Last month we told you about Braidee, our boxer mix who has been in prison the longest of any of our current dogs. Braidee ruptured her ACL and needs a surgery that would cost $4,000, which is about half of our veterinary expense budget for the year. With a birthday fundraiser that raised $995 along with several of your donations, we raised a total of $1,835 - almost half of the surgery cost!

Braidee is on a waiting list to have the surgery with a veterinarian in Austin. Is there anyone who would be available to pick Braidee up from prison in Lockhart and transport her to Austin for the surgery and/or pick her up from the Austin vet and take her back to Lockhart after her surgery? Or even better, hosting Braidee while she recuperates from her surgery in your home?

If you can help, please contact ADOPTONS@PAWSINPRISON.COM

If you are interested in Autumn, fill out an Adoption Application now!

Teaching a dog how to touch their nose to a target is one of the first things our dogs learn. Why? Touch is an easy to teach sweet little trick that helps the bonding between you and your dog. This month our training tip is brought to you by program participant, Nicole H. and her dog partners Mia and Autumn, who we have already introduced to you in the previous article. Because she is deaf, Autumn can only learn tricks with hand signals, but she is so smart and treat motivated so it has been such a joy for Nicole to work with her.

Step one:

Step two:

This is a great tool to build your value to your dog and have fun also. Because Autumn is unable to hear recalls (calling her to you) we used this touch technique to help her.

Think about a dog who watches a ball in their owner’s hand. They watch it until it is thrown and then follows the throw. So with Autumn, we make a throwing motion and point to another person who is standing across the room ready to catch the “throw.” That person will then hold a hand wide open as a “target” for Autumn to run to. When she gets to that person, we very excitedly treat her and "throw" her back. She loves to run between us. For Autumn this touch trick has a multi-purpose because we can reinforce her recalls at the same time she’s playing.

This 2-minute video summarizes the touch training technique with little Mia and concludes with Autumn going back and forth between her handlers.

We sincerely appreciate those of you who gave Friends of Paws in Prison a 5 star rating on the Great Nonprofits website. We were awarded the 2023 Great Nonprofits top-rated seal! This is the 4th year in a row we have attained this honor.

To receive the seal we must receive at least ten new 5-star reviews per year. By displaying the seal on our website and social media platforms, we gain authenticity and recognition as a "Great Nonprofit." This award may help us win new grants and future supporters. We give a heartfelt thanks to those of you who rated us with 5 stars!

My Paws in Prison story began with a move across the country to Texas two years ago. I had just begun training my two rescues Vivian and Olivia, shown here, in agility when it was time to relocate. I was referred to agility trainer extraordinaire Catherine (Ms. L) to continue our training. In class, she mentioned her role as Executive Director of the Paws in Prison program. I was curious and wanted to learn more about it. After I saw Catherine’s video interview with Dr. Karen Becker regarding her Game Changer nomination, I knew I wanted to be more involved. Having two rescue dogs myself and being a big supporter of women’s growth and development, I couldn’t think of a better program to support.

At the beginning of the year when the treasurer board position became available, I reached out to the Friends of Paws in Prison team. This was an opportunity to contribute since my background is in accounting and finance. My first visit to the Paws in Prison dog dorm was at the beginning of 2023. I am excited to be a part of all that is happening to "save more than dogs!"

In the past few years we had to limit our adoption range to within 75 miles of the Coleman Unit (formerly known as the Lockhart Correctional Facility) because we didn't have the manpower (or should we also say woman power?) to do pre-adoption home visits. However, with the addition of 3 new board members who live in various Central Texas cities, we have widened our adoption area to a 125-mile radius of Lockhart, Texas.

And the number 125 is also the deposit amount we have newly implemented to hold a dog for a specific adopter. Sometimes your perfect fur baby isn't ready for adoption while still in training or recovering from a health issue. After filling out an adoption application, going through our vetting process, and receiving a thumbs up, you can then make a $125 deposit. With a $125 deposit, we will hold your dog for you until adoption time.

Long-term prison life for a dog is not ideal and can create stress issues over time. Our goal is to "move them in and move them out" to minimize the dog's prison "sentence" and enable us to rescue another adorable dog!

We're sorry if we omitted any names from those of you who helped us in any capacity in the month of MAY, but we do not always know the names of our Paws in Prison angels!

Please let us know who you are if we missed thanking you by sending an email to: Donations@pawsinprison.com so we can personally let you know how grateful we are for your help.

Monthly Donations, no matter the size, help us know what we can count on each month. Thanks to the following folks who give recurring monthly donations: