A just cause: Puppies Behind Bars

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . May 19, 2009 . 3:01PM

We’ve already hit on my love of Tivo. Over the weekend, I was watching my Tivo’ed episodes and Oprah had a fantastic episode on dogs. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t forgiven her for the Tonya Harding thing and I still delete more episodes than I watch. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for the good that animals do in our world and I believe that people, for the most part, can be rehabilitated.

The focus of the show was on a program called “Puppies behind Bars.” The program gives puppies to inmates in prison and has them train dogs to be service dogs for disabled, handicapped and ex-servicemen from the military who have needs. The show focused on how the dogs change both the lives of the prisoners and the lives of the servicemen for the better.

Now, I have no problem showing emotion, but I was doing everything could to hold it together for this one because if I let it start, it wasn’t going to stop. Dogs are special to me because I know what they can do to heal someone’s spirit. I’ve long considered using my dogs in therapy and it may yet happen. To watch these incarcerated men, some for violent crime, break down and weep because of these dogs, was heart-wrenching. To see someone with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder slowly healing with the help of a dog was humbling. We all want unconditional love, don’t we?