Prisoners are paired with puppies in a ground-breaking program to train service dogs for injured war veterans. The program, Puppies Behind Bars, develops confidence and healing in both the soldiers and convicts.
Inmates in seven different facilities teach 78 different commands to service dogs and also train explosive-detective dogs for use in airports and law enforcement.
So far, the program, founded by Gloria Gilbert Stoga, has graduated hundreds of animals since 1998. On her Website, she writes about Dr. Thomas Lane, a veterinarian in Florida, who first thought that prison inmates would make excellent puppy raisers, and started the first guide-dog/prison program.
“Not only do inmates have unlimited time to spend with the puppies, but they benefit from the responsibility of being puppy raisers in ways that are especially important to their rehabilitation: they learn patience, what it is like to be completely responsible for a living being, how to give and receive unconditional love, and — since puppy raisers take classes and train the dogs together — how to work as a team.”
Watch the videos below, including a report by Glenn Close featured on Oprah in June…
Glenn Close visited the prison to tell the Puppies Behind Bars story…
well i sure cried over this one!!! it is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!