Eight-week training program benefits animals, inmates

Puppies for Parole is a program that partners with animal shelters and advocacy groups statewide. The New Nodaway Humane Society has been participating in the program for 10 years and partners with the Maryville Treatment Center, an allmale prison.

These shelters or groups select prisons where the offenders are given the opportunity to train these dogs. The Humane Society has a rotation of three to four dogs that takes place every eight weeks at the treatment center.

The inmates are chosen carefully and have to meet certain qualifications to be in the program to become trainers. They have to be out of trouble for a couple of months prior to and while in the program, as well as receive approval from their counselor and case manager.

Kayce Fish is the assistant manager at the Humane Society and has been working at the shelter for two and a half years. She said the skills the dogs learn working with the paroles aid in the adoption process, as potential adopters seek out dogs that have already been trained.

The shelter chooses dogs based on who works well with other dogs, the longest residence to give them a better chance at adoption and even sends ones with behavioral problems to be given the opportunity to break those habits with one-onone interaction.

“While they are there, they learn basic training so sit, stay, they potty train and crate train them,” Fish said. “Sometimes after they learn all of their basics, they get to learn really cool tricks. We had one that could turn the light on and off.”

The Humane Society currently has three dogs at the treatment center being trained: Thor, Nala and Pepper. Each dog is assigned two handlers that will work with them. Chosen dogs are required to have all their heartworm tests done, as well as go on heartworm and tick preventatives.

Puppies for Parole has shown many benefits for both the dogs and the handlers. It has taught trainers vocalization skills and responsibility and offers therapeutic support. It has helped thousands of stray and abandoned dogs’ lives by finding their forever homes. Since the start of the program in 2010, more than 6,000 dogs have graduated from training and have been adopted.

Fish mentioned it’s common to see handlers that are getting out soon or their families adopt the dog they participated in the program with. They are given first pick since they have spent eight weeks with animals and have already built a bond with them. Thor, one of the dogs currently in the program, is being adopted by its handler’s family.

“They just come back different dogs, like every dog has a story,” Fish said. “I love them all ,and when they come back here, it really brings tears to your eyes. Like, I knew you could do it, I knew you had that potential and I’m so glad somebody worked with you and gave you that opportunity.”

Lexus Thompson is a freshman majoring in criminology and minoring in psychology and works at the Maryville Treatment Center as a correctional officer. A correctional officer’s mission is to maintain safety, security and order among the inmates.

All the dogs and handlers are put on their own separate fl oor so the dogs can be together. The dogs are roomed with their two handlers. Thompson isn’t primarily assigned to the Puppies for Parole floor, but it is her secondary floor so she spends some time on the floor seeing the dogs and handlers interact. She said she loves the goals of the program and the support it provides to both parties.

“You can tell how much happier they are because when in prison, all of the offenders get family, friends, you know, their safety circle is taken away from them,” Thompson said. “They have to create a new one within the prison, and their best friends become the dogs, so the handlers are typically the happier bunch.”