By Lisa Price

The DAWGS program has been ongoing for about three years. Each dog is matched with two inmates, who share in its care and training as the dog lives with them in their cell. As the dog progresses through the program, its personality emerges.

After about a month, the dog has great manners; it is crate-trained and knows basic obedience. A big plus to the program is that the people who have lived and worked with the dog know it well, so well that it’s much easier to match it to the perfect home.

For my story, I went to the DAWGS program at SCI-Mahanoy. As I left the prison parking area, I initially felt elated. What an awesome program. And I still feel that way. But as I turned for home, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Is anybody looking for the perfect home for those guys when they’re released? And I know a person doesn’t get a state prison term for some minor crime. Possibly my capacity to be snowed is high, but I felt totally comfortable talking to the DAWGS trainers. I train pointing dogs for hunting, so, when we all talked training stuff, we were speaking the same language.

We shared a love and respect for dogs and their capacity to learn and respond to kind treatment and good care. I had so much fun talking to everyone and watching the dogs go through their paces.

And yet I thought, as I drove home, if there’s a job posting for 40 jobs and there are 200 applicants, the ones with the prison records are going to go to the bottom of the pile. It’s true that they all made mistakes, big ones, during their lives. But after they’ve paid, finished their sentences, will they have to keep paying? Or would it be possible that another result of their involvement with the DAWGS program is that somebody would give them a chance, at least a job interview?

Because although they are training the dogs, the dogs have also been teaching them.

One of the guys told me that the dogs have taught him “about life.” Possibly for the first time in their lives, the trainers have experienced the value of patience and perseverance. Someone might have told them that they did a really good job — another new feeling, pride.

More importantly, they might have learned that you get back what you give, good and bad. That if you treat a dog — or a person — with respect and kindness, you’ll get back a look filled with light and happiness.

Here’s what I hope those homeless dogs have taught them — that it’s possible to come from a really bad situation and get a second chance at finding another, better life.