[nagdu] Puppies behind bars

Charlene Ota caota at hawaii.rr.com
Thu Aug 13 17:48:28 UTC 2009


I'm glad someone, I think it was Tracy, shared about the program because I
listened, too, and it was so interesting. The vet that was interviewed was
talking, too, about how there's a patch on the cape that the dog wears
asking people not to pet or distract the dog, guess we all have to deal with
that!  (smile!) It was also interesting about the type of dogs used for the
bomb sniffing as opposed to being service dogs. The ones that work out as
service dogs were the kind of dog that is more compliant, wanting to kow
what they can do for the person in a sense. The dogs go everywhere with
their prisoner, too, so if the person is in a vocational program the dog
would go with them. I suspect the dogs get much mor socialization than we
would think, and then, of course, there's all the volunteers that take them
out on the weekends and take them into the city. Thanks so much for bringing
the program to our attention.

Charlene  

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 2:25 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Puppies behind bars

After listening to the show, I deduce that the program at least started in
New York, since they have trained dogs for Guiding Eyes.  The puppies spend
the week with the inmates, then go out for the weekends to get a taste of
life in the outside world.

Much of the show was about a new program to give service dogs to wounded
veterans.  One of the guests has post-traumatic stress, and explained how
his dog helps with that.  He said he is hyper-alert, always looking for
snipers and potential bombs, instead of seeing a harmless supermarket or
mall.  So, if he's in a store, coming up to a corner in the aisle, he tells
his dog to "pop the corner", and she goes ahead and looks around the corner,
then signals him if someone is there.  That way, he's not startled by coming
upon someone unexpectedly.  The same when he's standing in the line for the
cashier--the dog watches behind him, and if someone is coming up behind him,
she puts herself between her person and the other person, so he knows the
other person is there, and so he still has the space he needs.  They also
said that some people have PTSD so bad they sometimes go catatonic, just
curl up and stop responding.  Their dogs are trained to use a big phone to
call 911 if that happens.  It was very interesting.
Tracy


> Lora,
>
> Your Trice is the first working guide I've "met" from that program.  I 
> can see the reasons it's a good idea in some respects but have really 
> wondered how it works in reality, since a guide dog needs to be 
> exposed -- or so traidition has it -- to everything imaginable.
>
> I am really interested to see how your new guy does as you go on in 
> the wide, wide world.  I'm glad you have such a good guy after all 
> your troubles with her former dog!. /smile/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Lora
> Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 1:45 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Puppies behind bars
>
> My dog was raised in a Prison, but was raised in Ohio.
>
> On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 1:48 PM, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Today's Fresh Air program on NPR is about Puppies Behind Bars, 
>> prisoners raising service dogs.  The particular program is in Bedford 
>> Hills, which I think is in Michigan, so maybe they raised Lora's 
>> Tryce.
>> Fresh Air is availlable as a podcast, probably from npr.org, as well 
>> as on the radio.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>>
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>
> --
> Lora and Trice
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