Behaviour Testing of Dogs BCL and GDBART Test

Name: Behaviour Testing of Dogs BCL and GDBART Test
Start: 2025-11-01T08:00:00+02:00
Location: 180 North Ridge Road, 4001 Durban, South Africa

Schedule

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025 at 08:00 am

UTC+02:00

Location

180 North Ridge Road, 4001 Durban, South Africa | Durban, NL

The Behavior Checklist (BCL) is a method of assessing dog behavior. Specifically, it is a behavior scoring system developed by Dr. James Serpell from the University of Pennsylvania, USA in collaboration with multiple guide dog organizations, including Smart Service Dog. The BCL provides a way to describe aspects of behavior important for guide and service dogs (however the behaviors measured in this assessment can still be helpful for other working dog roles or even pet/breeder temperament evaluations).
Importantly, the BCL has been validated and demonstrates the capacity to measure behavior in a consistent manner that lends itself to analysis. The SSD has developed some tools that utilise BCL scores to provide analysis on aspects of your breeding program: you can learn more about this in our Estimated Breeding Values and Reports sections.
Using the Behaviour Checklist provides the following benefits:
The terminology to describe behavior is standardized across all users, and there are detailed definitions to help you describe the behaviors you see.
Data is consistent within your organization and with other organizations that use the Behavior Checklist
We will only accept 5 puppies and 5 Adult dogs for this test course.
Cost of Test is R600 per dog.
Sponsored by Smart Dog.
Your Assessor is Guide Dog Mobility Specialist Grant Smith