my name is Zack scow I am the executive
director and founder of Marley’s mutts
Dog Rescue I’m an alcoholic and an
addict with nine years of recovery and I
just found out that come April I’m gonna
be the proud daddy of a baby girl do you
hear that mom so you know I’m also a
rescue dog advocate and the only reason
I’m standing here with you guys here
today giving this talk and sharing my
stories is because my rescue dogs
advocated for me I truly believe in my
core that dogs are medicine they’re the
best medicine
they were medicine for me when nothing
else worked and and the best part about
this form of medicine is that you can
find it at virtually any County or City
Animal Shelter virtually free of charge
just like Lucy grill here in 2008 at 28
years of age I was diagnosed with
end-stage liver disease and given less
than 90 days to live without a liver
transplant doctors told me I was not
eligible for the transplant for two
reasons one I was not healthy enough to
take transplant but primarily the main
reason was that alcoholics and addicts
need six months of sobriety in order to
qualify for transplant and what that
meant for my family was something
incredibly devastating that meant that
basically kicked off five weeks of a
hospital stay at Bakersfield Memorial
Hospital where I just got worse and
worse and sicker and the doctors had
gotten to a point where there’s nothing
they can do for me they can’t give me a
transplant they can only pump me full of
dilaudid and morphine you know which I
became addicted to the the one thing I
had going for me was a dad that
absolutely has been my biggest advocate
from day one he’s an aeronautical
engineer and he took to my my wellness
and my problem my sickness my disease
like a math problem and he wasn’t he
wasn’t going to say no he wasn’t going
to hear that his son was going to die
and so when the doctors were saying why
don’t you guys just go home for hospice
and and let him transition at home
surrounded by his family instead of in a
hospital my dad saying you know
knocking it down we’re gonna figure this
out never underestimate the the power of
a of a motivated father so he got me by
the grace of dog he got me into a into a
comprehensive transplant program and
when when literally we had absolutely no
hope left we got a call from dr. tram
Tran who’s the head of transplant at
cedars-sinai Medical Center which is
where I was born ironically and they
said you’ve got a meeting with dr. Tran
get your butt down here and and we’ll
check you in we’ll see you over so they
literally pulled everything out of my
you know pulled all the tubes out pull
all the all the needles out and we had
to sign all the paperwork that said this
is a terrible decision what you’re doing
and they rushed me down to cedars-sinai
and mom nearly killed me on the drive
down and we were admitted into the
comprehensive transplant center at
cedars-sinai and and at first it kind of
looked like I was just gonna I was gonna
go to the I was going to go die at the
place I was born and I didn’t want that
but instead what they did was they
dedicated themselves to helping me
survive six months to trying to get to
that six-month elusive barrier keep in
mind I have not been six months I’d not
been six hours sober much less six days
weeks or months for for 12 years prior
to that I was in every day 24 hour day
drinker and user so they gave us
instructions they sent me home and they
said stay near an emergency room you’re
going to get sick and and try to survive
six months do your best and they took me
off a lot of my medicines they took me
off the the painkillers which were also
killing me and they sent me home and and
that’s where we meet my dogs telling me
Marley talk is every day when I was in
the hospital when my dad would go home
my dad would whisper to me they know
what my bet he’d say son I really need
you to come home I can’t get Todd to
come in the damn house he’s just sitting
in the driveway looking down the
driveway waiting for his dad and so he
were trying to guilt me into feeling
better into into rallying and so when I
got home
needless to say Doug was was elated to
see me and it’s like his life could be
could finally go on I think he’d been
holding his breath for six weeks
that my two dogs could be any different
they’re both from the Mavi Animal
Shelter Tugg is an incredibly insecure
neurotic lab with very low self-esteem
he basically everything that was going
on in me I transfer it into my dog poor
guy and Marley conversely was was
everything that I always wanted to be
Marley was incredibly confident a
Rottweiler pitbull this is him right
here and he’s just got that that look of
of grace and confidence and the way he
walked into a room I mean people wanted
to be in animals wanted to be him and he
was never pugnacious he’s never owned
those dogs I picked a fight he just he
broke up fights he just wanted to keep
the peace he was all about symbiotic
harmony and so you know my dogs began to
play a critical role in my life then
they’d always been important to me but I
would need them most then you know
unfortunately what happened for you when
I got home was it was suicide suicide
became my number one enemy alcohol and
drugs had been my enemy for the longest
time before that and then I became
obsessed and preoccupied with suicide I
knew where my dad’s gun was and I would
I would dream about going out into the I
would fantasize about going on to the
into the woods into the mountains
somewhere where no one could find me and
blowing my brains out I just didn’t want
I wanted to find a way to take my own
life without my dad finding me because
my dad had done so much for me I didn’t
want him to have to find my body at the
house you know I thought about driving
off bridges anything you could think of
and you know it all kind of changed we
had an epiphany one day I was going
through an illness called esophageal
varices with if you’re familiar with
liver disease is a very ugly illness
where you are you’re vomiting blood
consistently your esophageal veins are
basically rupturing in songs huddled
around the toilet and my usable position
it’s completely naked dogs around me as
they always work and I stood up and I
looked into the mirror and I I didn’t
recognize why I didn’t recognize me I
was looking at I I didn’t understand
what I was looking at I just saw a
scared to death old man I was bright
yellow my oh my stomach was six was nine
months pregnant
swollen I had a herniated belly button I
these gnarly varicose veins that were
feeding this blood and bile that it
accumulated in my stomach is one of the
most disgusting things you ever seen my
my arms were skinny I 140 pounds my
muscles were atrophied I had this little
old man but I remember looking at my but
the mayor goon yeah even that brought me
I just looked at it I recognized myself
I was I was utterly pitiful hopeless and
I just started to sob I started to weep
and I just thought this is my
rock-bottom there’s no reason for me to
be here I can’t do this anymore I didn’t
have it within me I hadn’t had it within
me for a decade before and nothing had
changed and then I can feel my dogs
looking at me behind me and and I took a
look at him and and Marlene Tucker we’re
looking up at me like I was you know the
sexiest man alive just like I was this
just Brad Pitt and George Clooney
combined and and they didn’t understand
didn’t see the pain they may have saw it
seen the pain but they didn’t see they
just saw dad they just saw the guy that
had rescued them and they just saw the
person that they wanted to infuse some
positive energy into so I’m I’m paint
the picture completely naked yellow what
isn’t yellow on me is bruised I have a
big scar from a catheter that was in my
back that was draining my stomach and
crying
completely naked sweating and and my
dogs are looking up at me just like yeah
what’s going on dad yeah what do you
want to do dad and and just so excited
about about the day about the
proposition about sky was the limit and
that became the first day for the rest
of the rest of my life that day we
decided to make a small move because
life is about small moves you can’t
change it all at once and that day we
decided to start walking and I still had
ammonia on my brain so I couldn’t
balance very well I couldn’t do a
push-up a sit-up a squat lunge I was if
you saw me I was the sickest sick person
you ever seen in your entire life that’s
what I looked like I looked like death
frozen over and so we made that but we
made that decision and the next day we
started to walk and then the day after
that and then several times a day and
then weeks turned into months and every
day we got a little bit better and every
day we got a little bit better and my
blood tests which I was taking every two
days and then every week started to get
a little bit better I’m starting to get
a little bit better and I I started to
get into rescue which I had done before
I got sick I started to add dogs to my
back because I’m walking like six times
a day might as well bring some dogs in
my pack and I started taking pictures of
them and I started writing their stories
and I started throwing myself into
rescuing dogs and in volunteering at
different organizations and I put I
found I found amazing this revival
within myself because I found purpose I
had a you know these dogs 1,000%
depended on me for their future not only
tending out and walk them to do all the
menial stuff but this dog needs a home
this dog comes from from behind bars and
it has no future and I need to provide
that for him so I wrote that anywhere
that would accept my posters I put them
up all over town everywhere
I think people got sometimes it was a
little dirty a little raunchy so I think
some of their conservative people in –
Pete you know some people took issue
with him but they were great they were
so successful we started having adoption
after adoption after adoption and adding
more dogs in my packing and then that’s
how Marley’s mutts was born that’s how
Marley’s mutts was born up people took
notice of this yellow guy walking dogs
and and and we started to change the
world in fast forward now nine years and
we’ve saved thousands of animals and
thousands of people and and and we
continue to making a positive effect in
any way shape or form we can any way we
can use the human
I bond to better people’s lives we do it
any way possible and we’ve only just
scratched the surface and I can’t wait
to see what the next ten years are like
when we keep we keep trying to get into
the dark places of this world and find
out how dogs can bring light so finally
we got six months I hit my six-month
mark it’s time to go down to
cedars-sinai and hear the good news for
the bad news I got Mike my cat scam I
hope to sell my blood work and they said
you are you know don’t you no longer
need a liver transplant your your body
has miraculously healed itself and it’s
continuing to heal itself and whatever
you’re doing keep doing it so that’s
what I did I went back home in and
Marley and tuggin and all my brood of
misfit mutts we dedicated ourselves to
bring the human canine bond wherever we
could we went to the valley achievement
Center for autistic youth we went to the
mission at Kern County where we’ve done
all kinds of 12-step programs we go to
the bakersfield homeless center we go to
I went to hundreds of meetings hundreds
and hundreds of recovery meetings and
halfway houses and sober livings and and
the light that these dogs brought the
the hope that these dogs brought the
unconditional love that these brought
dogs brought what took place in me the
transformation that took place in me
which which really was a man learning
how to love himself through the love
himself through the eyes of his dog was
taking place in these people a lot of
these people are coming out of little
people withdrawal and they need Luci
looking at them that way they need that
contact when they’re about to be
vulnerable when they’re sharing in a
meeting they need someone there to to
help let him know it’s gonna be okay
some of them haven’t been unconditional
love in their entire life you know and
and all kinds of wonderful things
started to happen and then I got a phone
call from a woman who said her husband
had just got out of prison even out of
prison for for two weeks
he’d been in for 12 years in Oklahoma
and she was scared to death he was going
back to prison and she wanted to adopt a
dog and I had just the dog for him so I
said come on up
they came on up and and he answered the
door and he was a feral human being
completely feral human being he would
make eye contact with me didn’t
understand how to have you know
understandably understandably I had a
tough time
how the interactions with men that
weren’t course that weren’t tension
filled with tension hadn’t had a
conversation with a woman in 12 years
and yet we’re expecting him to branch
out into the world and understand how to
where you think you’re going and and
here we came here baby girl
and here we expect him to uh to enter
back into society and and he was scared
to death he was scared to death of
people places and things something I
could totally relate to and so he gave
him shadow shadow was found in a crate
in Ridgecrest with two other dogs one
had been one was frozen to death and had
been shot and shot had also been shot in
the lung we actually removed two of the
three lobes of her of her lung and
pulled out a 40-caliber bullet so he
paired the two of them up and that was
the first day of the rest of Robby’s
life that was the first day of the rest
of his life and without shadow I
guarantee you Robby would be back in
prison he didn’t know the first thing
about really how to he was scared and he
didn’t know how to identify with being
scared he was intimidated he didn’t know
but with the dog all those interactions
are are pacified people you have a dog
like this Shana looks a lot like Lizzie
and people gonna come up to you baby
what’s cool you know you’re doing rather
than having this uncomfortable old
mano-a-mano or there’s a dog to pacify
it to make it make it more simple and
make it more loving and so that’s how we
started to learn that’s how he got some
momentum that’s how he was able to put
one foot in front of the other like I
was fast forward Robbie starts
volunteering for us he starts giving his
testimony at the mission at Kern County
because mom made him and and he starts
you know working with us working with
dogs and he gets hired at Freedom of
Animal Sanctuary
which is a huge organization as their
primary as the ranch manager and kennel
director and so here I think to myself
this gallium had no hope has now
solidified a job in a future for his
family and his girlfriend and and a life
away from crime he’s not going to be a
statistic let’s let’s figure out how to
do this because the statistics are
eighty percent of men who get out of
prison are gonna end up back there
within three years eighty percent back
within three years gets how much it cost
to incarcerate a man in the state of
California roughly $50,000 $50,000 per
year just to incarcerate that’s more
than I make
you know since think about that for a
minute
so we set out to to trying to replicate
this but what it we had accomplished
with Robbie inside Penitentiary’s and we
met some negative feedback at first and
but we weren’t going to take no for an
answer and thank God for Lisa Porter and
thank God for karma rescue we were able
to get our foot in the door at Cal City
State Penitentiary and and that’s when
amazing miraculous things started to
happen we we established a 14 week long
program 10 dogs 25 inmates and the
purposes for those inmates to train the
dogs to achieve canine good citizen
certification that’s basically halfway
to therapy dog status and the men at the
end get a legitimate vocational
certificate stipulating that they’re
proficient in training they can also
re-enroll and get more accreditation
more accreditation the idea is that the
health and the pet industry is a ninety
billion dollar a year industry ninety
billion dollars a year and they don’t so
much care if you have a felony record if
you’re going to be a dog trainer all of
us have dogs now they’re like family and
a lot of us have troubles with our dogs
so we have an opportunity to put a whole
lot of guys that don’t otherwise have a
vocation or or a way to support
themselves when they get out of prison
with a job that they love and a job that
they have a lot of experience with
rather than just being a welder or an
electrician or something some of the
other things that they offer in prison
so I mean we knew there would be some
some benefits we knew those things would
happen vocational training dogs these
are all dogs from know from high kill
shelters and we’re really starting to
happen was these these dogs that
desperately needed these men for
rehabilitation
we’re rehabilitating one another and we
saw all these walls start coming down we
saw racial walls start coming down in
prison and men of other races don’t get
along they don’t interact with one
another and we had guys the heads of the
black guerrilla family and the head of
the Bulldogs which is a white gang
partnering up over a Chihuahua named
killer and then giving a speech at
graduation where both the men cried and
both the men talked about how the other
is their brother and and that they don’t
know what they do without him that they
were all brothers and so we saw gang
lines coming down we have we have Crips
Bloods Aryans black guerilla family
northerners southerners everybody’s
represented in our in our programs
especially at Corcoran State Prison
which is one of the toughest prisons in
California and we were able to pull it
off and we brought the violence
in that yard and we brought the
interaction between correctional officer
and inmates up and and and all kinds of
magic started to happen we started to
reunite families with their loved ones
they started to follow on Facebook and
these people have been out of sight out
of mind and nobody’s paid attention to
guys that haven’t talked to their kids
in ten years somebody wrote a letter to
me about their son I mean about their
daughter but written him off said I
don’t want you to be my dad anymore I
don’t ever want to hear from you and
after being in the dog program she wrote
back and said I want you to be in my
life I need you dad I’m so proud of you
is there anything I can do to help
support the program so we’re looking
we’re now in for prisons we’re at
California City Wasco North Kern and
California corporate state prison and it
is my goal it is my direction in life it
is my purpose in life to take this
program and expand it to every
Penitentiary in the state of California
because dogs are medicine they are the
best medicine and they are free of
charge so thank you guys for letting me
share I really appreciate it
you
director and founder of Marley’s mutts
Dog Rescue I’m an alcoholic and an
addict with nine years of recovery and I
just found out that come April I’m gonna
be the proud daddy of a baby girl do you
hear that mom so you know I’m also a
rescue dog advocate and the only reason
I’m standing here with you guys here
today giving this talk and sharing my
stories is because my rescue dogs
advocated for me I truly believe in my
core that dogs are medicine they’re the
best medicine
they were medicine for me when nothing
else worked and and the best part about
this form of medicine is that you can
find it at virtually any County or City
Animal Shelter virtually free of charge
just like Lucy grill here in 2008 at 28
years of age I was diagnosed with
end-stage liver disease and given less
than 90 days to live without a liver
transplant doctors told me I was not
eligible for the transplant for two
reasons one I was not healthy enough to
take transplant but primarily the main
reason was that alcoholics and addicts
need six months of sobriety in order to
qualify for transplant and what that
meant for my family was something
incredibly devastating that meant that
basically kicked off five weeks of a
hospital stay at Bakersfield Memorial
Hospital where I just got worse and
worse and sicker and the doctors had
gotten to a point where there’s nothing
they can do for me they can’t give me a
transplant they can only pump me full of
dilaudid and morphine you know which I
became addicted to the the one thing I
had going for me was a dad that
absolutely has been my biggest advocate
from day one he’s an aeronautical
engineer and he took to my my wellness
and my problem my sickness my disease
like a math problem and he wasn’t he
wasn’t going to say no he wasn’t going
to hear that his son was going to die
and so when the doctors were saying why
don’t you guys just go home for hospice
and and let him transition at home
surrounded by his family instead of in a
hospital my dad saying you know
knocking it down we’re gonna figure this
out never underestimate the the power of
a of a motivated father so he got me by
the grace of dog he got me into a into a
comprehensive transplant program and
when when literally we had absolutely no
hope left we got a call from dr. tram
Tran who’s the head of transplant at
cedars-sinai Medical Center which is
where I was born ironically and they
said you’ve got a meeting with dr. Tran
get your butt down here and and we’ll
check you in we’ll see you over so they
literally pulled everything out of my
you know pulled all the tubes out pull
all the all the needles out and we had
to sign all the paperwork that said this
is a terrible decision what you’re doing
and they rushed me down to cedars-sinai
and mom nearly killed me on the drive
down and we were admitted into the
comprehensive transplant center at
cedars-sinai and and at first it kind of
looked like I was just gonna I was gonna
go to the I was going to go die at the
place I was born and I didn’t want that
but instead what they did was they
dedicated themselves to helping me
survive six months to trying to get to
that six-month elusive barrier keep in
mind I have not been six months I’d not
been six hours sober much less six days
weeks or months for for 12 years prior
to that I was in every day 24 hour day
drinker and user so they gave us
instructions they sent me home and they
said stay near an emergency room you’re
going to get sick and and try to survive
six months do your best and they took me
off a lot of my medicines they took me
off the the painkillers which were also
killing me and they sent me home and and
that’s where we meet my dogs telling me
Marley talk is every day when I was in
the hospital when my dad would go home
my dad would whisper to me they know
what my bet he’d say son I really need
you to come home I can’t get Todd to
come in the damn house he’s just sitting
in the driveway looking down the
driveway waiting for his dad and so he
were trying to guilt me into feeling
better into into rallying and so when I
got home
needless to say Doug was was elated to
see me and it’s like his life could be
could finally go on I think he’d been
holding his breath for six weeks
that my two dogs could be any different
they’re both from the Mavi Animal
Shelter Tugg is an incredibly insecure
neurotic lab with very low self-esteem
he basically everything that was going
on in me I transfer it into my dog poor
guy and Marley conversely was was
everything that I always wanted to be
Marley was incredibly confident a
Rottweiler pitbull this is him right
here and he’s just got that that look of
of grace and confidence and the way he
walked into a room I mean people wanted
to be in animals wanted to be him and he
was never pugnacious he’s never owned
those dogs I picked a fight he just he
broke up fights he just wanted to keep
the peace he was all about symbiotic
harmony and so you know my dogs began to
play a critical role in my life then
they’d always been important to me but I
would need them most then you know
unfortunately what happened for you when
I got home was it was suicide suicide
became my number one enemy alcohol and
drugs had been my enemy for the longest
time before that and then I became
obsessed and preoccupied with suicide I
knew where my dad’s gun was and I would
I would dream about going out into the I
would fantasize about going on to the
into the woods into the mountains
somewhere where no one could find me and
blowing my brains out I just didn’t want
I wanted to find a way to take my own
life without my dad finding me because
my dad had done so much for me I didn’t
want him to have to find my body at the
house you know I thought about driving
off bridges anything you could think of
and you know it all kind of changed we
had an epiphany one day I was going
through an illness called esophageal
varices with if you’re familiar with
liver disease is a very ugly illness
where you are you’re vomiting blood
consistently your esophageal veins are
basically rupturing in songs huddled
around the toilet and my usable position
it’s completely naked dogs around me as
they always work and I stood up and I
looked into the mirror and I I didn’t
recognize why I didn’t recognize me I
was looking at I I didn’t understand
what I was looking at I just saw a
scared to death old man I was bright
yellow my oh my stomach was six was nine
months pregnant
swollen I had a herniated belly button I
these gnarly varicose veins that were
feeding this blood and bile that it
accumulated in my stomach is one of the
most disgusting things you ever seen my
my arms were skinny I 140 pounds my
muscles were atrophied I had this little
old man but I remember looking at my but
the mayor goon yeah even that brought me
I just looked at it I recognized myself
I was I was utterly pitiful hopeless and
I just started to sob I started to weep
and I just thought this is my
rock-bottom there’s no reason for me to
be here I can’t do this anymore I didn’t
have it within me I hadn’t had it within
me for a decade before and nothing had
changed and then I can feel my dogs
looking at me behind me and and I took a
look at him and and Marlene Tucker we’re
looking up at me like I was you know the
sexiest man alive just like I was this
just Brad Pitt and George Clooney
combined and and they didn’t understand
didn’t see the pain they may have saw it
seen the pain but they didn’t see they
just saw dad they just saw the guy that
had rescued them and they just saw the
person that they wanted to infuse some
positive energy into so I’m I’m paint
the picture completely naked yellow what
isn’t yellow on me is bruised I have a
big scar from a catheter that was in my
back that was draining my stomach and
crying
completely naked sweating and and my
dogs are looking up at me just like yeah
what’s going on dad yeah what do you
want to do dad and and just so excited
about about the day about the
proposition about sky was the limit and
that became the first day for the rest
of the rest of my life that day we
decided to make a small move because
life is about small moves you can’t
change it all at once and that day we
decided to start walking and I still had
ammonia on my brain so I couldn’t
balance very well I couldn’t do a
push-up a sit-up a squat lunge I was if
you saw me I was the sickest sick person
you ever seen in your entire life that’s
what I looked like I looked like death
frozen over and so we made that but we
made that decision and the next day we
started to walk and then the day after
that and then several times a day and
then weeks turned into months and every
day we got a little bit better and every
day we got a little bit better and my
blood tests which I was taking every two
days and then every week started to get
a little bit better I’m starting to get
a little bit better and I I started to
get into rescue which I had done before
I got sick I started to add dogs to my
back because I’m walking like six times
a day might as well bring some dogs in
my pack and I started taking pictures of
them and I started writing their stories
and I started throwing myself into
rescuing dogs and in volunteering at
different organizations and I put I
found I found amazing this revival
within myself because I found purpose I
had a you know these dogs 1,000%
depended on me for their future not only
tending out and walk them to do all the
menial stuff but this dog needs a home
this dog comes from from behind bars and
it has no future and I need to provide
that for him so I wrote that anywhere
that would accept my posters I put them
up all over town everywhere
I think people got sometimes it was a
little dirty a little raunchy so I think
some of their conservative people in –
Pete you know some people took issue
with him but they were great they were
so successful we started having adoption
after adoption after adoption and adding
more dogs in my packing and then that’s
how Marley’s mutts was born that’s how
Marley’s mutts was born up people took
notice of this yellow guy walking dogs
and and and we started to change the
world in fast forward now nine years and
we’ve saved thousands of animals and
thousands of people and and and we
continue to making a positive effect in
any way shape or form we can any way we
can use the human
I bond to better people’s lives we do it
any way possible and we’ve only just
scratched the surface and I can’t wait
to see what the next ten years are like
when we keep we keep trying to get into
the dark places of this world and find
out how dogs can bring light so finally
we got six months I hit my six-month
mark it’s time to go down to
cedars-sinai and hear the good news for
the bad news I got Mike my cat scam I
hope to sell my blood work and they said
you are you know don’t you no longer
need a liver transplant your your body
has miraculously healed itself and it’s
continuing to heal itself and whatever
you’re doing keep doing it so that’s
what I did I went back home in and
Marley and tuggin and all my brood of
misfit mutts we dedicated ourselves to
bring the human canine bond wherever we
could we went to the valley achievement
Center for autistic youth we went to the
mission at Kern County where we’ve done
all kinds of 12-step programs we go to
the bakersfield homeless center we go to
I went to hundreds of meetings hundreds
and hundreds of recovery meetings and
halfway houses and sober livings and and
the light that these dogs brought the
the hope that these dogs brought the
unconditional love that these brought
dogs brought what took place in me the
transformation that took place in me
which which really was a man learning
how to love himself through the love
himself through the eyes of his dog was
taking place in these people a lot of
these people are coming out of little
people withdrawal and they need Luci
looking at them that way they need that
contact when they’re about to be
vulnerable when they’re sharing in a
meeting they need someone there to to
help let him know it’s gonna be okay
some of them haven’t been unconditional
love in their entire life you know and
and all kinds of wonderful things
started to happen and then I got a phone
call from a woman who said her husband
had just got out of prison even out of
prison for for two weeks
he’d been in for 12 years in Oklahoma
and she was scared to death he was going
back to prison and she wanted to adopt a
dog and I had just the dog for him so I
said come on up
they came on up and and he answered the
door and he was a feral human being
completely feral human being he would
make eye contact with me didn’t
understand how to have you know
understandably understandably I had a
tough time
how the interactions with men that
weren’t course that weren’t tension
filled with tension hadn’t had a
conversation with a woman in 12 years
and yet we’re expecting him to branch
out into the world and understand how to
where you think you’re going and and
here we came here baby girl
and here we expect him to uh to enter
back into society and and he was scared
to death he was scared to death of
people places and things something I
could totally relate to and so he gave
him shadow shadow was found in a crate
in Ridgecrest with two other dogs one
had been one was frozen to death and had
been shot and shot had also been shot in
the lung we actually removed two of the
three lobes of her of her lung and
pulled out a 40-caliber bullet so he
paired the two of them up and that was
the first day of the rest of Robby’s
life that was the first day of the rest
of his life and without shadow I
guarantee you Robby would be back in
prison he didn’t know the first thing
about really how to he was scared and he
didn’t know how to identify with being
scared he was intimidated he didn’t know
but with the dog all those interactions
are are pacified people you have a dog
like this Shana looks a lot like Lizzie
and people gonna come up to you baby
what’s cool you know you’re doing rather
than having this uncomfortable old
mano-a-mano or there’s a dog to pacify
it to make it make it more simple and
make it more loving and so that’s how we
started to learn that’s how he got some
momentum that’s how he was able to put
one foot in front of the other like I
was fast forward Robbie starts
volunteering for us he starts giving his
testimony at the mission at Kern County
because mom made him and and he starts
you know working with us working with
dogs and he gets hired at Freedom of
Animal Sanctuary
which is a huge organization as their
primary as the ranch manager and kennel
director and so here I think to myself
this gallium had no hope has now
solidified a job in a future for his
family and his girlfriend and and a life
away from crime he’s not going to be a
statistic let’s let’s figure out how to
do this because the statistics are
eighty percent of men who get out of
prison are gonna end up back there
within three years eighty percent back
within three years gets how much it cost
to incarcerate a man in the state of
California roughly $50,000 $50,000 per
year just to incarcerate that’s more
than I make
you know since think about that for a
minute
so we set out to to trying to replicate
this but what it we had accomplished
with Robbie inside Penitentiary’s and we
met some negative feedback at first and
but we weren’t going to take no for an
answer and thank God for Lisa Porter and
thank God for karma rescue we were able
to get our foot in the door at Cal City
State Penitentiary and and that’s when
amazing miraculous things started to
happen we we established a 14 week long
program 10 dogs 25 inmates and the
purposes for those inmates to train the
dogs to achieve canine good citizen
certification that’s basically halfway
to therapy dog status and the men at the
end get a legitimate vocational
certificate stipulating that they’re
proficient in training they can also
re-enroll and get more accreditation
more accreditation the idea is that the
health and the pet industry is a ninety
billion dollar a year industry ninety
billion dollars a year and they don’t so
much care if you have a felony record if
you’re going to be a dog trainer all of
us have dogs now they’re like family and
a lot of us have troubles with our dogs
so we have an opportunity to put a whole
lot of guys that don’t otherwise have a
vocation or or a way to support
themselves when they get out of prison
with a job that they love and a job that
they have a lot of experience with
rather than just being a welder or an
electrician or something some of the
other things that they offer in prison
so I mean we knew there would be some
some benefits we knew those things would
happen vocational training dogs these
are all dogs from know from high kill
shelters and we’re really starting to
happen was these these dogs that
desperately needed these men for
rehabilitation
we’re rehabilitating one another and we
saw all these walls start coming down we
saw racial walls start coming down in
prison and men of other races don’t get
along they don’t interact with one
another and we had guys the heads of the
black guerrilla family and the head of
the Bulldogs which is a white gang
partnering up over a Chihuahua named
killer and then giving a speech at
graduation where both the men cried and
both the men talked about how the other
is their brother and and that they don’t
know what they do without him that they
were all brothers and so we saw gang
lines coming down we have we have Crips
Bloods Aryans black guerilla family
northerners southerners everybody’s
represented in our in our programs
especially at Corcoran State Prison
which is one of the toughest prisons in
California and we were able to pull it
off and we brought the violence
in that yard and we brought the
interaction between correctional officer
and inmates up and and and all kinds of
magic started to happen we started to
reunite families with their loved ones
they started to follow on Facebook and
these people have been out of sight out
of mind and nobody’s paid attention to
guys that haven’t talked to their kids
in ten years somebody wrote a letter to
me about their son I mean about their
daughter but written him off said I
don’t want you to be my dad anymore I
don’t ever want to hear from you and
after being in the dog program she wrote
back and said I want you to be in my
life I need you dad I’m so proud of you
is there anything I can do to help
support the program so we’re looking
we’re now in for prisons we’re at
California City Wasco North Kern and
California corporate state prison and it
is my goal it is my direction in life it
is my purpose in life to take this
program and expand it to every
Penitentiary in the state of California
because dogs are medicine they are the
best medicine and they are free of
charge so thank you guys for letting me
share I really appreciate it
you
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