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= Behaviour and Personality Assessment in Dogs (BPH) =

The Behaviour and Personality Assessment in Dogs (Beteende och personlighetsbeskrivning hund) – BPH is a behavioural assessment developed by the Swedish Kennel Club (SKK) in May 2012 that aims to accurately describe the personality of a dog irrespective of whether it is a working, pet or breeding dog. It was developed with the intention to allow breeders, owners and kennel clubs better knowledge of dog mentality so that they can breed dogs with more favourable behaviour and understand more about their dog.

The BPH describes 7 traits: sociability, play drive, food drive, owner contact, curiosity, fear/insecurity, and aggression or threat behaviour. The assessment takes approximately 30 – 45 minutes and has 7 parts, with an optional 8th.

Dogs of any breed are able to participate, as long as they are over the age of 1 year, vaccinated and ID-marked. However, the handler of the dog must belong to either the SKK or an associated breed club. The cost varies and is up to the organiser that is hosting the assessment.

As of 2016, there were about 8600 individual records (representing 233 breeds) recorded on the SKK’s website Avelsdata. This website is publicly free to access.

Origin
There is a tradition to measure dog behaviour in Sweden; in 1989, the Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA) was developed by the Swedish Working Dog Association. The DMA is a similar assessment to the BPH, however, the SKK considered it necessary to create the BPH for two main reasons: one, because the DMA had become too popular, leading to a shortage of assessment slots; and secondly, the DMA was designed specifically for working breeds, whereas the BPH is designed for all breeds. From the launching at May 2012 up until 2015, Kenth Svartberg, a doctor in the field of animal behaviour, was employed by the SKK to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment. The SKK collects data from both the DMA and BPH; currently there is more data from the DMA than from the BPH.

The BPH differs from hunting or obedience tests as the handler's skill has little bearing on the outcome, and the dog's untrained responses are examined.

Assessment
The assessment has been designed such that the same behavioural trait is measured in different scenarios. Unless there is an emergency, treats or toys may not be used during the assessment.

Other than the handler, there are three people on the course: the organiser, test leader (instructor), and observer. The organiser has been authorised by the SKK to perform the BPH, and is responsible for the implementation of the assessment. The test leader tells the handler exactly what to do throughout the steps, and the observer records the dog's response at each stage.

The assessment is automatically stopped if a dog does not return to a neutral, non-stressed state of mind after a step. It is possible for an owner to cancel the assessment at anytime for any reason, but it must be at least 6 weeks before a dog can retake the assessment.

Scoring and results
The results include a score sheet, summary graph, and a subjective summary from the observer. The score sheet describes the behaviour of the dog in each of the 7 (or 8, if chosen) steps. Scoring is done on a series of scales indicating the intensity and duration of a behaviour the dog showed, from 'Not at all' (0) to 'Very much' (4). Simply the behaviour is noted and there is no indication whether a particular behaviour is 'good' or 'bad'. The summary graph provided consists of a radar chart which plots the behaviour traits of the dog alongside its breed average. The subjective summary of the dog's behaviour and personality is provided verbally immediately after the assessment by the observer. The observer describes the personality of the dog by using the following categories: angry, energetic, friendly to strangers, playful, loud, curious, and secure.

After 1-2 weeks, a dog's results will be uploaded and published on Avelsdata. This allows owners and breeders to compare related dogs such as littermates or parents, and dogs within a breed.

When 200 Swedish-born dogs of a breed have completed a BPH assessment, the data is aggregated into an individual breed analysis and sent to the breed club, with tips on how to use the information. At 500 dogs, a more detailed analysis is created, including an examination on the effectiveness of the BPH on measuring everyday behaviours of dogs. As of 2019, only 6 breed clubs received a 500-analysis: the American Staffordshire Terrier, Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

If a registered breeder has had at least 5 dogs of their own breeding, and of the same breed, complete the BPH, they can apply to the SKK for a BPH breeder diploma. The BPH breeder diploma was developed to encourage breeders and their puppy buyers to undergo the BPH.

Reception
It has been criticised that the price of the BPH can vary considerably depending on the organisation the test is done through; thus discouraging some owners or breeders to take the assessment. It has also been criticised that the results of the assessment can be hard to understand for breeders and they cannot effectively use this knowledge. Furthermore, academics bring attention to the importance of examining whether traits detected and recorded by the BPH are correlated with the everyday behaviour of the dog, for which there is a lack of information for.

However, the results from ongoing research into the heritability of traits measured in the BPH suggest that the BPH is as useful for breeding purposes as the DMA. Because the assessment is run by the SKK, not the SWDA, it has also been suggested that the BPH could be vital in increasing the number of assessed non-working dog breeds.