How well do you really know your pet?

In order to evaluate the character of an animal, Svartberg conducted several researches leading to the Big 5 (Five Factor Model of Personality). The Big 5 is what also helps showing us when an animal is well-balanced character-wise.

For working animals, every discipline has its own criteria of what personality traits an animal should have to perform the job. For animal therapy, it’s no different (I will be referring to animal therapy - “pet therapy” - with the term AAS from now on - it means Animal Assisted Services, which is the correct term to be used for animals that are helping humans in their well-being).

Although AAS is still often confused with humans cuddling animals in schools or hospitals, this sector goes way beyond that and is much more complex (think about learning difficulties, therapy, trauma, anxiety, fear, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and more). Animals inserted in AAS are always being exposed to a vulnerable target group.

Would you put any animal to work with this target group? Would you put any person to work with this target group?Think about the safety of the person, of the animal itself, and of your safety as a professional involved in the job. This is also one of the bases of AAS, making sure that this triangle is always equal. The moment one of the triangle elements is not equal to the other elements (i.e. the client gets worse, the animal is in danger, the professional cannot deal with a situation…), the intervention/session/service is jeopardised.

In the real Animal Assisted Services, we are talking about improving humans’ lives who do not manage to do so only with traditional methods. This is why it is of extreme importance that the animals working in AAS are stable and enjoy the interaction with humans.

Here comes the tricky part… they don’t enjoy it because you, as their owner, say it/see it; they enjoy it because if they have a choice, they choose to be/support/interact with humans. This is very often confused by us owners because, generally, we want the best for our animals and therefore, we also convince ourselves that what we do is always best. We often forget that our pets are actually very patient with us. They tolerate quite a lot that might go against their wishes of natural needs. This is when several owners (including me) are caught off guard when doing the PADA test with their pets, because we never stopped to actually observe our animal and give it a choice. We always encourage them, ask them, take them with us, give treats, give toys, etc., so that the animal does what we ask of it.

An animal inserted in AAS (feel free to read the White Paper of IAHAIO, which is free and online) must have the following personality traits: zero or little fear, social confidence, responsiveness to training, no aggression, boldness, and activity (self-regulation when reacting to stimuli). These are not only traits for AAS but scientifically proven traits that correspond to a stable animal. This is what the PADA test looks for: how close is an animal to these traits?

There is no good or bad result; the PADA test is a character test, and due to its foundations, no wonder that it is being used as a standard test in more than 15 countries worldwide within the AAS sector (besides also being used by breeders and owners who want to know more about their pets).

After all the introduction above has been given, can you see the importance of such a test mostly for animals involved in a working context or a breeding context?

Sitaare (Siri) was chosen by me to be inserted in Animal Assisted Services (or, in other words, to become a certified therapy cat). This is the entire reason for me finding it so thrilling to do this test with him, because no matter how well I think I know him, this test will confirm (or not) what I see in him, and I am sure that it will give me further insights about him.

My involvement with the test is also professional. I am an Evaluator of the PADA test for both dogs and cats, meaning that usually I test the dogs and cats of other owners (or handlers) and I also give the recommendation for further training in AAS if during the test my team and I see that the animals meet the required personality traits to work as a therapy animal (this recommendation is given for those who are interested in it of course). This time, however, I will assume the role of the owner, while Siri does the test and is assessed by another Evaluator.