Raven's Eclipse Litter spent a day at the farm for New Years Eve! It is their first extensive car trip (other than to the vet and the puppies don't remember that) since they have been born. They rode in a crate with their mother crated next to them (and an English Springer Spaniel crated in front of them). The puppies did well on the ride. Once they got out of the car, they began to explore the farm (supervised) and got muddy (and cleaned). A lot of new experiences for them — even being near horses. Lots of new sights, sounds, and smells for their developing minds.

Besides exploring the farm, the puppies were administered the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test (PAT). This test has to be administered by people the puppies do not know and in an unfamiliar place (hence the visit to the farm). Gigi Strauss of RFC Labs administered the test (her dogs were the studs for both Raven and Jynx).

The Volhard Puppy Attitude test consists of ten tests that are scored on a scale of 1 to 6. Here is a link to the test we used. The testing areas are —

• Social Attraction: how well the puppy connects to people and whether he’s confident or dependent on others.
• Following: his willingness to follow a person.
• Restraint: whether the puppy is more dominant or submissive and how well he can be handled in difficult situations such as vet exams.
• Social Dominance: how the puppy reacts to being dominated socially, whether he tries to dominate or if he’s independent and walks away.
• Elevation Dominance: how well he accepts dominance when he’s in a position of no control.
• Retrieving: how willing the puppy is to do something for you
• Touch Sensitivity: how sensitive he is to being handled, which can help determine the type of training equipment you’ll need and how he may respond to grooming.
• Sound Sensitivity: how sensitive he is to loud noises as well as being a rudimentary test for deafness.
• Sight Sensitivity: how the puppy responds to moving objects, which can reveal any tendencies to chase things.
• Stability: how startled the puppy may be when confronted with a strange object.

After the testing, a few of the puppies practiced chasing and retrieving a bird's wing.

After playing with some bird wings, all of Raven's Eclipse litter puppies were given AKC Reunite Microchips.

All and all it was a very productive and busy day for the puppies. They came home all tuckered out.