some good news to share -
the first with at-risk teens (AUS), the 2nd with imprisoned adults (NZ),
as trainers.


from the Weekend Australian:
(summary, not a quote)

Assistance Dogs Australia forged a joint program with NSW Dept of
Juvenile Justice which is having great results. kids in the detention centre
are responsible for the care + training of a couple of dogs who eventually
will be assigned to people who need an assistance-dog, and the dogs
have a profound impact on the youth.


===============================


NZ has a neat program for training mobility assistance dogs; in a
TV-program last week, women prisoners told the reporter how close
they became to the dogs.


EXCERPT -
Prison puppies help twice over

Golden retriever Echo looks to a rosy future as a mobility assistance dog
helping a person with a physical disability - he also helps his prisoner
trainer to turn her life around.  (he) is the first mobility-assistance dog to
graduate from behind bars and enter advanced training in the
community.  Trained... at Auckland Region Womens Corrections Facility
under the Puppies in Prisons Programme, Echo will soon start work...
(snip)   There is typically a 4-5 year wait for a mobility dog, so the Pups
in Prison Programme aims to accelerate the number of pups moving
through training,  to cut waiting times.
(snip)
Research into similar programmes overseas shows that prisoners who
train dogs are less likely to re-offend.

For a feature on the mobility dog training at Auckland Region Womens
Corrections Facility, see the June 2009 issue (Number 65) of
North & South Magazine.

=============== END


there are similar programs in the USA and Canada.
if U are looking for a dog to start training, check to see if there is one
near U - this has the advantage of a dog already started on the basics,
and who has been thoroughly socialized and habituated to human
environs.

cheers,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF