Boys and Their Dogs

The juvenile facility I work in is a high-risk juvenile male facility. The crimes these boys committed range from drug dealing to car jacking to murder. As a high-risk facility, the boys are not allowed to leave the facility unless they are going to court or a doctor's appointment. We're required by standards to have some sort of vocational program to give the boys some skills, along with an education, that will give them a chance to succeed when they are released.

Can you imagine how difficult it is to find a vocational program that has no tools that can be used as weapons, but will give the boys the required skills AND keep them in the facility? Well, we found one we have high hopes for.

Tina suggested raising puppies for the South Eastern Guide Dogs. Our facility is the first juvenile facility to train puppy raisers. As you might guess, these dogs will become guide dogs for the blind. Some will not be suitable as guide dogs, but will be in the breeder program. We will have the dogs for approximately 18 months then they will go for more training.

We have two four month old black male Labador Retrievers in the program and will have twelve dogs eventually. Several adult prisons have a guide dog program, but we are the first juvenile facility to attempt this. We've had a few burps in the program, but we are learning as much as the puppies are.

The difference in the boys has been remarkable. One of the boys has some anger problems. Since being assigned a puppy, he has been smiling and interacting more with the staff and other boys. He wanted to be in the program, and then requested not to be assigned a dog because he wasn't sure he could handle it. Later, because a handler was out to court, he was given that boy's puppy to take care of. He asked to speak to Tina and told her that he was afraid that he was becoming attached to the puppy. Tina told him that was good, that was what we wanted to hear. Since the handler was still out to court, a change was made, and this boy was given responsibility for the puppy (the other boy who was the handler will be giving one of the next puppies coming in).

It's amazing what a puppy can do for a boy who has most likely never had anything or anyone who has loved him unconditionally. Most of these boys come from homes where one or both parents are in jail, some using drugs; one or both parents are absent parents (usually Dad - if Mom even knows who Dad is), or the boy was raised by someone other than a parent. I'm not a liberal (anymore) by any means, but it can be heartbreaking when you hear their stories. It's no wonder these boys are in trouble; it's all they've ever known. When you first see the boys, they are in uniform and are looking fit and clean cut - the All American Boy. Then you find out what the boys did to get into this facility and you feel amazement that this sweet, innocent, angelic looking child could have committed such a crime. As I said, we have murderers in our facility. Not so sweet, and not so innocent, but still boys.

That being said, we still have high hopes for the boys selected to be dog raisers. In the adult prisons, not one dog raiser has re-offended after being released. We hope our facility will have the same results.

I'm going to include a link to the SEGI so you can see what they offer. They love to receive donations and this is a very worthy cause if you are so inclined.

http://www.guidedogs.org/