Petfinder.com forums :: View topic - Prison Dog Programs w/Tiffany Brown of HS of Ashland County! [ ]

Last edited by Petadmin on Tue May 31, 2011 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total

Just what is an Inmate Community Service Dog Program or a "cell dog"? Well, be here the week of May 23rd and find out! Ever considered adopting a pet that has been through an inmate community service program? Or perhaps wondered how your shelter or rescue could get involved? Join us May 23rd- 29th for Inmate Community Service Dog Programs with our expert Tiffany Brown from the Humane Society of Ashland County and learn all about the benefits of these programs!

The Humane Society of Ashland County is a non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of animals through the rescue, care and placement of injured, abused, neglected and abandoned animals into permanent and loving homes. We serve as advocates for animals, strive to end animal overpopulation, and are committed to providing community service programs and educating the public about the humane treatment of animals.

The Ashland County Humane Society also works with the Mansfield Correctional Institute to help homeless dogs in need. Dogs enrolled in the program are housed at the prison, and are cared for by specially selected inmates, who also train the dogs. A professional dog trainer works with the inmates, teaching them how to train the dogs, who learn basic obedience and are housebroken, making them easier to adopt into families. The Humane Society of Ashland County offers and performs all of our services without a building. We operate solely with a network of foster homes, and the Cell Dog Program.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 2:15 pm Post subject:

What sort of training do these dogs get? Do they cost more because they are trained?

Tiffany's Answer:

Dogs are taught basic obedience, sit, stay, come, heel, to walk on a leash, and to heel and walk beside trainer off leash (this is a goal but breed and personality determine that). If the dog is not housebroken then that is also trained, and dogs whom have some social issues such as being shy/timid we work with different handlers to get to know multiple people and so the dog becomes less timid.

Sometimes the handlers teach tricks such as “shake” ect.

Our adoption fee covers our cost of vetting, Cell Dogs do not have a higher fee.

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:10 am Post subject:

What requirements if any do the dogs have to meet to be in a cell program? Do you find that a certain type of dog does better than others?

Tiffany's Answer:

Early in the program the Prison ask we not bring “bully” breed into the program that could be trained for “corrupt” proposes. We honor that request and do not take in purebred German Shepards, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Pit bulls ect.

The prison also ask we keep the extremely large breeds to a minimum at one time, due to space issues. These dogs spend the entire time with the handler, so they are in lock down at bedtime with them, chow in the mess hall ect.

We attempt to keep the dogs in the program under the age of 5, but this is not a definitive criteria.

All dogs must be completely vetted for safety of dogs and handlers, such as Rabies vaccinations, treated for worms and are spayed/neutered. And, we quarantine them prior to taking them into the prison. We do not wish to contaminate 25 healthy dogs with kennel cough or parvo.

We typically do not put toy breed type dogs in the program and they are the breeds that do not do as well. There are a lot of people moving around in the prison, and little dogs get under feet sometimes, they are also scared to be under feet and scared of all the chaos (such as laundry carts, bells/buzzers ect). The same is for extremely shy dogs that can’t be re-socialized in such a large structure, we generally pull these dogs out if they are not doing well and put them in a more individualized setting of a foster home.

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 12:39 pm Post subject:

I read that the prison approached you about this program. I'm on the board of a rescue group, how would you suggest we find out about getting our dogs involved in one of these programs?

Tiffany's Answer:

My thought is that you will have to approach a facility. We have heard of a local jail operating such a program, it does not have to be a State Prison.

In your approach you are going to have to show them the benefits of having such a program. If it is a County program (such a local jail/county pound) you could show them costs that could be saved by not euthanizing, higher rate of number of placements in “cell” dogs, possible higher adoptions fees, community service hours for prisoners, better behavior of prisoners desiring to be a handler, less strain on shelter staff in caring daily animals (food/water, kennel cleaning), less over crowding in shelter, and the notoriety the County politicians will get for such a wonderful community service program.

You are going to have as much details as possible, how many dogs, where they will come from, will they be behavior assessed, how they will be adopted, who will be facilitating the adoption, how long they will be in program, how/who will supply food, flea treatments, leashes, what type of vet care the cell dogs will receive and at what point, ect. Rules for which prisoner will be allowed to handle dogs. What the goal is for the dogs (training, service dogs, greyhound rescue, ect) and who will be providing said training, how and when, ect.

Again, this is going to hinge on how beneficial and popular it seems to the people you are pitching it to. People don’t like change and they are going to see this as extra work and hassle. So, you have to do your homework and come up with as much detail as possible and then work out the kinks if you get a program launched. You may want to find one person on the Board you will be pitching it to, so you can have their support, they can talk it up to the others, and they can give you feedback as to what issues are being discussed, so you can overcome objections.

Goodluck, we hope for your success!

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 1:35 am Post subject:

have you ever had adopters that were skeptical of adopting cell dogs? If yes, how do you address any concerns? Do you see a higher rate of adoptions for cell dogs?

Tiffany's Answer:

Most certainly we can say our dogs get adopted quicker, which allows us to save a larger number of dog. We have had people come from other states, some several away and we even assisted in flying a dog to Canada. I think people want to tell their friends and family their dog was a “cell dog”, I also think they want to participate in such a feel good community service program.

We don’t really have skeptics of the dogs per say, we have had a few people concerned with the handlers and their treatment or handling of the dogs because they are people who have done bad things, so they assume they are mistreating the dogs.
once you explain the policies to become a handler and what you have to do to maintain the status of a handler then they feel at ease.

The only issue we really have with our program is that without a facility, the dogs are allowed to stay in program for up to 6 months. We have found that some dogs who happen to be in the program for months and have a handler with them 24/7, then sometimes have separation anxiety in there new homes, when their new family goes to school and work. We really try not to have the dogs in the prison that long for reasons, and if ever we get a facility the dogs will then be transferred to the facility for adoption once training is complete.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:29 am Post subject:

Welcome Tiffany and thank you for being here! I’d like to kick things off by asking a question. Can you tell us a bit about what a prison dog program is and how the Humane Society of Ashland County got involved with this program?

Tiffany's Answer:

Our prison program is set up to give homeless and ordinary animals a second chance (other train service dogs, rescue greyhounds and such), we have discovered that many of the dogs who end up in shelters do so because of behavior/training issues, mostly due to lack of time or knowledge of the original owner.

We feel that if the dog’s issues could be dealt with and the dog could have proper training, then when the dog is placed in it next home it then has a higher percentage of permanent placements.

On the flip side the prisoners whom train the dogs are taught responsibilities, unconditional love and caring. Some even leave the program to become dog groomers and such.

Each dog is assigned two handlers “prisoners” to care for it. The prisoners can not be incarcerated for certain and most serious violations. All must have clean files in order to be awarded the responsibility of a dog. If any prisoner violates his good behavior he loses his right to handle a dog. There is always a waiting list to become a dog handler.

Once a week we send a dog trainer into the prison to train the dogs and the handler is to continue the training learned that week until the next weeks training; this goes on for a period of 6 weeks. As you can guess many of the trainers who have been in the program a while, know the routine and do a very good job at knowing what will be expected of the dog.

All dogs of The Humane Society of Ashland County are spay/neutered, wormed, microchipped, vaccinated and then enter the prison for a minimum of 6 weeks of training. Since we do not have a facility the prison has agreed to allow our dogs in there a maximum of 6 months (I am aware other programs get their dogs out immediately upon completion of their training).

This program has been in operation approximately 12 years and the prison originally approached us with the opportunity as they were the ones who wanted to implement it, and another group had declined. We then had meetings with the prison about expectations and the goals of each party, and then started into operations. We originally started with a small group of dogs (around 10) grew it to approximately 40 dogs allowed at one time in the prison and with the cut backs, so came the program cut backs, so we currently keep 25 dogs in there at all times.

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