Dogs in Prison

The dog training program in Canon is a great therapeutic tool...it's set up as a job training program but it is more than that.

Shalom, the most recent addition to the Schwartz family, loves to play fetch, is good with kids and loves other dogs. He barks at strangers but little else, and trots around the house with the constantly curious look of a dog adjusting to new surroundings.

In many respects the 1½ year old German Shepherd mix is just like any other dog who has just found a new home. But in one way, he is very different.

When Karen Schwartz went looking for her four-legged companion she bypassed the traditional humane society or pet shop routes and went right to prison.

Shalom is one of 2,000 dogs that have been molded in the past 15 years by Colorado's Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program, which uses inmates at various Colorado prisons to train dogs.

"We laugh and say, 'if we come home and the jewels are gone, then the dog has them,' " Schwartz said.

The program is a Colorado State licensed Animal Rescue and has 120 handlers who each train one dog at a time. The program is also recognized as a Vocational Program by the Colorado Community College System.

Inmates train dogs at the Colorado Women's Correctional Facility, Arrowhead Correctional Center, Denver Women's Correctional Facility, Skyline Correctional Facility, Buena Vista Minimum Center, Trinidad Correctional Facility, Limon Correctional Facility, Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, and Brush.

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