“This boy ROCKED his checkpoint evaluation tonight!!
What is a checkpoint evaluation you may wonder? It happens around the time the pups are about six months old. This is the time when the foster meets with a 4 Paws evaluator and does the walk around public they will eventually do for the advanced training evaluation. However, this time it’s just to see where the dog is at in their training. It gives the evaluator a chance to see how the dog is doing and sit down with the foster to talk about their dog’s progress. If there are things the dog needs work on, it’s a great time to go over those things and get advice. We went through the arcade, went into the kid area, rode an elevator, went into a bathroom, and many other things!
When we sat down after the mall walk, the evaluator said that Cliff seems like a ‘very confident but chill guy.’ Anyone who knows Cliff knows that is exactly how he is! He doesn’t give much care about what we do, he just goes with the flow. He’s the calmest dog I’ve had yet, which has been a new adventure for me after having so many tracking dogs that tend to be high energy! Sometimes he is overly chill which has been an interesting challenge for me. But the evaluator said he doesn’t see any concerns and as of right now thinks there shouldn’t be an issue finding a placement for him when the time comes.
I’m so proud of this boy and am excited to see what his future holds. In probably 4 months or so it may be time for an AT eval. For now we will just keep doing what we are doing as he matures more!”
Written by Linda Moodie
4 Paws Volunteer Trainer