past the Swedish Mentaltest (Korning) yesterday. Right now she has the highest "kornings" points of all Swedish Smooths witch has done Mentaltest

I'm verry proud Owner and beeder

Camilla

 Posted: 21.04.08 08:10. Title: It would be interest..

It would be interesting to know how the points were collected? I suppose your mental test has changed somehow...

 Posted: 21.04.08 10:09. Title: The lowest poits you..

The lowest poits you have to have for past the test is 300 and the highest is 600. I will try to enter the korning-video on my hompage this evening. Hopfully i manage to do that !! I´m not a computer genius

Have a nice day everyone

Camilla

 Posted: 21.04.08 21:38. Title: We have a new mental..

We have a new mentaltest here now in Sweden, so it's not that many smooth that have been to the new one yet... and when I went to the test we got a paper to fill in about the test, they se that more dogs pass the new test than before... so it's easier to pass now than before.
Especially if you have been training with the dog to fight with toys and the bitestock.

The most important in the new test is that the dog likes to fight with a "bitestock"...

It's not that nessesary to like people, and you get extra points for aggression... so do we really want collies like shutzhunds??

I have pictures of my smoothbitch from the mentaltest, and she didn't have the right bite... for the judges.

Wonder what people in GB would say about that??

 Posted: 21.04.08 22:28. Title: Mental tests are jus..

Mental tests are just tests, they are not competitions like "who's got the biggest score". Man has to find out the exact parts of the test, and how did one dog go throught those parts, and then compare it to other dogs of the same breed. Total points do not tell you anything. That's why I asked how did this Anam Cara collect her points.

Other thing is how you use the knowledge. My opinion is that result of a single dog does not tell much, but if many dogs from the same breeding lines achieve same typical markings in some part of the test, that can be said to be at least partly genetical.

Jeanette, you said one gets extra points for agression...? I didn't understand this? If you mean this palying with bite-toys, that has nothing to do with agression. A dog who is ment to work, in any type of work and any kind of conditions, needs to get "kicks" when she/he uses her/his muscles. And that's what the biting and fetching toys are for. And, I suppose, if you were talkin about real agressiviness towards people or other animals, no one would really like that for collies, do they?

One important thing to remember when talking about mental tests: the highest points are not always what to wait for, I would rather talk "appropriate points" for the breed. Here in Finland the Finnish Collie Society has defined breed "standard" for Finnish mental test. And, every breeder uses their own criterion what to exept for a stud dog or a brood bitch.

 Posted: 22.04.08 08:57. Title: I agree in everythin..

I agree in everything you write acting, so true they point are not interesting, a dog with lower points can be a better dog in many ways than a dog with high points.
It depend on what the dog should be used for, as a familymember you don't need a sharp dog with a big spirit to defend...

No the aggression was not in the biting, it was more in defense towards unknown things, like the sledge.
Like with my dog, they wanted to "spit in the hands" and be more aggresivie, but for me she have enough of that, I don't need a dog that starts to bark and get aggressions over everything, that's not a collie in my eyes.

A collie should be an active friendly dog without any nervous behavior, not a sharp dog, if I wanted that I should buy a malinois or if I want a dog with lots of desire to get in social fights maybe I should have a rottweiler

And one passed dog says nothing about a breeders breeding, not one litter neither...

 Posted: 24.04.08 10:58. Title: Here is very interes..

Here is very interesting discussion about mental tests results!
It will be very interesting to see the korning-video from Vilda-Meduza !!!

acting smooth
Could you tell more about breed "standard" for Finnish mental test by Finnish Collie Society?

 Posted: 24.04.08 21:19. Title: Yes I could, it'..

Yes I could, it's only a matter of translation... But if I only borrow Anne Salminen's (Cinnaberry's) translations, and make bold those charasteristics our society has thought to be the hoped types for collies:

1) CAPACITY TO FUNCTION
+3 EXTREMELY HIGH
+2 HIGH
+1 MODERATE
-1 LOW
-2 INSIGNIFICANT
-3 NEGLIGIBLE

2) TENDENCY TO AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR
+3 MODERATE WITHOUT ANY POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS
+2 HIGH WITHOUT ANY POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS
+1 LOW WITHOUT ANY POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS
-1 LOW WITH POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS
-2 MODERATE WITH POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS
-3 HIGH WITH POST-ATTACK AGGRESSIVENESS

3) DESIRE FOR DEFENCE ACTION
+3 MODERATE, CONTROLLED
+2 HIGH, CONTROLLED
+1 LOW, CONTROLLED
-1 INSIGNIFICANT
-2 MODERATE, UNCONTROLLED
-3 HIGH, UNCONTROLLED

4) DESIRE TO FIGHT
+3 HIGH
+2 MODERATE
+1 EXTREMELY HIGH
-1 LOW
-2 INSIGNIFICANT
-3 NEGLIGIBLE

5) NERVES
+3 CALM AND FIRM
+2 MODERATE CALM
+1 TENDENCY TO NERVOUSNESS
-1 SLIGHTLY NERVOUS
-2 NERVOUS
-3 HIGHLY NERVOUS

6) TEMPERAMENT
+3 HIGH
+2 MODERATE
+1 EXTREMELY HIGH
-1 DISTURBINGLY HIGH
-2 SLACK
-3 APATHETITIC

7) MENTAL HARDNESS
+3 MODERATE
+2 HARD
+1 TENDENCY TO SOFTNESS
-1 EXTREMELY HARD
-2 SOFT
-3 EXTREMELY SOFT

8) ACCESSIBILITY
+3 KIND, ACCESSIBLE, OPEN
+2 ACCESSIBLE, TENDENCY TO RESERVED BAHAVIOUR
+1 FLATTERING
-1 NOT ACCESSIBLE, RESERVED
-2 AGGRESSIVE
-3 INSIDOUS

SHOTS:
SECURE TO SHOTS +
UNFAMILIAR TO SHOTS +
AGGRESSIVE TO SHOTS +
DISPOSED TO SHOTS-
FEAR OF SHOTS-

Maximum points is 300, and despite those ideal markings collie passes the test (for Finnish Champion title) when she/he gets 75 points AND positive rankings fron tendency to aggressiviness, nerves and accessibility. Also gunshots must be on positive side..
Last year there has been some little changes to our test too, but mainly it stayed the same (this above is the old one).