The science

What Dogmetry measures

Dogmetry measures personality — the stable ways a dog tends to meet the world — with the Dogmetry Dog Personality Inventory (DDPI): five factors (Sociability, Emotional Reactivity, Energy, Trainability, Boldness), each made of three finer facets, each facet measured by its own questions, from a pool of 75 original items. It measures personality, not behavior problems.

The five-factor structure follows the strongest convergence in the recent dog-personality literature — the same family of models used to understand human personality, adapted to what research shows is measurable in dogs.

Why we ask the owner

The person who knows a dog best is the one holding the leash. Research on owner ratings shows they hold up: owners' judgments of their dogs' personalities align with those of outside observers and with behavioral coding, at levels comparable to how well people judge other people. Every question asks how your dog usually is — not one odd moment.

Why we recommend three sittings

One questionnaire is a snapshot of one day. Dogmetry recommends three sittings, at least a couple of weeks apart, and averages them into a stable profile. Averaging across occasions cancels day-to-day noise — the meta-analytic literature on dog personality consistency shows repeated identical measurement is exactly the condition under which consistency is highest. The spread between your sittings is shown, not hidden: dogs show different sides on different days, and that is information.

Why there are no breed profiles here

A study of over 18,000 dogs found that breed explains only about 9% of the variation in individual dogs' behavior. Your dog is an individual first. That's why Dogmetry compares dogs with all dogs, never against breed stereotypes — and why we call it the honest comparison.

Why comparison waits for 500 dogs

Saying "your dog is bolder than most dogs" requires knowing what most dogs are like — measured with this instrument, on this platform. We do not borrow numbers from other tests (different questions, different samples, false precision). So population comparison becomes reliable once at least 500 dogs have full profiles.

Where the science stands — honestly

The DDPI items are original, built on an evidence-based blueprint from two decades of dog-personality research. In a first validation study (171 dogs), the five factors measured with high reliability, and every facet cleared conventional standards. That's a strong first result — and we keep confirming the structure as the platform grows, with test–retest and inter-rater studies ahead. Until each claim is earned, the product tells you only what it can honestly tell you. The full account is in the technical report.

Building it in the open is the point: every profile makes the underlying science stronger — and research use of data happens only with your explicit, separate consent, always anonymized.