Product Description

--- INDIVIDUAL USE: RIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS --- This purchase is for individual home use only, and does not include any public-performance rights of either a paying or non-paying nature. SHELTER DOGS is protected by United States copyright law. Duplication, reproduction, alteration, television broadcast or cablecast, internet webcasting/filesharing, loaning for a fee, leasing, sublicensing to others or use for public exhibition or commercial purposes (i.e. charging admission) is strictly prohibited without written permission from Red Hen Productions, Inc. --- ABOUT THE FILM --- Each year, almost 5 million dogs end up in animal shelters - but not every dog is safe to place with a family. What if a shelter dog shows aggression, or is a known biter - should he be adopted out? For two years filmmaker Cynthia Wade was given unprecedented access to Rondout Valley Kennels and its controversial owner Sue Sternberg, and the result is an award-winning film about ethics in a morally ambiguous world. --- SPECIFICATIONS --- USA | In English | Color VHS: NTSC [compatible with NTSC and multi-system VCRs/TVs only] DVD: Region 0 NTSC [compatible with most players worldwide] Strong images are contained in this film. Some content may not be suitable for children under fourteen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70912 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-13
• Format: NTSC

Customer Reviews

Don't Agree
This is a good documentatry movie about dogs in shelters and what they have to go through and the people they have to deal with. I strongly disagree with Sue Sternbergs behavioral evaluation methods and I think several of the dogs in this film did not deserve their lives taken away. This movie is a thought provoker and a tear jerker and anyone interested in dog welfare should watch it. You will be thinking about it for weeks to come and dying to discuss it with other animal lovers.

dog's best friend
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.

Moral Values for Mutts
A starkly honest, but sympathetic film that lives up to the best of documentary traditions.

"Shelter Dogs" forces viewers to confront a very real moral dilemma--how we treat, and mistreat, "man's best friend." It's a tough film with some very wrenching scenes, but it's also a tender film, filled with compassionate people who do their best to patch up the problems that society ignores. Told in the best tradition of social-issue documentaries, the film spends a year in the lives of animal shelter workers as they make life and death decisions about the pets that other people discard. But unlike many so-called "hard-edged films," this one runs the gamut of emotions-- from poignant to funny--, with lots of room for reflection. I liked it a lot, even if the subject matter disturbed me. To me a great film is one that takes me someplace I've never been, entertains me and touches me along the way, before depositing me back home a little wiser for the journey. Shelter Dogs does that. It reveals people and pets at their most vulnerable and, like "Hoop Dreams," surprises us by the outcome. I highly recommend it for anyone who owns a pet, or ever held a puppy and delighted in its affection.