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he number of legs might’ve been the clue that this wasn’t your usual release from prison. On August 1st, four residents were let out of the Pamlico Correctional Institution, 16 legs among them. The four dogs emerging that day had just graduated from PCI’s first New Leash On Life program and were on their way to their new homes.

Walking out of Pamlico Correctional Institution, Lyka, a graduate of the first New Leash on Life Program there.

The humans involved with the program – from prison officials to inmates to the Pamlico Animal Welfare Society to the new owners – are touting the benefits of New Leash on Life for both the dogs and for the inmates who spent 8 weeks training the canines so they could get homes on the outside.

Lyka, a Pomeranian, went home from PCI with Katherine and Jonathan Weis of Oriental. Katherine teaches at the prison and offered to adopt the Pomeranian the first time she saw him. (The couple has two other small dogs of that same breed.) In all, four dogs went to new homes after the first 8-week session of New Leash on Life program at PCI

Just two months earlier, the dogs been living in animal shelters or foster care, and had an uncertain future. Some were puppies, others full grown. A Pomeranian, here, a yellow Lab there, a Catahoula among them, they had one thing in common: they were orphans and needed a home. In order to bump up their chances of that, though, they also needed some training. That’s where the New Leash On Life effort came in.

The four primary trainers and their dogs at the graduation ceremony at PCI. Homes were found for all four of the canines.

The concept is this: to make the dogs more likely to be adopted, train them in the basic commands — Sit. Stay. Down. —- and to do that, train prisoners on how to train the dogs. Local dog trainer, Alecia Williams volunteered her time for that.

Just as the training makes the dogs more adoptable, the thinking goes, the skill at dog training is one that the inmates may be able to use when they too, walk out the prison’s doors. The program’s been done in 21 other NC prisons before this summer, when Pamlico Correctional Institution tried the program for the first time.

Gary Goldman with Mia, Jeremy Steelmon with Allie, Jackie McConnell with Lyka and Bryan Carter with Jake, the dogs they trained in Pamlico Correctional Institution’s first round of New Leash on Life.

On August 1st,the prison held a graduation ceremony where the dogs, their inmate trainers, prison officials, inmate visitors and the families adopting the dogs gathered. At the end, the new owners stepped forward, one by one, to take over the leash – and dog – from the prisoners who trained the animal.

Patience. The four graduating dogs hold their positions until given the command to come to their trainers.

Before the hand-over to their new owners, the dogs and trainers showed off what they’d learned. In the center of the room, the dogs sat and laid down, resisting the temptation of distractions, such as all the people in the room. Even as toy balls were rolled at and around them, even as one inmate bounced a basketball close by, and the inmates stepped over them, the dogs stayed.

Bryan Carter with Jake, the dog he trained.

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While the training of the dogs was readily apparent, several people involved with the program, inmates and prison officials alike, spoke of the effect of the program deeper inside the prison.

Alecia Williams of Merritt, a dog trainer who guided the inmates in their training of the dogs. She spoke at the graduation ceremony. At left is PCI programs coordinator Sandy Trest who says having the dogs improved things in the prison in ways she hadn’t imagined.

Sandy Trest, who is PCI’s Program Coordinator at the prison says it wasn’t just the dogs and their trainers who benefited. The dogs, she says, even “had a calming effect on inmates who were not involved in the program.”

Lyka, the Pomeranian with Jackie McConnell (second from right) who trained him and others in New Leash on Life program.

Allie, showing her training with Jeremy Steelmon, who guided her through the New Leash On Life program and thru the presentation at PCI on August 1.

The dogs accompanied their trainers throughout the day, says Trest. That means that when there were “official counts” – where all the prisoners had to report to their cells so that everyone was accounted for – the dogs went with them. Trest says that putting the dogs in the noisiest parts of the prison helped to quiet things down.

Mia with her trainer Gary Goldman – with clipboard – shortly before the graduation ceremony began. Later in an interview, Goldman said that “Down” command is the toughest to teach a dog; for some it’s ‘scary’ because it “limits their flight mode.”

Gary Goldman, one of the inmates and leader of the NLOL team, confirmed in a separate interview after the ceremony that having the dogs in the prison “did a lot for the morale of the inmates.”

Gary Goldman.

“One of the guys here asked me if he could pet the dog,” that Goldman was training. Goldman says after he did so, the inmate told him it was the first dog he’d petted in 30 years.

Jackie Schmidt of Pamlico Animal Welfare Society tells a similar story about the “softening influence” of the dogs in the prison. She was called to the prison one day when one of the dogs, Allie, took ill and needed to go to a veterinarian on the outside. Jackie Schmidt says that on returning from the vet she walked the golden Lab back in, and that inmate after tinmate kept asking, “‘Is the dog okay? Is the dog okay?‘”

“They’re concerned,” says Schmidt. Having a dog around, with its “unconditional love,” says Schmidt, “brings them out of themselves.”

Sign, made by inmates at PCI, to mark the first graduating class in the New Leash on Life program.

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Schmidt and her husband got the Leash on Life program started at the prison in Vanceboro in Craven County about a decade ago. At that time, it was the 6th such program in the state of NC. In recent years, she tried to get it going at the Pamlico Correctional Institution, in Bayboro. The wait went on and on, until a few months ago. The green light came in a hurry and she was being asked to get two dogs ready for the program.

Allie, a yellow Lab, who found a new home after training at the PCI, waits with inmates for the graduation ceremony to begin on August 1. Third from left is one of her trainers, Jeremy Steelmon.

The Pamlico New Leash on Life program started in early June, a month or two after Gary Goldman transferred to the prison from the one in Craven where he had already trained 17 dogs. He was brought to Pamlico in part for his experience. He led the training team at PCI and also trained Mia, a Lousiana Catahoula, his 18th dog.

The dog trainers and their dogs during a pause in the ceremony. In foreground is Gary Goldman and Mia, the 18th dog he’s trained.

He won’t be training any of the dogs in the second class of New Leash on Life at PCI that’s now underway. Goldman, who has served several decades on an 80 year sentence in the North Carolina prison system, is up for a parole hearing in the next month. Though not training dogs, he still involved with the program, doing administrative work. Jackie Schmidt says Goldman has already written to a company that makes “thundershirts” which help calm panicky dogs during thunderstorms. Thanks to Goldman’s efforts, Schmidt says, the NC-based company agreed to donate the items.

The incoming class. Inmates in the New Leash on Life program show off the dogs they’ll be training in August and September, in NLOL’s second class at PCI.

Right now, the New Leash on Life at Pamlico Correctional Institution is training 6 dogs. Four of them need homes and PAWS and Carteret Animal Welfare Society are taking applications from those who would like to adopt them.

Jackie Schmidt of PAWS with Meagan, a Great Dane who will be trained for the next 8 weeks at PCI for the Wounded Warrior project.

Two other dogs – intentionally larger in size – are being trained as part of the Wounded Warrior program, to accompany veterans who need the assist. Among them is a Great Dane, who made an appearance at the August 1 ceremony. While those Wounded Warrior dogs have destinations, the other four dogs being trained by the PCI prisoners will need homes by September 26, when NLOL celebrates its second graduating class.

Buddy Rogers of Oriental was one of the donors to PAWS and to getting the NLOL program started in the prison. He donated in memory of his late wife. To continue to finance the program – and the costs of spaying and neutering the dogs would one day be adopted, PAWS will be selling hot dogs from its mobile cart once a month in Bayboro.

Katherine Weis, Lyka’s new owner, with Jackie McConnell, who trained the Pomeranian for 8 weeks. He says it was “a joy” and that he’ll miss the dog, but happy he’ll get updates from Katherine. (She works in the prison.)

One last treat for Lyka from Jackie McConnell before the Pomeranian left Pamlico Correctional Institution. Jackie, a native of Northern Ireland, has been in the NC prison system for several years. The dog and program brought, he says, “joy to an otherwise not so pleasant place.”.

Lyka takes one last look in to the prison before being led away by one of her new owners, Jonathan Weis of Oriental.

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To learn more about adopting a dog from the upcoming graduating class of NLOL, visit the PAWS website where you can see desciptions of the Australian Blue Heeler mix named Blue and the Springer Spaniel mix named Simon who are going through the NLOL training right now and will be available for adoption on September 26. Or check out the postings for Simon and Blue in TownDock.net classified Lost and Found.

Posted Thursday August 9, 2012 by Melinda Penkava