Sunday, July 26, 2009

Shawshank Puppy

Puppies Behind Bars Inmates Sign Up to Train Service Dogs and Get a Little Something in Return Gloria Gilbert Stoga beacon new york jail prison inmates Radhika Chalisani / Redux

I found the coolest article today and I thought I must really share it. Its about this organization called ‘Puppies Behind Bars’ which was founded in 1997 by New Yorker, Gloria Stoga.

These dogs are trained by prison inmates and stay 20 months in the cell with their handlers. It was founded to train dogs to help the disabled, but these days they are even trained to be bomb-sniffers and help Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans. This kind of training usually costs $25,000 per dog.

This is such an amazingly ingenious program, you can’t help but admire it.

If you want to read the article: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1911990_1913030,00.html

or go to the Puppies behind Bars website: http://www.puppiesbehindbars.com/

6 comments:

  1. I heard about this program and it is so beneficial not only to the dogs, but the inmates (in a way). I think it's great.

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  2. Thank you for posting this article. I am doing my internship in a prison where they have a kitten program. Basically, the kittens that would be put to sleep because of overpopulation in shelters are assigned to offenders to socialize and take care of until they are ready for adoption. It is an awesome program for everyone involved! The kittens get to live and get tons of love. The offenders get to feel like they are giving back in a way. Plus they stay on their best behavior or they have to give the kittens back, it is a wonderful program.
    To Mr. Congo, the dogs used in most of these programs are also on "death row" so they are actually very lucky dogs. Plus, they get the undivided attention that they deserve because it is these guys' full time job! There is absolutely no "poor dog" aspect to the situation!
    Again thanks for sharing this, it is a wonderful program and needs to get more publicity in order to grow!

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  3. I agree with you crystal and you know the first impression i had of this program was the same as mr.congo's...but reading the article and seeing how happy both the inmates and dogs were looking, i definitely changed my mind. i think the kitten program crystal mentioned is also very nice...i think these sweet animals would be one of the very few who would give inmates a second chance.

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