What is done at the youth presentation and bonitation? Principle of bonitation is to compare individual dogs with FCI standard for CSW.
At youth presentation, it might look a bit like at a dog show - dog must show his teeth and let the judge touch different parts of his body. Then the owner shows the judge the dog in movement (trotting). The measuring is not done, because the dog is still growing. Usually the height of the dog is measured, though. Also, the character test is different.
The character test at youth presentation is done on open area, at least 4 x 4 m. Around this place should not be any other dog or other disturbing subjects. The dog is on leash (without muzzle) and with his owner. The helper (figurant) wearing civil clothing comes to them and tries to make friendly contact with the dog. Physicall contact (touch, caress etc.) between the dog and figurant is favored.
On the command of the bonitation committee, figurant leaves to a distance about two metres, where he turns to face the dog and his owner and pretends to attack them (he lifts his arm, yells - in the form of a game). The goal is to see the reaction of the dog.
At bonitation, the dog has to show his teeth and then different parts his body are measured, for example the height of the dog, length of head, length of ears etc.
Special part of the bonitation is then the character test. There is a slight difference between Slovakian and Czech character test. The Czech test has been so far considered "harder" on the dog in the strength of the attack on the dog, than the Slovak one. However, the way the dog is acting is observed during the whole proccess of bonitation - both during the measuring and character test.
The Czech version of the character test is as followed.
1) The owner with a dog comes to two standing persons. Here he stops, orders the dog to sit and starts to conversate with the people. On the command of the committee, two more people come to the group and they stop in such a way, that the dog is in the middle of the group. They all start to talk together. The whole group keeps talking for about 30seconds. The dog is not allowed to attack anyone or to show shyness. Dog can wear muzzle, if the owner finds it neccessary.
2) The dog is tied to a post. At the first phase, his owner stays with him and can praise him. The helper - figurant comes and makes contact with the dog. Then he leaves to a designed area. From there, he comes and passes once the dog calmly. On his return, he comes and pretends to attack the dog and leaves.
Next phase, the owner of the dog leaves to hide himself. At this point of the test, a gun shot is fired from a distance. After the shooting, figurant comes back, first he just passes by the dog, on his return he again pretends to attack the dog and leaves.
On the basis of the behaviour of the dog during the measuring and the character test, the bonitation commitee then decides on the character code, that the dog will receive. The eliminating codes are Oa, Ob, Oe. Those are shy or aggressive animals.
The point of the character test is to determine too aggressive or too shy animals, which have to be eliminated from breeding. At the countries of origin, CSW is expected to be a working dog with good protective reaction to the attacking figurant. However, it is not considered a fault, if the dog does not try to attack the figurant.
It is absolutely o.k., if the dog stands his ground and just watches the figurant, if he just barks at him or tries to play with him.
However, if the dog is trying to escape and shows fear even when not attacked, that is serious or eliminating fault. At the same time, overly aggressive dog, who does not let himself to be touched or measured and tries to attack everything around himself, is also eliminated from breeding.
Now, at the meeting in Rochefort, we will explain all this again and we will train for these moments of bonitation and youth presentation. It is only good, if people who want to do this, already encourage their dogs to be open with strangers, let themselves be touched and caressed. Basic obedience is also key to succesfull passing of the bonitation.
Some photos from bonitations:
control of the dog´s teeth
measuring the dog´s height
measuring the dog´s length
making contact with the dog
fist phase of attack - character test at bonitation - dog with owner
second phase of attack - character test at bonitation - dog alone
