Prisons and dog rehab

Those people who have gone through some type of rehabilitation program themselves are the most likely to work with others to help them over come their problems. That theory also applies to human and dog interaction. In Washington state, the Department of Corrections has a program where women prisoners in the system take dogs from local shelters and train them to become service dogs. The program is called the Prisoner Pet Partnership Program aka the PPPP.

The women prisoners have more than likely gone through drug rehab or other type of rehab program. They then spend 2 years in the program to learn all the aspects of training. It takes 8 months for a dog to be fully trained from a shelter dog to being placed as a service dog. Out of 15 dogs taken from the shelter only one will make it to becoming a service dog. Not all dogs are suitable or have the knack for the job.Those dogs that do not make the grade are better qualified to find better homes since they have undergone basic training.

The program helps the prisoners find better employment once they leave the system and the dogs find better homes. It seems to be that it is one prisoner (the human kind) helping another prisoner (the shelter dog) get a better life.

Dog training

There is a wide variety of dog trainers out there that want your money. Petco has a dog training section which I discovered are only trained to sign you up for more training. In fact Petco does not want people that have any experience with formal dog training, they want people they can train their way, even if the training methods are faulty.

The experiences I have had with professional dog trainers has been very positive. I was fortunate to attend a 8 week course at an AKC sanctioned training club. The trainers both had trained dogs to their championships in obedience class. The credentials that those dog trainers had were in no way a comparison to a Petco dog trainer. They did not have a location next door to circuit city like the Petco had. Their location was in a huge warehouse in the industrial section of town. The space inside the building was great for off leash training and obstical courses. On the other hand the Petco store was way too small for having a proper dog training area.