Your dog will probably pass the test if he:

Supervised Separation

Stays with the trusted person for three minutes while the handler goes out of sight

Remains calm and mannerly while the handler is away

Also keep in mind that:

You may leave your dog on a "stay". If your dog gets up from the stay, that alone will not cause him to fail the exercise.

You must go completely out of sight and should not attempt to talk loud enough for the dog to hear you while you are away.

Your dog will need additional training in this area before he can pass this test if he:

Shies away from the trusted person

Becomes overly-friendly, hyper, or growls, snaps, barks, exhibits a fear, self-defense, or aggressive response any time during this exercise

Jumps up on or shows more than casual interest in the trusted person

This means that your dog may attempt to get attention from the person holding the dog, however, that person has been instructed to not respond to your dog. The dog should not continue to pester that person for attention or otherwise be annoying or a nuisance.

Should not attempt to chew on or tear up anything in the immediate testing area.

I will also be looking for other signs of stress or handler separation anxiety in your dog while you are away.

Should not pace, whine, bark, growl, or pull on the leash

A dog that mills around and only tightens the leash just slightly once will still pass this test. The main determining factor that I use to draw the line for pass / fail on this test is whether the dog was calm, mannerly and easy to hold while the handler is away.

Common errors made by the handler, causing the team to fail this exercise:

Handler attempting to be partially visible to the dog or otherwise send signals to the dog

I usually don't mind if family members are where they can see the dog taking the test, so long as they are at a distance. If I feel that a family member's (or anybody's) presence around the testing area is a blatant attempt to assist the dog in passing this exercise, then I will ask that person to go out of sight as well. Should they refuse to do so, I feel that I must fail the dog since I really was not able to evaluate the dog under the conditions that I am supposed to.

Handler giving harsh commands to "stay"

So what exactly does this test look like? If you are taking this test under me, you could expect things to go something like the following:

I would tell you where to set your dog up, and instruct you to give your leash to the designated "trusted person".

I would ask you if you are ready and allow you to get your dog into position if you choose to leave your dog on a stay.

I would then instruct you to exit the testing area, show you where to go, and start the clock.

I move some distance away from your dog so that I do not interfere with him during the test.

When the three minutes is up, I would call you back to your dog.

Have Other Questions? E-mail me and I'll try to answer them.