Inmates train shelter dogs - a win-win-win situation [View All]

[Bozita]

Don't miss the pics.


POSTED: JAN. 3, 2011
Ypsilanti inmates help dogs become good canines
BY JOE SWICKARD
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Think rehabilitation in prison is some kumbaya pipe dream?

Try telling that to Trixie, Garvey, Juliet, Charlie, Jonas, Bristol, Hercules, Apollo, Jezebel and Marie.

• Photos: MI-Paws dog graduation

They might want to give you a nip, but they are far too well behaved.

Thanks to their stint at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility, the 10 former orphan hounds are now roll-over-and-rub-my-tummy certified Canine Good Citizens, ready to join new families in life outside the walls.

On Dec. 15, the dogs completed 10 weeks of intensive training, love and focused attention with 20 inmate handlers that transformed them from shelter animals to adoption-ready pets through a partnership of the Humane Society of Huron Valley and the prison in southeast Washtenaw County.

"These were dogs that were kenneling well, but needed some help to get them ready to go into homes," said Helen DePinto, the Humane Society's director of behavior programs.

The graduation is the first for MI-PAWS -- Michigan Inmates Providing Assistance Work & Service -- at the Huron Valley prison, and it's a win-win-win proposition.

The dogs become well-trained and socialized, the inmates learn a positive service while being held to tight-performance standards, and the adopters get a happy, loving pet, DePinto said.

"It seems that a lot of the trainers are lifers and they don't have a lot to look forward to," said James Ward, a Catholic deacon and prison chaplain.

"This gives them something positive to do. It's really throwing them a lifeline," he said.

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110103/NEWS06/101030324/1322/In-womens-prison-orphaned-dogs--reformed-to-be-good-canine-citizens&template=fullarticle