Life in prison is never dull. You may remember this sweet girl - our longest dog in prison, who we've highlighted in past newsletters. But now sweet Braidee has ruptured her ACL and needs surgery at a cost of $4,000! Poor girl can't run and play with her friends in prison. We could really use help because this surgery is more than half of our entire 2023 budget expense for veterinary care. If you can donate ANYTHING to help, please donate HERE and note that it is for Braidee's surgery.

After Braidee's surgery, she could really use a patient advocate, someone to be her special person while recovering. We are hoping to find someone who can take Braidee from the prison to her vet visits and rehab. Or even better, keep her at their home while she recovers. This could be in Austin or San Antonio depending on where she gets the surgery. When she was just a pup a benign tumor was removed from her leg and she was an excellent patient. If you have a quiet, comfortable place in your home while Braidee recovers, please consider fostering her or helping with her transportation and rehabilitation by sending an email to adoptions@pawsinprison.com.

Meet new Paws in Prison board member Leslie on the left in this photo from the New Braunfels Pet Fest held on Saturday, April 15. Leslie jumped right in and helped organize and set up our booth at Pet Fest. She also spearheaded storing our event items in the newly donated storage unit at

A-A-A Storage. With a 35 year background in finance, she is definitely an asset to the Board of Directors team.

Leslie now has two adored dogs shown in this photo. Dottie in the front is a senior, weighing 108 lbs. She was surrendered by a previous owner. Beau, in the back, is 78 pounds and is under 2 years old. Beau was a stray who adopted Leslie last December. Leslie says, "They are my supervisors when I work from home. Helping dogs find their forever homes and helping women learn a new skill - what could be better than that!"

Sometimes we get a request from an organization to give a presentation on the Paws in Prison program. We really don't have a good formal presentation and are hoping perhaps one of you could help us put together a short PowerPoint presentation. We have lots of photos and short video clips that we can provide but we need someone who is experienced in professional promotional presentations. If that might be you, please send an email to Info@pawsinprison.com.

Our Diva girl was found in Comal County and brought into the Paws in Prison program in mid February as a 7 month old puppy weighing 33 pounds. A beautiful terrier mix, she recently graduated from the Paws in Prison obedience training curriculum with the help of handler Misty shown here. Diva is S-M-A-R-T! She's never met a stranger and loves all the other dogs in the program. Ms L, the Paws in Prison director, absolutely loves her.

If you are interested in learning more about Diva, please fill out an adoption application and someone will contact you with more information.

Last month we highlighted Katrina as our featured Inmate story but showed the wrong photo of her. Here is the real Katrina! And stay tuned because the puppy she is holding is brand new in the program and will be posted to our website in the very near future.

Have you ever taken your dog for a walk and he/she lunges and barks at another dog, person, or squirrel? All dogs get distracted, but how do you get your dog's attention? Like a toddler, dogs can be easily distracted. And, like a toddler, the trick is to get them distracted again intentionally. There is a simple command that can help. Pick a word that works for you like LOOK, FOCUS OR WATCH ME.

To get started, here's all you need.

This short video below will demonstrate.

After you are comfortable that your dog has mastered this in a quiet environment, you can advance to environments that are more distractible.

To learn more about distraction training, check out this page from the American Kennel Club by clicking HERE.

We're sorry if we omitted any names from those of you who helped us in any capacity in the month of APRIL, 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.

Jason H, Lily E, Susie M, Kristen S, Scarlette G, Andrea Q, Christina P, PayPal Giving Fund, Pat M, Carrie M, Facebook Donors, American Giving Online Donors, New Braunfels Pet Fest booth donations, Wanda H, Barbara M, Great Nonprofits Donor

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: