Sue Sternberg

[Aussies]

courtnek napisał(a):

The big problem for the shelters IS lack of money. Most of them rely on private donations from the public. and they use the money from the adoption fees to help keep the shelters running. That is why I donate old clothes, sheets, blankets, foam bedding, pillows, etc to them. Old sweaters make good bedding, and old t-shirts make great shop rags. They exist on these things. Most honestly do the best they can. There are NO government funded shelters in my area, and few, if any, that I know about in the US. Maybe some of the Humane Societies get some funding, but I'm not sure about that at all. They are in a tough spot, doing a tough job.

I really really agree with this. But, in my state - most shelters are funded by the County Commissions. Do you want to take a guess at how important animal control and adoption is to them in the budget process? Not very. People can donate money but - more often then not cash donations must be funneled through the county. Seldom, if ever, does it end up at the shelter :-(

[Aussies]

courtnek napisał(a):

the tests themselves are ok. In a pinch, a plastic hand is better than being bitten to test for food aggression. In most cases, one or two tries will tell you if the dog is going to react badly. even then, alot of those dogs can be
"weaned" from food aggression over time, once they no longer fear they will starve. and once they accept their new owner as alpha. but as with any fear training, it takes time. SHE would have put Laurel down. MY foxhound!! because she barks/bays/growls at men. this is fear, not aggression, and she runs for it most of the time. scrabbles out of the way in fact, when she's scared. I have her toned down to better levels, but its taken a year. SUE wouldnt have given her that long. she would be dead now if in Sue's hands.

But fear aggression can be just as dangerous as other forms of aggression - and, just as hard to work through. A fearfull dog is more likely to bite I think, then a confident dog - and it's hard to read them sometimes and know what will push it to the point of resorting to a bite. It does take a long time to work through and with some dogs that are severaly unsocialized - it can never be worked through but must be managed. I know probably 3 of my 6 dogs would not pass Sue's temperment test - but, they are my private dogs and they have a home for life. IF they were in a shelter, overcroweded, trying to make a determination on what to keep and what not to keep - then I couldn't fault them for euthanizing. One of them for sure should not be adopted to a non-dog saavy person.

You sound like a very dog-saavy person, and it's taken you a year to work your dog through her issues, and even then - she still sounds iffy. None of our shelters have that amount of time to give an animal much less the necessary expertise (shelter workers do not get paid well). I know with Aussie rescue, we probably approve 2/3 of the apps we recieve and out of those 2/3 most of them really want a Golden type dog in a blue merle suit. Most of them are pet homes, not performance homes and are looking for a family companion, not a dog with issues. People who can handle a dog with issues usually already have a dog with issues. I would imagine that adopters going to shelters would get even less screening and are even less prepared to deal with serious issues. I was at a herding lesson last weekend, and talking to a woman their who worked for a county shelter. She said that under the old director, who used Sue's temperment test, they had zero returns on adoptions. Now they have a new director who won't temperment test, and they've had a large increase in returns. It's just my opinion... :-(

[courtnek]

my hound was adopted from a rescue society, not a shelter, who told me going in she had fear issues. she is not a fear biter, just a warner. she gets startled, bays and growls under her breath, but at the same time she
is wagging her tail and hoping for the best. the best always happens, and although its been a slow process she is getting more socialized. My problem with Sue is not the test, and not the fact that the sheler has to use their best judgement to decide if they shoudl adopt or not, but thefact that she abuses the test to extremes. Every dog has its limits, and no dog,
expecially in a strange place with strange people, smells and sounds, should be subjected to constant unending prodding when trying to eat. She pushes those dogs over acceptable limits while "testing" them. Hell, my Lab mix would bite her if prodded that way, and I can take anything I want away from her, and so can my son. She is abusing the test to make herself famous. It's all about Sue, not about the animals, in her eyes.