The SPCA's Companion Animal Management Program(CAMP) contains an assessment process for dogs which is apparently designed to allow the
SPCA maximum latitude in managing its inventory of retail product.

Three to Five days after a dog arrives in the shelter it is assessed using the Hetts Tests. The three possible test outcomes are: not adoptable, or "Red Zone"; questionable, or "Orange Zone"; and adoptable, or "Green Zone". According to the CAMP Procedural Manual for Phase One, " ... you should always use the test with the most unacceptable responses; we need the worst-case scenario, not the best...." (p. 69).

The SPCA needs the most unacceptable responses from dogs not to move them into the Red Zone: Red Zone dogs are promptly killed. Clearly the assessment test, which includes asking a stressed dog to relinquish food, is unlikely to fill kennels with Green Zone dogs. The SPCA's use of the Hetts Temperament Test seems intended to maximize Orange Zone dogs; which, not coincidentally, allows each SPCA branch the maximum latitude to stock their viewing kennels with the dogs that sell best.

CAMP is being passed off as a science-based procedure. If the policy is proven science, the SPCA should identify the peer-reviewed sources of
the program. If the BC SPCA is blazing new ground in developing these procedures, then it is imperative that experimental data be published.
Have adoption rates improved? Are returns down? What are the kill statistics before and after implementation of CAMP?

The SPCA is using CAMP to justify shipping dogs from the far reaches of the province to wherever they're deemed to be more marketable. The specious claim of "zero tolerance for the euthanasia of adoptable animals" is tailor-made to appeal to the donating public. The immediate
result of the media-friendly CAMP may be an increase in profit from animal sales, and an increase in donations which have been dropping off
due to poor marketing. It's difficult to conclude that the animals are any better off.

See many more posts on the BC SPCA's dog assessment test further down the board.