Sue
Sternberg
Sue
is the founder and director of Rondout Valley Animals for
Adoption, an open admission, private shelter dedicated
to pet owner
outreach, safe animal adoptions, and quality of life.
Assess-A-Pet, Training Wheels, and Train to Adopt are programs
Sue created that are implemented nationally and internationally at animal
shelters around the world.
She is a
graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has
over 28 years of canine behavior experience, including as an
animal control officer, a behavior consultant at the ASPCA, a
kennel and animal shelter owner, a successful competitor in a
variety of dog sports, and a teacher of dog trainers. In
January of 2003, Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption was
featured in the film festival award winning documentary,
SHELTER DOGS. SHELTER DOGS can be viewed at private
screenings, film festivals and on HBO.
She
is an expert in dog aggression and an innovator in the field
of shelter dog welfare, and she develops programs to prevent
pet relinquishment and overpopulation, to match families with
safe pets, and to help shelters attend to the mental health of
the animals in their care. Training Wheels, a mobile
community outreach program, and Assess-a-Pet, a method to
evaluate animal temperament, are two popular CASA programs
developed by Sue. Lug-Nuts,
a weight pulling competition to showcase canine prowess,
without violence, is another innovative program for urban dogs
and owners. Lug-Nuts was featured on ESPN.com fall 2007. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=dogpull
She
is an internationally known author, educator and lecturer.
She has taught
temperament testing to breed rescue groups and shelters and
acts as a consultant for animal shelters around the country on
temperament testing and quality of life issues. She shares her
knowledge of dog behavior on radio and television shows, as a
popular speaker at national humane and dog training
conferences, and through books and videos.
Her
most recent book is Successful Dog Adoption (Wiley Publishers)
and also Great Dog Adoptions: A Guide for Shelters (Latham
Foundation Press, 2002). Other publications include Defensive
Dog Handling, 1999 (awarded APDT honor, Top Ten Dog Training
Videos of 2001); Temperament Testing for Dogs in Shelters
(1996, 1998, 1999 republished and distributed to over 3,000
shelters by Milkbone Nabisco and ASPCA), as well as
contributed articles to The HSUS Animal Sheltering Magazine.
Sue
has four dogs and one cat (all adopted). She is an
accomplished fiddle player, a mineral and fossil collector,
and a major Stargate SG-1 fan.
Sue has been on staff with the Instructor Training Courses since the inception in 1999. Her contribution to bringing dog trainers and shelters together through ITC's curriculum has been invaluable to our graduates. Her unique style, sense of humor, and frank, open approach create a fun, motivating, learning environment. |
