Puppies Behind Bars Fact Sheet

Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) instruct prison inmates on how to raise and train puppies who become service dogs for people with disabilities and bomb detection canines for law enforcement.

THE NUMBERS

The program currently has 282 working dogs.

Sixty-eight (68) program graduates are service dogs throughout the USA

One hundred seventy-eight (178) work as bomb detection canines in the USA and abroad

Thirteen (13) others function as companion and therapy dogs for blind children

Puppies are given their names by a sponsor who donates $3,000

THE DOGS

Labradorsand Golden Retrievers are used because of their insatiable desire to please

Golden Retrievers considered to be gentler dogs and are usually placed with the elderly

Labradors are considered extremely confident dogs and their active lifestyle is conducive to being placed with more active adults

Service Dog Schools breed dogs for Puppies Behind Bars the 'cream of the crop' are chosen for the program

The dogs are not immediately spayed or neutered because they may be asked to breed to maintain the "blood-lines"

TRAINING

Currently, the Puppies Behind Bars program is active in seven prisons in NY, NJ and CT.

Instructors travel to each correctional facility once a week to teach

Two hundred (200) volunteers socialize the dogs outside of the prison setting in order to prepare them for the outside world in which they will soon live.

Average class size of 15-20 inmates

Instructors train inmates in a classroom setting for six hours, once a week

The dogs are free guests of the correctional facility. The guards and the administrators welcome them because they have noticed the positive effect that the PBB program and the puppies haves had on inmates

Emphasizes "Rules & Structure" for both dogs and the inmates. The inmates are aware up front that the program is a job and that the dog is not a pet

THE RULES

Each inmate chosen to be a "puppy raiser" must meet a number of requirements and is carefully screened by the staff of the correctional facility

Inmates must be able to make a two year commitment in order to train the dogs

Before an inmate gets a puppy he/she must complete a two to three month initial trial period where they attend classes without a puppy of his own and learn how to train the puppies

Inmates brush their dog's teeth three times a week, give them massages three times daily, make certain that the puppy goes outside to relieve himself (the inmates call it "getting busy"), take care of the puppy's grooming needs and medical concerns. This is all done around the clock.