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Room setup and materials
Materials Required:
- See through dividers to partition space (ie; exercise pens).
- Clock with a second hand for timing the test components.
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Under-footings taped in place, short end against wall: plastic bread delivery tray, plastic wavy roofing material. You can substitute other items such as a section of exercise pen 30” (76 centimeters)


Passive Items Include:
- 2 different statues other than a dog – ideally with big eyes and 50-70 cm tall
- Stuffed animal on chair
- Electric box fan (higher speed flow, quiet if possible), rug runner or tape on the floor to mark where the handler should walk 2 feet from fan. About 24” x 24” (60 cm x 60 cm)
- Stuffed bone or Kong- with Kong Paste or similar filling like frozen wet dog food enjoyable to dogs
- Sandwich in plastic container with a plastic with holes in top. Sandwich is made fresh on the day of testing.
- Noise:
- Loud vacuum cleaner
- Metal container (lunch box) or metal tin for cookies with metal items in it
- Standard height table (about 24″wide x 42″long x 30″ tall) for the dog to jump up on for the exam. Non-slip mat or surface on the top
- Guide Dog Harness- various sizes to fit properly. Handle needs to be modified so it will lay down on the dog’s back and also be able to be removed easily or fixed in a position it does not touch the dog’s back
- Distraction dog (Non-reactive to other dogs, preferably a small dog, different breed from dogs tested)
- Scavenging items placed on floor- three 1” diameter Velcro dots or squares that contrast with the floor color. These are used to mark location 1-3.
- Doll- about 2 feet tall example child size Mannequin:
- Access to stairs or test after
- Woof stick, flirt pole (for chase)
- Novel objects: mechanical toy that rolls, mechanical toy that makes noise & moves
- garbage can 20” tall – place very smelly item in garbage can (we used paper with bacon grease)
- Leash
- Unusual person suit
- Plant in a pot, with 5 drops of urine from a spayed female on each of 2 pieces of paper towel
- Flying bat or similar- Amazon sells one. Hang is so it is 6 feet (1.8 meters) from the floor. Best to hang using a fine line such as fishing line that is tied to a hook or a loop of line from the ceiling.
- 5 24″x24″ rubber mats if using a room with slippery floors. They can be used as follows:
- @ the grooming table for lift off and landing
- @ the fan event to mark the 2′ area
- @ the bat event
- @ the flirt pole event (1-2 for the longer run)
- Upright solid items to use as a tight space. Height about 1 meter (3 feet), length about 2 meters (6 feet). Place the upright item so the width that you walk through is 21 inches (53 centimeters)
- People required: 5 minimum- 6 is better (helpers can be less skilled volunteers)
- Handler- should be skilled in dog handling and communicating with dog
- Helpers: H 9 tasks – bring in dog to be tested, examine dog, give kong & novel object, bring in distraction dog, speak in megaphone, shake noise can, handle flirt pole, open umbrella
- Unusual person- helpful if skilled
- Videographer
Room for conducting the test
- Organizations without a suitable room often rent or borrow a room
- Room should be unfamiliar to the dog.
- Features of the room
- Shape- square or rectangle that is not narrow.
- Size- can vary from 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 10 meters) long and 20 x 30 feet (6 to 10 meters) wide. Some organizations have used even smaller spaces with success
- Example of unusual spaces- Horse barn with a very wide center walkway
- 15 x 20 room
- Low distraction – no people or dog traffic moving through the room or visible outside the room during the test
- Good lighting
- Ideally a door the unusual person can knock on and enter the space
- Ideally no carpet on the floor
- Electrical outlets to plug in the vacuum
- Space for the videographer, loose dog to walk by and for observers to sit and score the dogs
- Room Setup: