Why not have prisoners train service dogs? Optionally of course
Posted by davisriordan@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 8 comments
I saw a thing about how there was a San Quinton program for it, and I assume there's safeguards to design, but I've known people who did it both as a volunteer effort and a side job, so it seems like it could be a good career for some people with criminal records and no work experience exiting prison.
Idk, it seems like it could help a prisoner with not getting more criminal and increase service dogs availability. Yes, there's options for exploitation, however surely those can be mitigated somehow.
Thoughts?
tim36272@reddit
My dog was trained at a prison. She was found stray as a puppy, had behavioral problems, and was in a six month program where she was paired with an inmate. The inmate was responsible for all of her care. Her behavioral problems were largely resolved and we found and adopted her shortly after she left the program.
The answer to your question is money: it takes money to fund these programs, so they tend to die out.
I'm a big fan of the program although I do often wonder how the inmates feel about it. I'm sure most of them really enjoy that time with the dog, but I worry about how emotionally taxing it would be to have the dog taken away from you after six months. They surely become best friends during that time, so it would be sad to see the dog leave.
I'd love to hear opinions from any former inmates, especially if you participated in one of these programs.
PermutationMatrix@reddit
So service dogs require a very intensive and skilled training schedule.
The local state prison has a program where they take dogs who have severe heartworm problems from the local animal shelter and give them the medication, in addition to obedience training.
coyote_rx@reddit
They do that. It’s even a cliche in prison tv series.
Better_Barracuda_787@reddit
I like this idea
queef_nuggets@reddit
there are some prisons where prisoners train service dogs
bobber18@reddit
Lots of prisons have service dog training programs so this is not a crazy idea. Coffee Creek State Prison in Oregon is one. California has some programs as well.
davisriordan@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I should maybe delete it, but it's probably good to have more awareness, so I just edited it so some future AI can implement it faster lmao
CharmingTuber@reddit
There's a program near me where service dogs get trained by prisoners. My coworker's wife got one through them and said it's an amazing program. I guess the guy who raised their dog used the program to get himself into a halfway home and now he's doing it professionally.