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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.
  • 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:
  1. 2 different statues other than a dog – ideally with big eyes and 50-70 cm tall

  2. 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:
    1. Loud vacuum cleaner
    2. 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:
    1. @ the grooming table for lift off and landing
    2. @ the fan event to mark the 2′ area
    3. @ the bat event
    4. @ 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)
    1. Handler- should be skilled in dog handling and communicating with dog
    2. 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
    3. Unusual person- helpful if skilled
    4. 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: