No joke: My dog has a prison record

[Bozita]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090921/FEATURES01/909210310/1318/My-dog-has-a-prison-record

POSTED: SEPT. 21, 2009
THE BREAK ROOM
No joke: My dog has a prison record
BY JEFF SEIDEL
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST



There are moments in life when I sit back and think, "Why the heck am I scooping poop off my carpet?"

Which brings me to our new dog.

We just adopted a lovable mutt. Part golden retriever, part collie. And he just got out of prison. Seriously.

It all started when my daughter spotted his bio on the Internet. "My name is Felony, and I got my name for a reason," the bio begins. "I am able to escape most fences. I have an Olympic gold medal in counter surfing."

Any normal adult would read that line and hide the doggy treats. An 11-year-old girl skips past the red flags and sees an adorable, yellow-haired, floppy-eared, tail waggin' piece of love, just waiting for a second chance.

Felony was about to be euthanized when he was rescued from a shelter by Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan and sent to Lakeland Correction Facility in Coldwater to be trained for three months by select, specially trained prisoners, and by that I mean, no one named Michael Vick.

This program has saved about 60 dogs in 1 1/2 years. The prison also has a sister program that has saved about 300 greyhounds, at no cost to state taxpayers.

"It's been very well accepted by staff and by the prisoners," said Warden Carol Howes, who has two dogs herself. "The artists started drawing pictures of the dogs. The sewers made coats for the dogs out of old prison jackets. Some of the songwriters wrote a theme song. Everybody got behind the program."

It's a program where everybody wins. The dogs get to, you know, stay alive. The prisoners learn to be responsible, taking care of the dogs 24 hours a day. Prison yard tension has eased. And here's my favorite part: We ended up with a new dog.

more...

[lame54]

1. he'll probably have trouble finding work

[Wilms]

2. So I see your post and recall one that I saved a while ago. So I dig it up and...

...turns out it was yours!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3368351

and a permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/01Rpuppies.html?_r=2&oref=slogin

Small world. :hi:

[Bozita]

4. Everybody comes out winners in these dogs-in-prisons programs.

You caught me!

:hi:

[Ineeda]

3. he'll probably miss that free prison health care, but

congratulations on the addition to your family. I have a rescued cat whose middle name is Corleone because he steals things(once, a dime that ended up, inexplicably, in the garbage disposal. Not a good thing.) He also acts like a dog in other ways - fetching and barking (yes, really) when he tears through the house in a kitty frenzy.

[petersjo02]

5. A prison in Colorado,

and maybe others as well, has a program where inmates work with wild horses brought in from BLM lands. They turn a horse, that has never felt the touch of a human, into a well-trained and well-mannered companion. IIRC, there is a waiting list of people who want to adopt one of these wonderful horses following completion of their training. No more bucking bronco breaking. Training methods are gentle nowadays, along the line of the "horse whisperer."

[LAGC]

6. FREEP.com?!

For a second there I thought the worst...