Dog years

Twelve added to 40 added up to 13 with a remainder of two last week at the Gulf Forestry Camp for the DAWGS in Prison program.

The 12 signifies the number of dogs in the DAWGS in Prison program’s 13^th graduation class, a significant addition from the eight dogs graduated after the initial eight-week training class.

Forty represents the number of inmates at the forestry camp involved in last week’s graduation, a jump from the 26 who participated in the first class.

Most importantly, though is the two, for that stands for the program’s second-year anniversary, a milestone worth celebrating as 127 dogs have gone from abandoned and sheltered at the St. Joseph Humane Society to new homes in 13 states across the country.

Further, during that span 169 inmates have participated in the program, with some significant success stories.

“When you look at a program you look at its effectiveness,” said assistant warden Doug Sloan. “As far as effectiveness, this program is one of the best in the state.

“There are a lot of stories there among both the inmates and the dogs. Without this program they would be short stories, sad stories, horrible stories. Now the stories are different, they are stories of hope and success.”

Jesse Dodd had always wanted a dog but what he was looking for on a recent spring day was a job with the Department of Corrections.

The Tallahassee resident had recently graduated from Florida State University and was researching jobs when he happened upon a link on the DOC website concerning the DAWGS in Prison program.

The more he read, the more his interest was piqued. Before he was finished reading, he had decided to contact the Humane Society about adopting a dog.

“I’ve wanted a dog my whole life,” Dodd said while preparing to meet his new four-legged best friend. “I’ve been waiting to be in this position where I could get one. I had looked at buying a dog, but I just kind of stumbled upon the (DAWGS in Prison) website and I just decided I’d rather adopt.”

Dodd, it turned out, wound up adopting Dixie, a mix breed that was awarded the “Top Dog” award for graduation class No. 13.

Tim Kerigan, the executive director of the Gulf County Tourist Development Council, was also in search of a dog, though for entirely different reasons.

“(My wife and I) had a chocolate lab who was really our first child for 14 years,” Kerigan said. However, the dog had passed last year. “We waited awhile and then tried to replace her. We’d heard about this program and what a great opportunity it was for all.

“I’d admire what the Humane Society does for the community and we came up with our kids (aged 9 and 11) and checked out the dogs and found Wrigley, It was a perfect fit. The kids had good bonding with Wrigley. They are looking forward to having him home. Now that school has just ended, they have the entire summer to bond with the dog. It was perfect timing.”

Wrigley, it turned out, was also something of a legacy graduate for the DAWGS in Prison program. His mother was adopted by Judy Miick, co-director of the DAWGS in Prison program, several graduation classes before.

“Judy gave us a good match,” Kerigan said.

While Dodd and Kerigan will keep their graduates not far from where they were rescued, many of the graduates last week were headed beyond the borders of Florida, to homes in Tennessee, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Over the past two years dogs have been placed in spots on the map from Ohio to South Florida.

“This is one of the better (DAWGS in Prison) programs around the state because they get their dogs adopted so quickly,” said Paula Bryant, a communications director for the DOC, one of several staff members from Tallahassee who made the trip last week, one, a chaplain, adopting a dog.

But it is not all about the dogs.

The inmates, who must apply to participate and undergo an interview process to determine their dedication and ability to work together in teams, have their own success stories.

One would be Dave Lyons. Lyons was part of the first graduation class and seven subsequent classes, but is now in Oregon, living with a sister and employed working with animals.

“Until recently I could never put prison and success together,” he wrote in a letter to Sandi Christy, with Miick, co-director of the DAWGS in Prison program. “I had to change everything in my life, my health, my outlook, my heart, in order for me to be able to open myself to one of God’s creatures.”

This is a man who spent much of 26 years of his life behind bars.

Another former inmate who participated in the DAWGS program is working with a Humane Society out of South Florida and another is now working with the St. Joseph Bay Humane Society and doing, Christy said, “exceptionally.”

Most impressively, there is Frank Gonzalez, who by the time this story has reached ink and paper will be living with family in Sarasota after his release this past Monday.

Gonzalez, Officer Donna Haddock said, is the valedictorian and salutatorian for the DAWGS in Prison program, having participated in the program for 22 months and all but one graduating class.

Gonzalez, who has gone from caretaker, essentially charged with the everyday hygiene of the dog, to a team leader, respected by his fellow inmates in a role of assisting all other dog/inmate teams.

He has plans, he said, to find employment working with animals, particularly dogs, be it a shelter, Humane Society or vet.

The growth over the past 22 months, Haddock, who coordinates the DAWGS program at the Forestry Camp, has been startling, even in a program in which Haddock said, “We try to put them out of the program better than they came in.”

“(Gonzalez) started at the bottom and he had … issues,” Haddock said. “He was resistant to change, self-centered and had no respect for authority.

“He is no longer that person. He’s made a huge turnaround in all ways. He’s worked real hard.  I’ve watched him long enough to know that he truly has changed. He is a changed and productive member of society. He is a great example for all the other inmates.”

The DAWGS in the program’s names represents Developing Adoptable Dogs with Good Sociability. Dogs, as with the inmates, are screened by Humane Society staff and volunteers to determine temperament and affinity for training.

During their eight-weeks of training, each dog has a trainer, a handler, who assists with training and working with the dog beyond formal training hours and caretakers.

“The dogs faced an uncertain future,” Christy said. “Now these dogs will be in loving, responsible families.

“Maybe, I didn’t exactly see we’d have come this far in two years. But I had a vision of having the best program in the state.”

The training model comes from Jay King, who operates a dog academy in Tallahassee and has been hands-on with the inmates and dogs in each class – as 12 dogs graduated last week, a new group of “freshmen” were on en route to the Forestry Camp for the eight weeks of training.

“No, I am not surprised” by the success of the past two years, King said. “I think it is due to the effort of the people who kept it going as well as people’s attitudes. As I tell the inmates on the first day, the dogs do not see a black or a Hispanic or a criminal. The dog sees a companion, somebody who will love them and care for them.

“This is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship for all of us.”