Pets in prisons and other animal facilitated rehabilitation programs

Prison Pet Partnership Program
http://members.tripod.com/~prisonp/index.html

This Gig Harbor, Washington program occurs primarily inside the walls of the Washington State Corrections Center for Women where inmates reach out to help others by training special dogs to assist a disabled person. Volunteers currently assist by taking the dogs out into the community for important socialization training prior to placement.

Pen Pals - A New Leash on Life
 http://www.adoptatraineddog.com

Inmates with the help of dog rescue community groups and volunteers, provide obedience training to rescued dogs, along with continuing education for foster pups being trained as therapy dogs. Therapy dogs in training are about one-third of each class presently.

Prison PUP Program
http://members.tripod.com/~prisonp/neads.htm

This Gardner, Massachusetts program, guided by NEADS (National Education for Assistance Dog Services), involves inmates of the the North Central Correctional Institution training assistance dogs.

 

Wisconsin Correctional Liberty Dog Program
http://members.tripod.com/~prisonp/men.htm

This Oneida, Wisconsin program involves inmates at Sanger B Powers Correctional training assistance dogs.

 

Puppies Behind Bars
http://www.puppiesbehindbars.com/

This program in New York State's Bedford Hills Correctional Facility assigns puppies to the inmates at this maximum-security prison for women to be raised as guide dogs. Volunteer 'puppy sitters' take the dogs into their homes once or twice a month to expose them to things they won't experience in prison.

 

Project Pooch
http://www.pooch.org/

This Woodburn, Oregon program pairs juvenile offenders from the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility with dogs from local shelters and rescue groups. The students provide the dogs with obedience training to prepare the dogs for placement in permanent homes in the community

Teacher's Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together
http://www.teacherspetmichigan.org

Pairing emotionally impaired youth with hard to adopt shelter dogs for positive dog training
Summer camp (week long)
On line certification in animal assisted therapy
Coming Soon - Animal Assisted Therapy Center

Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program
http://www.cijvp.com/serviceproviders/puppy/index.html?intro

From the Colorado Correctional Industries offenders learn new skills, improve self-esteem, and earn a salary by training shelter dogs to make them more adoptable. They also accept owned dogs for board and train.

The Shiloh Project
http://www.shilohproject.org/

In this Fairfax, Virginia program juvenile offenders and youth at-risk learn compassion, respect and responsiblity in the process of socializing and interacting with rescued homeless dogs.

Students Training Animals: Role Therapy
http://ed.uno.edu/Sites/WSiegel/Page1.html

A program created to help students with behavior disorders learn to control their own behaviors by learning how to train dogs.

Pet Facilitated Therapy in Correctional Institutions
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/prgrm/fsw/pet/pet-eng.shtml

The Correctional Service of Canada published this detailed academic study of the use of animals in therapy and rehabilitation in the correctional setting.

Prison Dog Project
http://www.pathwaystohope.org/prison.htm

This covers a variety of programs where inmates in prisons are training dogs.

Second Chance Prison Canine Program
http://www.secondchanceprisoncanine.org/

This Arizona program is modeled after the The Washington’s Prison Pet Partnership Program.

HOPE - Hounds of Prison Eduction
http://www.hopedogs.org

A prison program in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. Homeless dogs are trained by inmates for basic obedience .

K9 Buddies "Cell Program"
http://www.k9buddies.org/k9_buddies_01_010.htm  

A program in which prison inmates socialize and train shelter dogs to make them adoptable to the general public.

Pet Facilitated Therapy in Correctional Institutions: Literature Review
http://www.nicic.org/Library/017573

From the National Institute of Corrections this is an excellent resource for understanding how these programs work and gathering information to create a prison based pet facilitated therapy program.

Check the other articles on therapy dogs, visiting pets and related topics.

Also see Books and Publications - How to train your dog, how to start a program, and more.
Help finding information of visiting pets and therapy dogs
Lost? PageList lists all the DogPlay pages. Check the Help page.
Visit the DogPlay Mall. Fun designs on T-Shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, buttons, stickers and more. Special sections for therapy dogs, rescue dogs, herding and dog agility.

Xylitol risk to your dog

Copyright © 1998-2003, Diane Blackman     Created: May 11, 1998     Updated November 12, 2007