A Dog's Tail
A short story about "Cell Dogs"
By: Robert A. Gerle Jr.
Dog #1 - Blue Eyed Skye

It had been more than eight years since I had experienced the simple pleasure of petting a dog. A series of frighteningly stupid decisions on my part had landed me in prison, serving twenty-four years and wasting the best and most productive period of my life. I was working on maintenance and labor crews doing menial work for a wage just this side of slave labor, pretty sure that if I ever did get out I would be stuck in the same old rut and middle-aged to boot, and then Max showed up. His name wasn't Max when he got here, that came later. I first met him as Boutros; a big, beautiful black lab that was the first dog to arrive for the Prison Trained Canine Companion program at the Arrowhead Correctional Center in Canon City, Colorado. He was sort of a trial run to see how the inmates and correctional officers would react to a dog being suddenly thrust into their midst.

As tests go, this one got an A. The reaction was resoundingly positive. Grown men who had not been able to show affection in any sort of healthy manner for decades, were able to pet a dog and fuss over this simple creature. Hardened convicts, some of which will never be released, babbled in baby talk to a dog that could not possibly understand their incomprehensible words but surely understood that they were overjoyed to see him.

Max, nee Boutros, was not a perfect dog. He had some problems, namely the seizures that would periodically rack his muscular frame and reduce him to a whimpering pup. The first time he had one of these seizures my cellmate, whom I'll call Joe, and I were sitting on the floor of our 10' by 12' cell, petting the dog and just hanging out when Max began to convulse violently. Joe had been brought here from another facility to help start the program, and he knew a thing or two about dogs. He held Max's head so he would not bang it on the floor during the seizure, and I tried to soothe the terrified animal by gently stroking his side and speaking in soft tones until the seizure passed. Pass it did and Max was returned to the mellow, friendly dog we all knew in just a few seconds.

And so went my introduction into the training program. Colorado introduced this program through its Correctional Industries division at the Colorado Women's Correctional Facility. It has since expanded to the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, and the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, as well as to the Arrowhead Correctional Center, and plans are in the works to further expand it to additional facilities.

The program takes dogs and places them with carefully selected inmates in the prisons where the program is in place for about a two-month period. These are primarily dogs that would otherwise likely be put-down by the local pounds and Humane Society shelters. For that time there is one dog per convict, and the animal is housed in the cell with the inmate, and seven days a week we train the dogs to be companion animals. People can view photos of the dogs and read a brief description of the animals on the Correctional Industries website ( WWW.cijvp.com).

If interested, contact information is available to inquire about adoption.

One would think that prisoners having dogs would be simply like having a pet, and that misconception caused some officers to be initially opposed to the program, but we were all quickly disabused of this notion. It was work, to be sure, and right from the first there was no mistaking it for anything else. My first dog was Skye, a feisty, smart, precocious border collie/flat coat retriever mix who taught me more about patience and responsibility than I thought possible. I soon found out that while she was affectionate and loving, she was more like a cat than a dog. She sought and accepted attention only on her own terms, and never allowed it unless she was in the mood. She was a beautiful animal, jet black with speckled white stockings and a small white blaze on her chest. She had smallish rosette ears that perked up when she was excited and laid flat when she was aggravated. Her most striking feature though was her eyes, the right one being a soft brown and the left a bright, almost whitish blue.

To be honest, she selected me more than I selected her. When our boss, Mrs. Debi Stevens, arrived with the first full round of dogs, seven in all, Skye leapt out of the transport van and sniffed the first fellow she saw. Apparently unimpressed with him she moved on to another, and still not finding what she sought she came to me. I almost expected her to move on again, but with one quick sniff she sat in front of me with a look in her intelligent eyes that seemed to say, "You're mine. Let's go home." I suppose I should have been offended that I was third string, but the truth was that I fell for her on the spot. I had been a dog person all my life, and after nearly a decade of being unable to be anywhere near one I felt all the frost on my heart melt in an instant.

Another inmate at another facility had trained Skye before I met her, and she had been adopted, but for the terrible sin of tracking muddy little paw prints into the house after a rainstorm, she was returned. Over the next two months I strove to polish the skills she had learned before. I taught her several tricks, and somehow managed to teach her to fetch, although she had absolutely no inclination whatsoever to do so. I fed her, bathed her, brushed her teeth, brushed her coat, trimmed her nails, cleaned up after her visits to the doggie bathroom and performed a myriad of other small tasks that I had never considered before. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week I cared for the Skyebiscuit, as I had taken to calling her, an affectionate reference to Seabiscuit. She was very much like the horse, a little on the small side, but as fast as greased lightening.

She learned to play well with the other dogs and people, a task unto itself because while she liked or at least tolerated people well enough she was not very fond of other dogs. She learned manners as all the dogs in the program do. We teach them not to lick, growl or show teeth to people, not to jump up on people or furniture, not to dig, scratch or beg, and to wait at doors for their handler to go through first. She learned no to bolt out a door, not to pull at her leash, and to heel in the proper position on her handler's left leg. She learned to sit, down and recall from any distance under any circumstances. In general, she learned to be an excellent companion dog, an obedient pet, and an all around good dog.

That is, in essence what the program is designed to do. While the program does take board-in dogs that people want trained for a one-month training program, we also train assistance dogs for people in wheelchairs or who have other disabilities, the bulk of them are last chance dogs, and we try to give them the best chance possible for a good life with a good family.

A lady who had a number of children and foster children soon adopted Skye, and I thought that a perfect environment for the little doge I had come to love. Her energy and natural charisma could win over the hardest of hearts, and I had no doubt that she would make a wonderful pet for them. The day she went home I am not ashamed to admit that I wept like a child, and I would be remiss if I did not say that I think of her often, and always with a smile. I get a periodic update from my boss, who tells me that Skye is doing well, and that her family is thrilled to have her, so I am not completely uninformed about her. I know that I helped give a great dog the skills to be a great pet. She has made a family and children happy, and this gives me a since of pride and satisfaction that is unmatched.

If you would like to read more about other Cell Dogs Rob has trained check future editions of YourHub.com for Dog #2 - Ali, a one-year old brown and white Springer Spaniel who had given his owner fits.

For more information on the Colorado Dept. of Corrections K-9 Companion Training Program, to view photos/description of available dogs and how to adopt a dog go to please go to( WWW.cijvp.com).