Dogs Learn Obedience from Inmates

[jackster]

What a great idea! And to top it off, it's happening in my little hometown in North Florida - not known as a bastion of progressive thought.

Wednesday, 10 police dogs from the Animal Service Center graduated from the Canine Undergoing Training Obedience in Prison to Increase Adoptability (UTOPIA) Program at the Taylor Correctional Institution. These 10 are the first graduates of the program, which is ongoing.

All 10 dogs received a diploma, a certification that says they have passed the training and are ready to be taken home. Seven of the 10 dogs have already been adopted.

What's unique about this program is that the dogs were housed at the prison where they received basic obedience training from an inmate. The goal is to increase adoptions and decrease euthanasia while providing the dogs with behaviors and skills that will help keep them in permanent homes.

The inmates learn to care for the animals and the animals have a better chance of being adopted.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070726/NEWS01/707260351/1010

[KurtNYC]

1. Inmates train police dogs?

They might meet again later in their respective careers.

[jackster]

2. no not police dogs!

they're given obedience training so that they will have a better chance of being adopted and not euthanized.

The article is not well written and so at first I thought the same thing.

[TygrBright]

3. I bet the inmates learn more than the dogs do. Cool program. n/t