dogs save lives now you may be sitting
here thinking dogs don’t save lives but
they do tales program is proof that dogs
save lives and that human lives are
saved every single day tails is an
acronym it stands for teaching animals
and inmates life skills picture in your
mind and animal shelter an animal
shelter filled with cages there’s a dog
in every single cage some dogs are nice
some dogs are not so nice some bite some
bark some have no idea how to interact
in society now let’s look at people
people who’ve lost their way people that
metaphorically bite bark people that
have been written off by the outside
world and are in a prison the people
that don’t know how to interact in
society tails brings the inmates and the
dogs together in this program everybody
deserves a second chance
and tails provides that second chance
now in the fall of 2015
tails was in trouble it was broken
dogs needed to eat there was no food
dogs needed medical care there was no
money for medical care we knew the
potential that the tails program had so
we agreed to take over the program now
as much as we do how much potential the
program had we also knew we had to be
realistic so we chose partners we chose
partners carefully we looked for
partners that had similar ideas and
beliefs as we did partners that had
resources that we didn’t have
fortunately two animal welfare
organizations stepped up and agreed to
support tails financially the inmates
and the dogs had their short-term
solution for the tails program again we
chose partners extremely carefully we
were picky dogs and the tails program go
through a very
specialized assessment process the
assessment was written by a canine
expert we do this to ensure that the
dogs are a good match for the people
once the dogs passed the assessment they
go to prison this is where their journey
begins every day 9,000 animals are
killed in shelters across the United
States the three main reasons that they
end up in shelters are training and
behavior related those three issues are
resolved through the tails program
sometimes all dogs need are a second
chance just like sometimes all people
need are a second chance once the dogs
pass their assessment and go into the
program then we look at our inmates the
inmates go through a very exhaustive
process they have to apply to be apart
and there’s a waiting list at every
single institution that we have tails
through they apply to be apart there are
certain things that will disqualify them
from participation violent crimes
domestic violence are an automatic DQ DQ
not Dairy Queen
but disqualification right also any
behavior issues or certain behavior
issues while they’re in the prison would
disqualify them from the program as well
the inmates receive training prior to
them receiving their dogs they go into a
classroom they learn what to expect for
their dog and they learn what we expect
from them once they receive that
training they meet their dog there are
two and a half million people in a
650,000 ex-offenders are released every
single day why wouldn’t we teach them
the skills that they need to be
successful in society skills like
empathy responsibility teamwork
resolving issues without violence these
are all issues that tails resolves for
the inmates we teach them how to be
better members of society
dogs and shelters are like kids and
nature sometimes they run amok right so
sometimes they need they lack proper
supervision they don’t know how to
interact it might be something as simple
as learning how not to jump on a table
or jump on people tales teaches these
dogs those skills and the inmates are an
integral part of teaching the dogs the
skills that they need to survive
the dogs are immersed into a into an
area where they receive love they
receive care they’re in the prison to
learn how to survive these are dogs that
are at risk of euthanasia we don’t take
dogs that are that are safe we take dogs
that need our help the most so these are
dogs on death’s door literally that we
take these this program saves Souls I’ve
seen dogs so scared that they won’t move
I’ve taken them out of their kennels and
move them out because they couldn’t get
out they were so paralyzed with fear
these same dogs once they go through the
program
are confident they’re happy their tails
are up their heads are up same thing
with the eating with the inmates we’ve
seen inmates go from having a chip on
their shoulders to being loving happy
people one such inmate whose name will
call John wrote a letter recently and
stated that he hated the world when he
first got into the prison system and
I’ll quote unbeknownst to me a dog would
change my life he taught me how to be a
loving happy person it is because of
this dog that my transformation began
and I’m the man I am today he’s out of
prison and he’s doing really well
and he credits that to one dog pretty
good pretty good
so so a a story that I want to bring up
is is a particular dog it is
heartbreaking to know of a dog that’s
been abused sugar mama
there she is she was rescued from a
dogfighting ring and she needed
extensive spinal surgery she had two
herniated discs in her spine and had to
be it operated on by a neurologist it
was a very expensive and extensive
surgery but she needed it to physically
survive she needed her trainer to
emotionally survive after sugar mama had
her surgery and her recovery we chose to
put her in the tails program it was the
right decision it was the only decision
sugar mama
met her trainer Joe in the prison now
Joe was a hardened criminal he’d been in
the prison system for 15 years 15 years
and this is Joe by the way 15 years in
the system and Joe had never known love
until he met his dog Joe decided that
this if this dog could forgive
everything that happened to her and be
happy and trusting then so could Joe in
December
Joe will leave the prison he’s taking my
I’ll never forget when he when he asked
me about adopting her he said with tears
in his eyes miss Jen sugar mama changed
my life she’s the first time I felt
loved please let me take her with me I
will love her forever of course I said
and by the way sugar mama is the most
loyal dog on the face of the earth I
promise you I have to tell him not to
carry her everywhere yeah but he again
he gets out in December and his dog will
be going with him after 15 years Joe
became the person that his dog thought
he was and that’s the chance that we
give to inmates they get to be the
person that their dog thinks they are
you know for a lot of these guys they’ve
never known love before they’ve never
known how to care for another individual
they’ve never learned responsibility
teamwork when a dog goes in details
they’re assigned to inmates to take care
of the dog this builds teamwork amongst
the inmates the two inmates are
responsible for bathing feeding caring
and training for their dog so they are
everything from A to Z the dogs live in
the prisons it’s 24/7
this is cohabitation this is marriage
this is whatever you want to call it
when you’re with someone 24 hours a day
seven days a week and it’s taught the
inmates and the dogs the skills they
need to have that second chance in the
prison’s one of the things that we’ve
seen is an increase in teamwork a
decrease in violence so in in dorms and
wings and wards that house the tales
program the incidence of violence in
those particular areas are much lower
than in other areas of the prison that’s
how effective tails is once the dogs go
through the program it’s an eight week
program at the end the dogs have to pass
the prac
chuckle exam so we hold the dogs
accountable we also hold the inmates
accountable they have to pass a written
exam after that’s done we have
graduation ceremonies at the prisons and
there are shelter directors that come in
from the animal shelters and then they
speak there are lots of guests that come
in in some prisons they allow friends
and families of the inmates to come in
and attend the graduation the inmates
receive a certificate of completion for
the training and the dogs receive either
a bachelor’s a masters or a PhD and
training I kid you not and it’s a very
competitive training everybody wants
their dog to be the best right so at the
graduations there are lots of guests
everybody smiles everybody cheers
because everybody knows lives are being
saved it’s my favorite picture so once
the dogs get out of the program they’re
adopted into homes and the inmates if
they’re still in the prison system they
can have another dog so the process
continues we’ve seen or I’ve seen
hardened criminals actually cry when
their dog leaves the building even
though it’s for a good reason right to
go into a home they’re still very upset
so we don’t waste any time bringing dogs
in for the next round so that they can
help even more dogs so if you remember
one thing from the talk today from my
talk today please remember this you know
we took on a program we took a leap of
faith with a program that we didn’t know
whether we could find the funding or
find the support that we needed to do it
but we did it because we had passion
anybody can accomplish anything if
you’ve got the passion to do it but you
also need realism right you can have all
the passion in the world you have to
know who to align yourself with in order
to achieve that goal everybody needs
money right but we don’t need a lot we
need enough to get by but we don’t need
a lot what we need more of in the world
is passion
passion is key but also to be realistic
with what your what you’re trying to do
but you can accomplish anything you want
if you’ve got the passion to do it
look we worry every single day about our
tails program we worry about where we’re
going to get the money to fund it we
worry about the inmates we worry about
the dogs but we continue to do it
because we see the difference that it
makes and we have the passion to do it
you can do the same thing anybody can
write a check it takes a lot more to
care and to be passionate and to walk
the walk
I encourage you to take that chance to
follow your passion and to be realistic
about it
as well today over 200 dogs are close to
200 dogs have graduated from the tales
program this year alone we’ve impacted
over 200 inmates with no dog left behind
we have plans to continue to expand the
program our passion is what drives us
every single day our missions are
accomplished and they’re accomplished
one inmate and one dog at a time thank you