But What About the Prisons???

            So you have heard from the partners of the service dogs, and you have heard a little bit about the program, but you are still not convinced that this whole “let’s put a puppy in a highly dangerous prison and then later give that puppy to someone with potentially life threatening disability.” Well, personally, I felt that same way when I heard about the program for the first time. At first, I thought “Wow, what a fantastic idea and don’t forget about the financial impact of getting the prisoners to do the raising!” But to be honest, the more I had thought about it, I began to feel a little uncertain about the idea of a prisoner being one of the first people to socialize with these amazing animals. I mean, they did not just let anyone into the program, right? Right! I spoke with Jennifer Swank, Puppy Program Coordinator at Canine Partners for Life, to figure out the answers to some of my more serious questions.

            Swank informed me that Canine Partners is actually VERY specific about their guidelines as to who is allowed to be a handler and who is not. In fact, there are over ten criteria that the prisoner must meet in order to even be considered for the position, some of which include “inmates whose crimes were against animals or children will not be considered; inmates whose crimes were sexually predatory in nature will not be considered; must be misconduct free for the last 12 months; must be free from misconducts for assault or fighting for two years; etc.” That alone eliminates many of the stereotypical prisoners that we think of, especially those that are placed in minimum and maximum security prisons. Currently, there are eight prisons that are taking part in this volunteer program with about 100 prisoners at a time. Each puppy is then assigned to two handlers, with four to six puppies at each institution. There is some exciting news coming soon! Starting May 12^th, there will be a ninth prison added to the institutions! Swank was actually on her way to the new prison to train the managers on how to train the prisoners about training the puppies! Phwew…a lot of training involved!

            As I spoke to Swank, I realized a thought that I never had before: what about when the puppies go back to Canine Partners after their first year? I always knew that the community homes had a difficult time with it, but they had a life to move on with and could keep open communication with the future recipient. What did the prisoners have? Swank said that while the prisoners definitely miss their puppies, they usually end up getting a new one very soon after and that many times, the puppy will come back to visit. While Zido was not raised primarily in a prison, I have been asked to go visit one sometime to be able to show the prisoners exactly what all of their efforts amount to. I am just waiting on my dad to approve that one…I guess we will just have to see…

State Correctional Institution-Cambridge Springs in Fall 2013; Michael, Jet, Wesley, Junius, and Tana

Puppy, Tamu, practicing "loading up" in a box at State Correctional Institution-Smithfield

Puppies at State Correctional Institution-Muncy. All of them are sisters!

 

A one month update on some of the puppies in 2011

From the Recipients...

   As I said last time, my service dog was not raised in Canine Partner’s Prison Puppy Program, but many of his friends and even some of his siblings were. I was interested in how the dogs’ partners felt about where their dogs were raised for the first year of their lives. I was able to reach out to many of them through the organization’s Facebook page and asked a few of them about each dog’s experience in the particular prisons.

Me, Zido, Stephen, and Samantha Lorey at Canine Partners for Life in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, August 13, 2014

   Recipient, Samantha Lorey, has been paired with Zido’s brother, Stephen, for one year this June. Stephen spent the first year of his life at Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland where he was raised by a male prisoner who was sentenced for a maximum security-worthy crime that Lorey is unaware of. I asked her how she felt about not knowing the name of the prisoner who handled the dog she now depends on, and she said that while she would love to know exactly who it was that trained Stephen, she knows that the program is “a great program” and that raising these puppies “provides the prisoners with a great experience.” Actually, all of the recipients that I interviewed about their dogs had pretty much this same answer. Lukah Case, a 16 year old who was training with her dog, Jasper, in the same class that Zido and I trained in, also would love to contact the prisoner in charge of Jasper’s first year, but that “as long as [Jasper is doing his job, she doesn’t] think it really matters where the magic happens.”

16 year old Lukah and her medical alert dog, Jasper in Clinton, Illinois, on March 24, 2015

   Stacy Calvert, whose son, Hunter, was paired with his seizure alert dog, Argos, ten months ago says that she would love to know the names of the two prisoners who raised Argos, but that she understands the safety reasons as to why Canine Partners does not release the names.

Hunter receiving the best kind of kisses from Argos in Punta Gorda, Florida on June 27, 2014

   It is an interesting feeling being paired with these dogs, at least for me, because I spend 24 hours a day with Zido and I learn so much about him every single second. I can no longer imagine my life without him by my side, but I cannot help but feel like I missed out on his first year. His puppy home is AMAZING and I am so glad that they were the ones to see him grow up, but I could not think about how it would feel knowing that a prisoner was the one to watch Zido do his first sit on command or comfort him when he was scared of thunder storms. I wanted to see what these three partners thought about this subject, and all three of them again surprised me. Calvert said that it did not bother her or her son at all that Argos was raised by a “criminal” because “people make mistakes [but they] can change.” Toni Popkins, another recipient whose dog, Bud, was raised in a men’s prison in Laurel, Maryland, said that it makes her feel like “even though they committed a crime, they are not all bad.”

   I think that the best way I have ever heard it put about these dogs and the prisoners that raise them was from a woman who graduated in the same class as Zido and me. Every day we had a time where we would read a journal entry that described our time at training. This woman suffered from severe seizures, and her dog was the first to be able to give her the independence to walk down her driveway in many, many years. She said, “I just realized the irony of it all. My little [dog name] started his life in a prison, only to come to me and release me from mine.”

   Whether Canine Partners’ dogs are raised in a home with a fenced in yard, or in a prison with fences surrounding it, the fact is that these dogs are loved and they save lives every day. Nothing can change that.