Melissa Mackey, an inmate within the Shelby County Correctional system, did not really feel comfy round dogs. Makey stated she wasn’t frightened of dogs, however she had by no means been round them for a very long time earlier than she met Alfalfa.
Alfalfa is an 11-month-old canine whom Makey and her coaching associate Ashley Holland labored with by means of the PAWSitive Dog Training Program on the Shelby County Women’s Correctional Facility. The coaching duo stated the pup likes to play with balls however will nonetheless cuddle up for a superb nap afterward. He is excessive power, motivated and was “tremendous simple” to coach.
The Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby CountyAllegiance Canine and Shelby County Government have partnered as much as placed on a brand new program inside the ladies’s correctional facility, the PAWSitive Dog Training Program. Women who’re quickly to be launched from the power and dogs from the Memphis Humane Society are paired up, and inmates are in a position to prepare and work with the adoptable pups.
The program began on the finish of February, and 6 inmates within the ladies’s dorm on the Division of Corrections have been taking part in this system. The ladies are paired up in twos, and work with one of many three dogs by coaching them every day and caring for their on a regular basis wants.
Holland, who has all the time beloved animals and stated she used to select up strays off the road and provides them houses, stated she was excited that she and her associate set to work with a “massive canine,” not a small one. Holland stated she hopes to work as a canine coach after she is launched.
Makey stated due to this coaching she is planning on getting a canine for her household when she will get out in three months. She additionally plans to both volunteer or professionally prepare dogs as properly. Mackey and Holland stated that working with Alfalfa has helped them be taught invaluable abilities that may switch over to life as soon as they’re launched.
How the PAWSitive Dog Training Program works
The program faucets soon-to-be-released inmates and adoptable dogs. The trainers must undergo interviews earlier than they’re able to take part in this system, ensuring they’ve the correct talent set wanted. Dominique McKinnie, who at present works within the Mayor’s Office of Innovation and beforehand served because the deputy administrator of the Shelby County Office of Re-entry, created this system.
“I’m so happy with this system we’ve been in a position to put collectively in partnership with the Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County and Allegiance Canine,” McKinnie stated in a press launch about this system. “Through the preliminary weeks of this system, we’ve seen members work by means of difficult conditions, observe endurance, set boundaries, and be taught job abilities, all whereas forming a particular bond to the animals of their care.”
The program runs six weeks and as of the primary week of April was on week 5. The first week is all about introductions, stated Ellen Zahariadis, govt director of the Memphis Humane Society. The ladies are launched to the dogs in the course of the day, however at night time they return home to the shelter. Once week two rolls round, the dogs keep full-time within the ladies’s dorm.
Anthony Alexander, director of the Shelby County Division of Corrections, stated he hopes to increase this system quickly, including extra dogs and trainers from each the ladies’s and males’s correctional services.
Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She could be reached at (901) 484-6225 or [email protected] and adopted on X, previously referred to as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.
