Post by HazelNutMeg on Jul 26, 2004 14:41:59 GMT -5
The Prince George Citizen – Monday, July 26, 2004 - 25
Prison Puppies Get Great Training
NEW YORK (AP) – For a few prison residents, a weekend furlough means a romp on some well-heeled turf.
The silver van rolls in from a New Jersey lockup on Saturday morning and its passengers happily jump out: six Labrador Retrievers being raised by inmates to become explosive-detection canines or guide dogs for the blind.
Their city visits are part of the drill. Volunteers expose the pups to both New York’s cacophony of sounds and its high life, taking their furry charges everywhere from church to cocktail parties and Broadway shows.
“In prison, they can’t get used to traffic, crowds, fire engines, cars, trucks loud noises. Inside, I’ve had dogs startled by a hair dryer, or an electric toothbrush,” said Ali Nortier, an investment banker who volunteers as a dog “sitter” for Puppies Behind Bars, a Manhattan nonprofit that runs the program.
IN addition to the female inmates at the Edna Mahan Correction Facility in Clinton, N.J., more than 100 convicts in four New York state prisons and one in Connecticut each get a dog for about a year and a half. They live with the animals in their cells, disciplining them, feeding them, and brushing their teeth, playing with them and keeping a journal of their progress.
Similar programs around the country – from Georgia to Washington states – have inmates training dogs to assist the disabled, doing everything from switching on lights to fetching medicine, opening refrigerator and cabinet doors, even calling for help on a special 911 phone.
During their New York City furloughs, dogs that are at least six months old wear canvas jackets graced with an American flag and the words: “Puppies Behind Bars, Explosive-Detection Dog in Training.”
On a recent Saturday, five-month-old Potter, a yellow Lab destined for bomb-sniffing work, met her volunteer, Nortier, who took the creamy yellow pup on a romp to the 80-story Time Warner Center, a new luxury commercial complex at Columbus Circle.
Potter, used to the vivid green lawns of the Edna Mahan prison, suddenly plopped her rear on the white marble and began whimpering, unaccustomed to her handler and the unfamiliar surroundings.
Outside, Potter was nonplussed by the traffic, crowds and noises. And she quickly learned a trick: picking up whatever came her way, from trash to food – with a quick sleight-of-muzzle, then gleefully chewing on it.
“You have to watch them all the time! And you’re constantly taking stuff out of their mouth,” said an equally nonplussed Nortier.
On Sunday afternoon, the dogs are driven back to the prison, about 60 miles west of New York City near the Pennsylvania border.
Puppies Behind Bars was started in 1997 by Gloria Gilbert Stoga, of Manhattan, who became interested in guide dogs after adopting a Labrador Retriever that had been hit by a truck and released from guide training.
The dogs receive care 24 hours a day, seven days a week – free of charge.
The prisoners benefit too.
“I took a life,” says Rose Eschmann, who’s at Edna Mahan for vehicular homicide, “and this gives me a chance to give something back – to save a life.”
Eschmann is training Sandi, a jet black two-month-old Lab that’s still too young for a furlough.
“This involves making a long-term commitment – and getting a different kind of reward,” said Matthew Schuman, spokesman for the New Jersey correction department.
By all accounts, the program is producing world-class service dogs.
Two Labs raised at Edna Mahan are now working in the security details of Egypt’s President Hosni Mabarak, says Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who founded Puppies Behind Bars eight years ago.
Dogs also serve in Malaysia, Cyprus and Italy, as well as throughout the United States.
Four were donated to the New York Police Department Bomb Squad, whose need intensified after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Edna Mahan program produces “dogs that in general have more obedience training. And that speeds up the dogs’ ability to get into specialized training,” said Det. Glenn Ostermann of the NYPD Bomb Squad, whose 3-year-old bomb-sniffing dog, Bowmann, is a prouct of Puppies Behind Bars.
Bowmann, who once spent his weekdays at an upstate lockup in Fishkill, has been sweeping possible terrorist targets like Grand Central Termina, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the bullpen and dugouts at Yankee Stadium during games. He has also sniffed New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private jet and Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Manhattan hotel suits.
On the Net:
Puppies Behind Bars: www.puppiesbehindbars.com
Prison Puppies Get Great Training
NEW YORK (AP) – For a few prison residents, a weekend furlough means a romp on some well-heeled turf.
The silver van rolls in from a New Jersey lockup on Saturday morning and its passengers happily jump out: six Labrador Retrievers being raised by inmates to become explosive-detection canines or guide dogs for the blind.
Their city visits are part of the drill. Volunteers expose the pups to both New York’s cacophony of sounds and its high life, taking their furry charges everywhere from church to cocktail parties and Broadway shows.
“In prison, they can’t get used to traffic, crowds, fire engines, cars, trucks loud noises. Inside, I’ve had dogs startled by a hair dryer, or an electric toothbrush,” said Ali Nortier, an investment banker who volunteers as a dog “sitter” for Puppies Behind Bars, a Manhattan nonprofit that runs the program.
IN addition to the female inmates at the Edna Mahan Correction Facility in Clinton, N.J., more than 100 convicts in four New York state prisons and one in Connecticut each get a dog for about a year and a half. They live with the animals in their cells, disciplining them, feeding them, and brushing their teeth, playing with them and keeping a journal of their progress.
Similar programs around the country – from Georgia to Washington states – have inmates training dogs to assist the disabled, doing everything from switching on lights to fetching medicine, opening refrigerator and cabinet doors, even calling for help on a special 911 phone.
During their New York City furloughs, dogs that are at least six months old wear canvas jackets graced with an American flag and the words: “Puppies Behind Bars, Explosive-Detection Dog in Training.”
On a recent Saturday, five-month-old Potter, a yellow Lab destined for bomb-sniffing work, met her volunteer, Nortier, who took the creamy yellow pup on a romp to the 80-story Time Warner Center, a new luxury commercial complex at Columbus Circle.
Potter, used to the vivid green lawns of the Edna Mahan prison, suddenly plopped her rear on the white marble and began whimpering, unaccustomed to her handler and the unfamiliar surroundings.
Outside, Potter was nonplussed by the traffic, crowds and noises. And she quickly learned a trick: picking up whatever came her way, from trash to food – with a quick sleight-of-muzzle, then gleefully chewing on it.
“You have to watch them all the time! And you’re constantly taking stuff out of their mouth,” said an equally nonplussed Nortier.
On Sunday afternoon, the dogs are driven back to the prison, about 60 miles west of New York City near the Pennsylvania border.
Puppies Behind Bars was started in 1997 by Gloria Gilbert Stoga, of Manhattan, who became interested in guide dogs after adopting a Labrador Retriever that had been hit by a truck and released from guide training.
The dogs receive care 24 hours a day, seven days a week – free of charge.
The prisoners benefit too.
“I took a life,” says Rose Eschmann, who’s at Edna Mahan for vehicular homicide, “and this gives me a chance to give something back – to save a life.”
Eschmann is training Sandi, a jet black two-month-old Lab that’s still too young for a furlough.
“This involves making a long-term commitment – and getting a different kind of reward,” said Matthew Schuman, spokesman for the New Jersey correction department.
By all accounts, the program is producing world-class service dogs.
Two Labs raised at Edna Mahan are now working in the security details of Egypt’s President Hosni Mabarak, says Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who founded Puppies Behind Bars eight years ago.
Dogs also serve in Malaysia, Cyprus and Italy, as well as throughout the United States.
Four were donated to the New York Police Department Bomb Squad, whose need intensified after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Edna Mahan program produces “dogs that in general have more obedience training. And that speeds up the dogs’ ability to get into specialized training,” said Det. Glenn Ostermann of the NYPD Bomb Squad, whose 3-year-old bomb-sniffing dog, Bowmann, is a prouct of Puppies Behind Bars.
Bowmann, who once spent his weekdays at an upstate lockup in Fishkill, has been sweeping possible terrorist targets like Grand Central Termina, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the bullpen and dugouts at Yankee Stadium during games. He has also sniffed New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private jet and Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Manhattan hotel suits.
On the Net:
Puppies Behind Bars: www.puppiesbehindbars.com