Pups in Prison & Community Programs
The Pups in Prison program supports Assistance Dogs Australia by setting the foundations for the dogs to progress to advanced training and shapes as a most promising venture from which both inmates and those with physical disabilities will benefit. The program was launched in November 2002 by Corrective Services Minister Richard Amery. Two pups underwent an intensive three-stage program over 18 months at the minimum security correctional centre at Kirkconnell 28km east of Bathurst NSW.
This program has been so popular, five years later and three more prisons have come on board with similar programs. Pups in Prison Programs are also now running in Darling Downs Correctional Centre at Toowoomba, Junee Correctional Centre and Fulham Correctional Centre in Sale.
With the commencement of Pups in Prison it was hoped that the program would help reduce re-offending behaviour by giving the inmates valuable work skills and training, leading to possible employment after their release from prison.
This program certainly has been a win-win situation for both Assistance Dogs Australia and the Prisons already running this program. Our trainers support the progress of the pups and also conduct regular training sessions with the officers and inmates. The pups spend their week within the correctional centres while they go home with the officers on the weekends for some community socialisation. Once the dogs spend 16 – 18 months of their training with the inmates and officers they return to Assistance Dogs Australia for their intensive component
Also in the community these programs are supported by great volunteers and the staff and officers at these centres. Staff and Officers in Bathurst, Toowoomba and Fulham and volunteers, staff and officers in Junee/Wagga Wagga areas work tirelessly to give the dogs that participate in the Pups in Prison Program adequate socialisation to the sounds, sights and smells of the outside world. These volunteers assist by enabling the dogs in training to be well socilalised in their homes, by taking them to shopping centres, public places and giving them socialisation around other animals and children that will help them grow into a great Assistance Dog.
