SHELTER DOGS
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DVD Cover Information
DVD: Region Code 0Format: NTSC
DVD Release Date: 2006-07-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: CustomFlix
Movie Reviews of SHELTER DOGS
Movie Review: dog's best friend
Summary: 5 Stars
Filmmaker Cynthia Wade followed Sue Sternberg for two years as she worked in her Roundout Valley Kennels, in upstate N.Y., a shelter she had owned for eight years when this film was made, and runs with a small staff of dedicated workers and a shoestring budget.
The dogs that are surrendered, for reasons varying from behavior problems to lack of time on the part of the owners, are loved and tended to, and those who are unadoptable, usually because of habitual biting, are euthanized.
The shelter has a section of concrete kennels, and a limited number of little rooms, brightly painted and with pieces of dilapidated furniture, to make the dogs who are in for a long stay feel more "at home".
It is heartwarming to see the dogs that get good homes, but in certain shelters that we are shown in this film, there is the inhumanity of the long term "no kill" policy that is spreading in this country. There are dogs that are permanently traumatized, and spend their lives in a small concrete and chain link cell. As an "animal person", I am horrified by the cruelty of keeping the "hopeless cases" alive in their misery, and this documentary describes the situation well.
Sue Sternberg is a remarkable woman, as says that she must have been born with an "extra dog chromosome", having an intense affinity for canines since she was a small child. There are some wonderful old home films of her with assorted four-pawed friends, and she is seen at home, underneath a pile of her present fur family.
Excellent photography and editing makes this award winning documentary essential viewing for anyone interested in animal welfare, and it is also enhanced by a nice score by Simon Gentry and Mark Suozzo.
Total running time is 74 minutes.