USA: dog training changes prison inmates’ lives

In five Florida prisons, some inmates are learning how to train dogs, with stunning results.
The program is called TAILS, which stands for Teaching Animals and Inmates Life Skills. It takes shelter dogs with behavioral issues—those that tend not to get adopted—and places them in prisons, where a professional dog trainer leads a group of inmates in giving the dogs proper training.

In eight to 12 weeks, the dogs undergo a tremendous transformation.

“When the dogs come in, they’re hard to handle, they’re in poor health, they look bad,” said Officer Lisa Irre, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s K9 coordinator, in a video on the TAILS program website. “By the time the eight weeks is up, they’re totally different dogs.”

Last year, 203 dogs entered the program and 202 of them found new homes after graduating.

Even greater changes await the human participants.

“A lot of guys that come in here hard and tough and rough—the dogs always bring out their softer side,” Irre said, in the video.

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