Four stimuli were presented to the dogs, all likely to induce positive emotions. The stimuli were divided into two food and two social stimuli with different positive intensities. The most positive stimuli were presumed to be the meatball and the familiar person, while the less positive stimuli would be the food pellet and the less familiar person. The dogs were individually exposed to all four stimuli during four occasions.

During the testing the dogs were standing in a cubicle in an upright position facing a stimuli theatre, where the stimuli were presented on a stimuli shelf. The stimuli theatre was equipped with a sliding shutter and when open the stimulus was visible and when closed the stimulus was not visible to the dogs. Below the stimuli shelf, curtains covered the opening where the food stimuli placed on a pair of long forceps were reached out to the dogs during the reward phase. If the reward was a social stimulus, the person rolled out in front of the stimuli theatre on a wheeled board to interact with the dog.

The stimuli were presented to the dogs in two phases when the stimuli were visible and two phases when the stimuli were not visible. The test session started when the dog was placed in the start box for 10 to 15 seconds to calm down. The dog was then released and took place in the cubicle and when standing in an upright position facing the stimuli theatre, the recording of the ear positions began. The shutter in the stimuli theatre was closed for 5 seconds and the stimulus was not visible to the dog. The shutter opened for 5 seconds and the stimulus was revealed. Then the shutter closed for 5 seconds and opened again and the stimulus was visible for 5 seconds. After these four phases, the dog was rewarded with the food stimulus or interacted with the social stimulus.