A Unique, Inspirational Prison Dog
Training Program
SAVING MORE THAN DOGS SINCE 2007
|
|
|
|
IN THIS ISSUE
- Our Christmas Surprise!
- Amplify Austin 2023
- Meet PIP Freshman Stevie
- 2022 Adoptions
- Why We Do Home Visits
- Puppies Presents Video
- We Give You Thanks
|
|
1. Our Christmas Surprise!
In our 15 year history this was a first. In November we rescued an adorable little female poodle/shihtzu mix the Lockhart Ladies named Honor. Honor was on a spay waiting list when she came to us, but unbeknownst to us, she had already been romantically involved! After about 10 days, Honor's handlers began to notice how round her belly was getting and suspected her condition.
|
|
Honor is on the small side and not knowing who the puppy daddy (or daddies!) were, we had no idea if she would be able to deliver her puppies naturally. As her time to deliver drew near, Ms. L, our program Director, took her home to carefully oversee the situation. |
|
Under Ms L’s watchful supervision, Honor delivered 5 healthy puppies in the wee hours of December 23rd with no intervention!
|
|
Meet Honor and her brand new puppies!
We have adopters waiting for them as soon as the puppies are old enough to leave their mother. After the puppies are weaned we will have Honor spayed and we could really use your help for her veterinarian expenses.
You can donate by check or credit card.
|
|
What is Amplify Austin? It's one of the biggest fundraisers of the year supporting hundreds of Central Texas nonprofits. We need you to help us! Yes, absolutely your donations are important on Amplify Austin day, but we also need you to sign up to be a Fundraising Champion for us.
A fundraising champion is someone who signs up on our Amplify Austin page then sends their special page link to their email contacts and social media peeps. Signing up to be a Fundraising Champion is easy and can be done from anywhere! Just CLICK HERE to learn more.
How do we continue to accomplish our mission when we are such a small nonprofit? Careful spending, volunteer help, fundraising efforts, your faithful donations and lots of prayers!
|
|
3. Meet Paws in Prison Freshman Stevie |
|
In the December Newsletter we explained the process for training the inmate handlers in the Paws in Prison program through the various levels of Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior to Mentor. Virtually meet Freshman Stevie. Even though she has owned dogs her entire life, she never knew anything about dog training or managing behavior issues. She was surprised to see that dogs learn with hand and verbal signals. As she observed how rapidly they learn and what nice manners they can be taught, she became fascinated!
Stevie is currently with a Senior trainer who is helping her participate in hands-on work with the dogs. And wow, she is intrigued by clicker training and eager to learn more about that. As she progresses, Stevie says she likes the feeling of responsibility that she’s developing, and said that she doesn’t feel as nervous or anxious as she did when she first entered our dog training program.
She is looking forward to taking what she’s learning in the Paws in Prison program home to teach her children. She has several dogs at home, but realizes they are a bit out of control. There’s a sense of pride and anticipation as she speaks of being able to pass this knowledge on to her own children.
|
|
Adoptions - what does that word mean to you? To those of us who work and volunteer in the Paws in Prison program it means several things. It means rescuing dogs that no one wanted and making sure they are loved and secure for the rest of their lives. It means helping women who have lost their way experience the hope and healing miracle of being responsible for another living creature that needed them. It means providing individuals and families the love and joy of inviting a rescued dog into their lives. |
|
|
|
As many of you know 2019 was a tragic year with the death of our founder and director, Machelle Gaconnet. Our new Board and Staff stepped out in faith that we would keep this amazing program going with the goal of increasing |
|
adoptions by a minimum of 10% a year. As you can see, we have continued to exceed our goal, even in the midst of a pandemic, a recession, and intermittent prison lockdowns. When we began running the program in 2019 we knew there had been about 450 adopted dogs since 2007. By the end of 2022 the total adoption rate is about 534 adoptions! |
|
Some 2022 Paws in Prison Adoptions |
|
After you apply to adopt one of our precious pups, you may be surprised that we do a home visit to potential adopters. The reason we do this is multi-faceted.
- To make sure you are prepared for the responsibility that goes with your new fur family member.
- To evaluate that your home will be a safe and secure place for the dog.
- To give you a face-to-face person to answer your questions and share information about the dog and the Paws in Prison program.
- To explain the purpose of the "meet and greet" appointment where you and any other family pets/members will meet the dog to evaluate their interactions.
- A lot of time and love goes into the care and training of the dog - we want to be sure it is a good match for all involved.
- And most importantly, to make certain that you understand this is a commitment for the dog's entire lifetime.
Occasionally a dog may be returned to us for very understandable reasons - after all, a prison environment cannot evaluate a dog for situations that may arise in a home environment. Even though it has nothing to do with the inmate's training, she may feel she has somehow failed the dog, so we hope you understand the importance of the home visit and the need to meet with each adopter before finalizing the adoption.
|
|
6. Puppy Presents for Christmas!
|
|
Enjoy this short clip of our prison pups deciding which toys they want for Christmas! These pups are available for adoption and are waiting for their forever homes!
Clicking on the big white arrow takes you to the Paws in Prison - Lockhart, Tx Facebook page.
|
|
6. WE GIVE YOU THANKS
We're sorry if we omitted any names from those of you who helped us in DECEMBER, but we do not always know the names of our Paws in Prison angels! Please let us know who you are if we missed your name by sending an email to Donations@pawsinprison.com so we can add you to our recognition list. Each of you makes a huge difference no matter the amount!
Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund, Daniel H, Benevity Fund, Facebook donors, Lake Travis Ladies of Charity, Fidelity Charitable Fund, Hugs & Kisses Animal Fund, Judy F, Jake J, Robin D, Hang N, Jaymi E, PayPal Giving Fund, Susan P, Helen K, Elizabeth V, Tina P, Susan T, Lily E, Carla E
Other ways you can help:
Select Friends of Paws in Prison on your Amazon Smile account.
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:
Daniel H, Marcus L, Debbie M, Jennifer K, Debbie B,
Diana S, Shelly R, Heather W.
|
|
|
|
Mailing Address:
1711 S Colorado ST., Suite E-204,
Lockhart, Texas 78644
Phone: (833) 341-3523
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
