Thank you for your interest in learning to evaluate Rottweilers for NERR&R. Good evaluators are something we have a shortage of so I am pleased that you have requested more information. Let me tell you a little bit about evaluating for NERR&R and you can tell me if you are still interested in being apprenticed to one of our senior evaluators.

Evaluating is the single most important job in NERR&R. It is you as the evaluator that is responsible for identifying those dogs that are most likely to make safe and loving companions for our adoptive families. It is also a very tough job in many respects including the potential for being bitten while conducting the evaluation. Also, one must be willing to travel to meet with the senior evaluator they are apprenticed to in order to train with them.

We have a duty to our clientele & to the general public to provide only the safest, most physically & temperamentally sound Rottweilers for their families and communities. This is a very difficult concept to keep in perspective when evaluating dogs in the shelter environment. Especially knowing that the dogs you pass up will likely die in the shelter. It can be easy to overlook subtle signs of trouble to give the dog a chance at life. Unfortunately, we can't afford to think that way. Neither our foster homes nor our clientele are prepared to handle dogs with behavior issues.

A few things to keep in mind when trying to determine a dog's eligibility for NERR&R's foster program:

1. We have limited active foster homes. We need dogs that require a minimal amount of re-training before adoption so we don't tie up valuable foster space with dogs needing lots of rehabilitation while perfectly nice dogs die in shelters because we don't have room to foster them.

2. The clientele we have, our adopters, are generally very inexperienced and would be unable to cope with a dog with a sharp temperament, high prey drive or any but the most basic behavior issues. The dogs we send home need to be able to go home with Jim, Jane, little Bobby, Suzie and Grandma.

3. If NERR&R makes a single, poor placement or places a dog that seriously injures or kills someone or someone's pet and we get sued, we jeopardize our ability to rescue hundreds or potentially thousands of Rottweilers over the years. NERR&R is in this for the long haul so we have to take care of our "assets".

4. NERR&R doesn't look at rescuing individual Rottweilers, we are committed to protecting the breed's reputation and our right to own Rottweilers. We aim not to provide additional statistics for the insurance companies or fodder for the presses. That means we are looking for only the very best Rottweilers when we are out there.

It's absolutely heartbreaking to evaluate a dog that you know, a few months with a good trainer would turn around, it'll absolutely kill you the first time you have to say no, not for NERR&R's program. It's incredibly frustrating and sometimes infuriating. It's easy to lose sight of what we are doing and blame NERR&R for not being able to help enough but we have to step back and look at the long term goal and see that we are doing good. We need to remember that NERR&R isn't responsible for the plight of these homeless Rottweilers, the lousy BYB/HRBs and puppy mills are the responsible parties. We need to redirect our anger into positive energy and educate everyone we come in contact with on how to acquire a dog from a responsible breeder or rescue and teach them to be responsible and committed to the dog for it's life.

In terms of the actual evaluation there are various tests performed in an attempt to gauge the temperament and character of the dog in question. They range from basic physical handling tasks to such things as food and other dog testing. The foster homes and eventual forever homes will most likely have other dogs or children or both. It is imperative that the dogs be tested to make sure they will be able to live with other dogs in either situation or that they will not aggressively defend their food or other items making them unsafe in the home. The evaluation even goes as far as to have the evaluator physically take the strange dog down. This is not something that is for everyone. One needs to be willing and able to uncover the potential biters. It is part of the difficult job of evaluating.

So, do you still think you want to evaluate? The evaluations team are a close knit group. We laugh together, we cry together, we critique each other and we learn from each other.

Cate

Intake Coordinator

Foster Home Coordinator