ATTS official breed statistics

[Gormy Cuss]

12. I think that you don't understand what Crepuscular means by non-random testing.

The ATTS data can only speak for the results of the dogs tested. It is not generalizable to the breed as a whole UNLESS the number of dogs tested is nearly all of the dogs of that breed.

Whose dogs are tested by ATTS? Dogs who have owners interested in the testing and willing and able to spend money on the test. What else? It's hard to say. By this self-selection process there may be a disproportionate representation of dogs from "good" lines with several generations of dogs known for good temperaments. It could also be that too many dogs from less desirable lineages are represented. That's the problem with a non-controlled study. It may produce results that don't reflect the reality and there is no way of knowing that. For example, if mostly "good" lines of collies are compared to a mixed bag of pit bull lines, the collies would appear to be better tempered dogs than GSDs even though the reality could be the opposite.

A carefully constructed and executed test (i.e. a controlled study) would provide much more reliable data on how the breed would fare on this test.