A program in Oregon teaches incarcerated youth to train dogs, manage a kennel and help pups find forever homes out in the community.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Who doesn’t love a story about second chances? Put in some puppies – we’ve got a real winner here. Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Natalie Pate on a program that offers incarcerated young people the chance to develop job skills as dog trainers. It’s called Project POOCH.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
NATALIE PATE, BYLINE: I’m getting a tour of some dog kennels at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG SNIFFING)
CHRIS: Yeah, he’s a good boy.
PATE: One of the trainers, Chris, has a special connection with Klondike, a roughly 4-year-old Siberian husky with soft gray and beige fur and bright blue eyes. Klondike’s been here for about a year, waiting to be adopted. He was in rough shape when he first arrived.
CHRIS: You couldn’t get near him without him jumping on you and nipping you. Let’s see – he didn’t have any impulse control, didn’t know how to walk on leash. He would pull. Oh, my God, he pulls like a freight train.
PATE: Project POOCH is a nonprofit dog shelter inside the youth correctional facility, about half an hour south of Portland. In its more than 30 years, the organization has helped hundreds of young men and dogs alike. Chris and others have been working with Klondike on basic manners and boosting his confidence. We’re not using their last names because they have records as juveniles.
CHRIS: He’s come a really long way.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Klondike, come over here.
PATE: They showed off his skills on an agility course.
UNIDENTFIED PERSON #2: Good boy, Klondike.
PATE: Klondike chased toys, scaled a teeter-totter…
UNIDENTFIED PERSON #2: Oh, good boy.
PATE: …And he does it all his own way.
(LAUGHTER)
PATE: Why go through a tunnel when you can jump over it?
CHRIS: Get some water.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG DRINKING WATER)
PATE: But staff at Project POOCH say this isn’t a dog program. It’s a youth development program that just happens to help dogs.
SARAH BRADHAM: And they get to change together, which is super exciting to watch.
PATE: Sarah Bradham is the executive director. Most of the youth are between 18 and 21. Bradham says POOCH gives them a chance to gain specific skills and earn training certificates, all while becoming more self-assured and compassionate.
BRADHAM: These guys are going to rejoin our community. They will get out. So we can choose to invest in them and invest in their development and set them on the right path, or we can be punitive.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
ANDREW: We take the dogs on a walk at least two times every day, at minimum.
PATE: Andrew started working for POOCH last December.
ANDREW: So we do training with the dogs every day, which we keep track of.
PATE: Bradham said Andrew has a kind of superpower. He’s one of the first trainers there to see the dogs every day, and he’s good at just sitting with them, staying quiet and calm.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
PATE: When Clifford, a nearly 1-year-old mix with black and brown fur and expressive eyebrows came to the shelter, Andrew said the puppy was so scared that he’d pee and defecate in the kennel and hide in a corner.
ANDREW: I sat in his enclosure with him for two hours. And I just sat there, you know? And I threw him treats, and I didn’t look at him. I didn’t put any social pressure on him. It was all in the pursuit of setting those boundaries and meeting his needs.
PATE: Clifford is still adjusting, but he’s better now. He’s even made friends with another puppy. Andrew says this is the best job he’s ever had. And for Chris, dogs like Klondike have given him a lot to be proud of.
CHRIS: It’s amazing knowing that you take a part in a really big change for him or for any animal – makes you feel nice ’cause you know you had a part in that.
PATE: For NPR News, I’m Natalie Pate in Woodburn, Oregon.
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