October 1, 2003
Francis Battista,
Best Friends
Dear Francis,
The film "Shelter Dogs" and Sue Sternberg are coming to Vancouver BC soon and our Society has been urged to promote the film. We strongly disapprove of the misuse of temperament tests which use questionable science to justify the killing of any dog that may require an expenditure of time and money to save. We believe these tests to be no more than a new way of doing the old business of dog disposal, now that the old ways have fallen into disrepute due to a new generation of vocal animal lovers using the power of the internet.
We were sent the statement made by you (below). My written opinion of Sternberg is here: "Sternberg is running a business in my opinion" http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3485, and we will be adding more posts in the next few days as I uncover more about Sternberg's business.
AAS has written extensively on CAMP, the "assessment tool" used by the BC SPCA since it devised it a year and a half ago, to "scientifically" justify the massive killing the BC SPCA does because of its multi-million dollar pound contracting business and its unlimited surrender policy. We have written extensively on the pet disposal industry's slick self-promotions and outright lies to obscure what it really does for money.
Can you comment further on the widespread misuse of temperament tests as the newest marketing tool to disguise the old and business of dog control and its latest profitable version "animal sheltering"? Or can you direct me to any other organization that is exposing this latest fraud?
AAS does not criticize the use of testing, not if the test is used to determine what is best for the dog's recovery - not it's death. And we acknowledge that there dogs that must be euthanized because they are so ruined that they are a severe risk to public safety, but we do not agree that that can be determined by one test held in the stresses of recent abandonment and incarceration in a cell, surrounded by other frightened dogs.
Also, do you have an opinion on the film, Best Friend Forgotten? We were invited to participate but declined. Our reasons are given here: AAS declines to participate in the Best Friend Forgotten Movie Tour http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3429
We suspect that this film will sanctify the employees who claim to hate what they do, but continue to take a paycheque to do it, the tactical spin that Sternberg uses successfully to excuse all the killing she does, in fact to garner sympathy for her herself and her business.
Judy Stone,
President,
Animal Advocates Society of BC
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Please read this - it is Best Friend's statement on Sue Sternberg's testing methods
> From: francis at bestfriends.org (Francis Battista)
> To: mbell529 at aol.com (Michael Bell)
>
> Michael,
> We use temperament testing here with some major qualifications and from what
> I have seen, I would think it is entirely unsuitable for use in the very
> threatening environs of a city shelter except in the context of an in-house
> training program which doesnąt exist.
>
> We use it after a dog has had a chance to settle in and then it is used to
> determine in which areas a dog needs help, training, behavior modification
> or what type of guideline should be used in re-homing. I believe it can be
> helpful in predicting potential issues related to dominance, etc., but the
> idea you can take a terrified animal and give it a personality reading is
> nonsense.
>
> Killing animals on the basis of a temperament test is such a horrendous
> crime that those who do it have to become hardened in their defense of the
> theory in order to justify their crime. Sue Sternberg is a lousy trainer who
> justifies her inability by labeling her students as dangerous and
> uneducable.
>
> Imagine the uproar if this were suggested as a way of sorting students at
> inner city schools.
>
> Francis