How Smart Is Your Puppy?

...well, not your puppy, really, but that group of babies for sale down the street. Most pointedly intended for evaluating seven-week-old pups still living with their mothers, this series of 15 simple and revealing tests should help you determine a potential pet's intelligence, sociability, aptitude, and basic personality. The animal's age and location are crucial: environmental and learned behavior come too strongly into play if a dog is much older than seven weeks, is living away from its birth home, or has already undergone the testing battery. Working with three schnauzer puppies from the same litter, well-recognized veterinarian Laura Pasten outlines the simple tools you'll need (watch, crumpled-up piece of paper, dog treats, tape, etc.), explains the purpose of and demonstrates each test and provides a numbered scoring method. After the tests are completed, Fido's numbers will predict whether he'll be good with children, want to please you, be basically submissive or dominant, and is, well, smart. I liked Dr. Pasten's system and her acknowledging that each person requires something different in a pet, but was bothered by the misleading title of her video, the fact that puppies can be tested in this way only once, and the omission of a written version of the test scores and results. (The video's promo blurb does, however, state that buyers can send for a free copy of the test and puppy forms.) Despite these failings and the restrictions on the tests themselves, I can recommend the video because it is well done and inexpensive. (K. Glaser)