thedrifter
05-10-08, 07:59 AM
Marines Use Prisoners to Train Dogs
May 09, 2008
Augusta Chronicle
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - One day, the six dogs will do amazing things. They will load laundry in washing machines and pull it out of dryers. They will perform simple banking transactions.
They will even be able to open the refrigerator on command, select a cold beer - yes, just like that dream-come-true TV commercial - and bring it to their grateful owner.
For now, though, the dogs are locked in the Camp Lejeune brig. And so are the young Marines who are training the dogs, which will eventually be donated to Marines badly wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them regain some independence.
Civilian prisoners have been used for the labor-intensive task of training service dogs to help disabled owners since 1981. The new program at Lejeune is believed to be the first in a military prison.
Base officials said they were willing to do it because the dogs will help disabled Marines, and because studies have shown that working with dogs helps rehabilitate prisoners, calming them and improving their attitudes.
Prisoners in the program said in interviews that the dogs turned days of tedium into lives with focus, allowed them to contribute at least a little to the country they let down, and even given them back self-respect they left outside.
"I'd still be doing laundry and anything I could to keep my mind from dwelling on the past," said Mark, a compact 23-year-old who is halfway through a sentence of about two years. (Under the rules for interviews in the brig, prisoners could give only their first names and ages and weren't allowed to name their offenses).
As Mark talked, Dixon, a stocky English Labrador retriever that he and another Marine are helping train, lay calmly at his feet.
"People don't give them the respect they deserve," Mark said. "They think they're stupid, but dogs can really do some great things."
When he gets out, Mark said, he has decided he wants to try for a job training dogs.
A couple of bunks down, Chris, 28, and Gene, 23, sat with dark- haired Roxy, the star pupil. She was the youngest of the six dogs, just 10 months old, but was ahead of all the others in learning the early lessons.
Roxy will leave the brig before Gene, who has three years to go, but after Chris, who is down to just seven months.
Gene said parting with her would probably be harder on him than Chris because he gets attached to animals easily.
Chris agreed.
"The good thing is that Roxy will go on to help someone," he said. "Someone I know, most likely, because the Marines are a pretty tight community."
Rick Hairston, who owns a Wilmington, N.C., company called Carolina Canines that trains service dogs for civilians, proposed the training program to Lejeune leaders. He said that he hopes it will become a model for military prisons around the country, and that it will help meet at least part of the huge need for service dogs among the thousands of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 11 prisoners picked for the program have only been in it a few weeks, and weren't problem inmates before, but they clearly are better behaved, said Warrant Officer John Nolan, the second in command at the brig.
More than 100 prisoners wanted to sign up for the program, he said. A social worker helped screen the best choices. Those with discipline problems or major offenses were kept out.
When the dogs are ready, they will have learned more than 70 tasks, from "handling" laundry to pulling their owners' wheelchairs around and switching lights on and off.
In some cases, the owners will literally lean on the dogs, relying on them to help with their balance as they do things such as get in or out of a wheelchair or climb steps.
Ellie
May 09, 2008
Augusta Chronicle
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - One day, the six dogs will do amazing things. They will load laundry in washing machines and pull it out of dryers. They will perform simple banking transactions.
They will even be able to open the refrigerator on command, select a cold beer - yes, just like that dream-come-true TV commercial - and bring it to their grateful owner.
For now, though, the dogs are locked in the Camp Lejeune brig. And so are the young Marines who are training the dogs, which will eventually be donated to Marines badly wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them regain some independence.
Civilian prisoners have been used for the labor-intensive task of training service dogs to help disabled owners since 1981. The new program at Lejeune is believed to be the first in a military prison.
Base officials said they were willing to do it because the dogs will help disabled Marines, and because studies have shown that working with dogs helps rehabilitate prisoners, calming them and improving their attitudes.
Prisoners in the program said in interviews that the dogs turned days of tedium into lives with focus, allowed them to contribute at least a little to the country they let down, and even given them back self-respect they left outside.
"I'd still be doing laundry and anything I could to keep my mind from dwelling on the past," said Mark, a compact 23-year-old who is halfway through a sentence of about two years. (Under the rules for interviews in the brig, prisoners could give only their first names and ages and weren't allowed to name their offenses).
As Mark talked, Dixon, a stocky English Labrador retriever that he and another Marine are helping train, lay calmly at his feet.
"People don't give them the respect they deserve," Mark said. "They think they're stupid, but dogs can really do some great things."
When he gets out, Mark said, he has decided he wants to try for a job training dogs.
A couple of bunks down, Chris, 28, and Gene, 23, sat with dark- haired Roxy, the star pupil. She was the youngest of the six dogs, just 10 months old, but was ahead of all the others in learning the early lessons.
Roxy will leave the brig before Gene, who has three years to go, but after Chris, who is down to just seven months.
Gene said parting with her would probably be harder on him than Chris because he gets attached to animals easily.
Chris agreed.
"The good thing is that Roxy will go on to help someone," he said. "Someone I know, most likely, because the Marines are a pretty tight community."
Rick Hairston, who owns a Wilmington, N.C., company called Carolina Canines that trains service dogs for civilians, proposed the training program to Lejeune leaders. He said that he hopes it will become a model for military prisons around the country, and that it will help meet at least part of the huge need for service dogs among the thousands of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 11 prisoners picked for the program have only been in it a few weeks, and weren't problem inmates before, but they clearly are better behaved, said Warrant Officer John Nolan, the second in command at the brig.
More than 100 prisoners wanted to sign up for the program, he said. A social worker helped screen the best choices. Those with discipline problems or major offenses were kept out.
When the dogs are ready, they will have learned more than 70 tasks, from "handling" laundry to pulling their owners' wheelchairs around and switching lights on and off.
In some cases, the owners will literally lean on the dogs, relying on them to help with their balance as they do things such as get in or out of a wheelchair or climb steps.
Ellie