A really great article..

[bkernan]

I just came across this this morning while reading CNN.com. It truly shows how incredible our dogs are and the amazing power they have to influence people's lives for the better. Enjoy!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayof...ars/index.html

[kularing]

What a great thing!!

[Brightelf]

Ohhh.. the Lab kissing the soldier who was having flashbacks... oh my.. what an article. Thank you for posting this.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Puppies Behind Bars is a great charity, my company has contributed to them a few time. We had a particularly good year once and my boss wanted to do some charitable donations, and asked me to pick a couple of places to send money to. Most of the money was to go to local food banks, but he said to pick a few others in addition to that. I'd never heard of the program before, but found it on a website that rates charities by what percentage of the donated money goes towards the actual program vs administrative and other expenses, such as paid fundraising. Many of them use very little of the donated money to actually helping people, but this one was in the top tier, spending something like 5 or 10% of the money (can't remember exactly) on other expenses, with the vast majority going into the program. And of course the fact that it's about dogs appealed to me.

They've actually been around a while, over 10 years, but it's fairly recent that dogs have been going to wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Prior to that they trained service dogs for the disabled and also detection dogs for police departments. It's a win-win situation all around, for the inmates as well as the people who receive the trained dogs. From their website:

Quote:After working with the puppy raisers and their puppies, I am proud of what is being accomplished. The inmates have taken tiny little creatures, who were not housebroken, did not know their names, and obeyed no commands, and have transformed them into well-behaved young pups who are a joy to be around. The raisers, too, have matured: the responsibility of raising a dog for a disabled person and the opportunity to give back to society are being taken very seriously. Puppy raisers show the pups tenderness and love, which had not been given expression before, and are deeply committed to supplying the solid foundations upon which guide dogs are made.

The puppies have affected the lives not only of their puppy raisers, but of virtually all the inmates and staff at the prison. It is literally impossible to walk a puppy around without being stopped by inmates who want to pet the dogs or who want to just say 'hi' to them, and I am constantly being approached by corrections officers and senior staff who ask me about the puppies' training. One of our particularly sensitive pups goes to several different areas of the prison: the sixteen- and seventeen-year-old inmates play with her; domestic violence classes use her to get the women to open up and talk; and she even visits inmates who are about to go before the parole board, for it has been found that her presence has a calming effect on the women.

I'd encourage people to check out the website, (there's a link in the article) and if you're looking for a good charity to donate to, this is an excellent one.