Arkansas Dept. of Corrections program delivers experience for prisoners to develop behavioral change and personal growth

Delta Digital News Service

August 8, 2023

By Avery Jones | Editor

JONESBORO, Ark. – Michelle Hill of Michelle Hill Dog Training Academy is a local certified professional dog trainer that has been volunteering for a program called Paws in Prison since 2021. Arkansas Paws in Prison is a nonprofit program started by the Arkansas Department of Corrections to rehabilitate inmates while also training dogs for adoption.

The program partners with dog shelters to bring in untrained dogs for the inmates to train with the mentorship of a professional trainer. The inmates get work experience, and the dogs have a better chance of getting adopted after they’re trained.

“We have a large overpopulation problem in Arkansas for unwanted dogs…what better to do than pair them up with people that have nothing but time?” said Victoria Schilden, the director of the program. “It saves the dogs’ lives, it gives the inmates a skill that they can walk out the door with and get a job right off the bat where typically it doesn’t matter if you check that box, ‘convicted felon.’”

Schilden also explained that the program provides them with a sense of normalcy, teaches compassion and unconditional love, helps them to maintain good behavior and gives them an incentive to be a different person than they had been.

Hill has been a dog trainer for 16 years. The director reached out to her personally and asked Hill if she would been interested in volunteering. Hill had done some research on the program and was eager to be involved.

“Not only are the dogs getting a second chance, but the inmate trainers are getting a second chance, too,” Hill said.

She works for the program 2 days per week. She’s at the McPherson Women’s Prison in Newport on Tuesdays and Tucker Unit for men and Maximum Security Unit on Thursdays.

The trainers pilot an apprenticeship program through the Department of Labor. Hill teaches the inmates different ways to train dogs and what they would need to know to pass a dog training certification exam in the outside world.

Hill creates a lesson plan for each class. She sometimes brings her dog to demonstrate what she wants the inmates to do with the dogs and after they watch her, they copy the action. The dogs are typically in the units for 8 weeks of training; this can vary depending on the needs of the adopter or the shelter.

The dogs learn basic obedience like sitting, leash and crate training, as well as tricks such as rolling over, spinning and even flipping light switches and retrieving TV remotes.

At the end of the training, the dogs complete a final exam to show that they’re trained. The trainers use the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Ready program which terminates in a test that evaluates whether the dog has learned all the skills the program teaches.

The trainers teach all the skills the dog would need to pass the test and then do a mock test. After the dog is adopted, the owners can contact the trainer to have the dog officially certified.

Not only does being trained increase the dogs’ chances of getting adopted, but it also helps them to stay in their homes. According to Schilden, untrained dogs are often returned to the shelter by their owners because of their behavior. Some dogs from this program even go on to be service dogs.

“They’re far less likely to be returned for behavioral issues because they’ve got that socialization and the basic obedience training,” Schilden said. “Sometimes the dogs end up right back where they came from after the family gets them home and they start chewing things up or they’re not potty-trained, so we try to mitigate that and make sure that it’s a successful adoption and that the dogs stay with the person who adopts them.”

According to Hill, almost every single dog has been adopted by graduation because of this program. Schilden said that more than 2,200 dogs have been adopted in this program’s duration. Additionally, many inmates have gone on to become dog trainers; one former inmate now works for the program as well.

Hill is a “positive reinforcement” trainer, which means she doesn’t believe in using pain or fear as a training method. She’s certified under the Certification Counsel of Professional Dog Trainers, so she has to take continuing education classes and build up to a certain amount of credits every three years.

However, not every dog trainer is certified, and nobody has to be certified to become a dog trainer, so the field isn’t regulated. As a result, it’s very common for dogs to be mistreated during training, according to Hill.

“Everything that I do is focused on building the physical, mental, social, and emotional aspect of the dog, so being able to impart those skills and that knowledge onto someone else that can later on build that same mindset and mentality in the dog training industry is a very important thing for me,” Hill said.

The Paws in Prison program was originally started by a group of women, some from the DOC and some interested in inmate rehabilitation. They were inspired by a similar program in Missouri called Puppies for Parole. They appealed to the governor and the director of the DOC to initiate it.

Schilden has been with the program for 7 years. She originally started as a volunteer for a capstone project while she was getting her master’s degree from the Clinton School of Public Service. She now works full-time as the director of the program and the program coordinator for the DOC.

The program currently operates in seven correctional facilities: McPherson Women’s Unit in Newport, Hawkins Women’s Unit in Wrightsville, Randall L. Williams in Pine Bluff, Ouachita River Unit in Malvern, North central Unit in Calico Rock, Tucker Unit and Maximum Security Unit.

They currently partner with five dog shelters: Care for Animals in Little Rock, Last Chance Arkansas in Little Rock, Adopt-A-Stray Rescue in Alexander, Stone County Humane Society in Mountain View, and Humane Society of Independence County in Batesville.

They also work with two other dog trainers besides Michelle Hill. Tracy Owen is a former inmate who went on to become a successful dog trainer due to the program and now works alongside them. Sandy Olivera is another volunteer who has been training dogs for over 20 years.

“It’s such a privilege to…see not only what it does for these animals and our rescue partners, but what it does for these inmates,” Schilden said. “I’ve seen this program truly change lives and change somebody from a hardened criminal into somebody who gets down on the floor and makes baby-talk with little puppies.”

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