With two people on staff and a few volunteers Canines With A Cause helps local veterans find a dog and train them to serve.
“We find dogs from high kill shelters and we bring them to the warm springs prison where we have a team of incarcerated veterans that we train to train the dogs,” says Rachel Dickinson, Program Manager. “We bring them to class they work with people and we bring them back to prison and then when one of clients it’s like, I really want to try and take this dog home, then we will organize so they can foster the dog,” she says.
After veterans foster the dog and make sure they will be a good team, they can start the adoption process. Right now they have 10 pairs, but they tell us the goal is to grow the program. 13 inmates are ready to get more dogs and canines with a cause say they want the program to grow and more veterans to get involved.
Before finding a home, the shelter dogs are trained in prison by veterans and once they are out they are paired with another veteran, like George, for free.
“It keeps me going every day, I have something to look forward when I go to bed and wake up in the morning,” says Veteran George Feriend. He says the dogs not only heal a veteran in prison, but they heal another one once they're out.
The nonprofit's goal is to find a new location for their training and to expand the amount of veterans they can help.
They have a fundraiser this Sunday at Idlewild Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
