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Matching those in need of second chances

A new program will offer dog training inside prisons as a transition to a new life for the retired greyhounds as well as the inmates.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published November 28, 2005

	[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
	Lesley Harper kisses Emmy, left above, as Honey, right, snuggles against her Monday in Homosassa. Harper cares for three greyhounds she got through the National Greyhound Foundation, which helps find dogs a home after their racing days are over. Now the National Greyhound Foundation is working with the state correctional system to establish a foster home and training program for retired greyhounds inside state prisons.

HOMOSASSA - The guard had warned Beverly Sebastian to steer clear of one of the young offenders in the room.

The 16-year-old was trouble, he told her.

But Sebastian's dog never heard the warning.

As Sebastian talked to officials at the Cypress Creek facility for juvenile offenders, the greyhound sniffed around the troubled teen. He would push the dog away.

The dog would move a short ways away and then come back.

It happened over and over again in the two hours she was there. Then Sebastian noticed something surprising.

"The dog had curled up in this boy's lap," and he was stroking its head. The dog had won him over. "It's amazing how the unconditional love this dog gave affected this kid," Sebastian said. "I can't get that boy's face and that dog in his lap out of my mind. I don't think that kid had ever had that before."

That transformation cemented into Sebastian's mind what she needed to do. While a program to pair greyhounds with offenders didn't work out when she visited Cypress Creek five years ago, Sebastian has never forgotten that dog's impact.

Now Sebastian is using what she has learned heading up the National Greyhound Foundation Inc. for the past 11 years to begin a national program to bring retired racing greyhounds to prisons across the country, a project she has dubbed "Second Chance at Life."

The program is designed to prepare the dogs for work as therapy animals or pets and prepare the prisoners for some sort of animal-related job once they are released.

Sebastian said that provides an extra incentive to the prison system. "I've taken it that extra step, realizing that prisons are more interested in prisoners than dogs," she said.

Sebastian has been working with Nancy Schmidt of Team Greyhound Adoption of Ohio, who has a similar program in that state. Sebastian and her husband, Ferd, are filmmakers and were planning a trip to film how Schmidt's program works to use as proof the program can work as she negotiates with corrections officials in a variety of states.

Sebastian expects that by early next year, she will begin placing greyhounds in prisons across the country. Schmidt is also moving to the Daytona area in the coming months and will work with Sebastian in the program in that area.

Sebastian and her husband are also getting help organizing the project from another well-known local animal lover, Helen Spivey, who serves on the Greyhound Foundation's board. Spivey, co-chairwoman of the Save the Manatee Club, said she is excited about how Sebastian wants to expand on the program in Ohio by providing some vocational training for the prisoners as they work with their dogs.

From dog training to grooming to animal first aid, the lessons the prisoners learn as they prepare to care for their dogs will give them skills they can market later, Spivey said.

Already Sebastian has gotten support from local lawmakers and has been talking to Florida Department of Corrections officials.

She pointed out that there is a constant supply of greyhounds that are being retired and also some no longer needed because tracks are closing down. All need homes. But greyhounds that have lived a racing lifestyle aren't immediately ready for moving into a home environment. Foster homes are needed to help the dogs make the transition from racers to pets.

There are never enough of those foster homes to go around, and that is where the prisoners can provide service to the dogs.

"We will train the inmates on how to train their animals," she said. "They will be selected inmates, and the prison will choose from among the applicants."

Through the program the prisoners will take a two-month course to learn what they need to know to care for their dog. Two inmates would be assigned to each dog, one trainer and one babysitter.

Although the dogs in some programs actually stay full time with their trainer, Sebastian said she wasn't sure whether that would happen in each state. She hopes it will, because that would allow a stronger bond between dog and handler.

The initial plan for Florida is to place 10 dogs for two months each in each of the five prisons. That would mean that hundreds of dogs would be prepared for adoption by the end of each year. As other states begin to offer the same program, those numbers will continue to climb.

"The beauty is that it doesn't cost the prison system anything," she said. "The program is very inexpensive to operate."

The cost will run about $500 per dog, which will be covered through donations and fundraising through the greyhound rescue community and sponsorships.

Sebastian said that finding a home for all these dogs should not be a problem. Because of their specialized training, these greyhounds will be prized whether they become pets or therapy dogs in nursing homes or other settings. "Everyone wants a perfect dog," she said, adding that there is another real benefit for the inmates.

"It is giving them a chance to give something back to the community," Sebastian said.

The program would be organized so that greyhound rescue groups near each prison would run the program for that prison, meaning no group has too much to do. They would also be in charge of finding the dogs new homes.

"Each of these groups has committed to the dogs," she said.

"The dogs really need this," Spivey said, noting that greyhounds are very intelligent and make wonderful pets. It just takes some time to get them ready to take on that role.

"Dogs need the transition (from) living in cages to living in your house," Spivey said.

"They want to please you," Sebastian said. "They are very people oriented. They've been with people ever since they were born."

While the inmates who work with the dogs may never get out of prison, Sebastian said, they will still benefit from the program. "At least they can be exposed to something that loves unconditionally, at least for a while," she said.

Spivey said the pairing of retired greyhounds and the imprisoned seems like a natural fit.

"Prisons are full of throwaway people. We can match them with throwaway dogs," Spivey said.

[Last modified November 28, 2005, 13:21:15]