HELLO

FALL

Those of us that live in Central Texas consider this time of year the payback for the grueling summer temperatures! Paws in Prison is beginning to plan for 2025 but not before we celebrate 2024!

At the end of every year, we gather in the dorm to celebrate the annual accomplishments. This celebration also makes the inmate's holidays a bit brighter. The gathering includes gifts and a meal to the ladies that are a rare treat in prison.

I hope you have it in your heart to assist with the party with donations of the following items for December 22:

Pizza for 60 people
Salad for 60 people
15 dog toys (the dogs get to pick their own!)
15 bags of dog treats
50 identical toothpastes
50 identical lotions
50 identical shampoo and conditioners

Can you help sponsor this tradition? We will do the shopping if you prefer to make a cash donation. There are some restrictions on packaging so if you'd like to provide items, please reach out to claria.pawsinprison@gmail.com to pledge your support!

Below is a photo from 2023.

Can you guess Pearl's DNA?

From Pearl's new family, "Our beloved lab, Lemon of eleven years, passed away this February. When she passed our friends donated to Paws in Prison in Lemon’s memory. It was the first time we had heard of PIP and we fell in love with the mission.

Though we weren’t expecting to adopt a dog this year - I saw a beautiful lab mix (or so we thought!) pop up on PIP’s Facebook page and fell in love. We met Pearl at the Lockhart Women’s Correctional Facility and took her home with us that day. We like to think Lemon led us to Pearl.

Pearl is fully part of the family. She wakes up every day and finds each one of us before starting her day. She loves wrestling and playing with the kids, loves to give us her paw to hold her hand, and absolutely loves jumping and laying on the trampoline! We’ve been fortunate enough to take her to K9 Country Club on San Antonio weekend visits and she’s been able to reconnect with her trainer and others who loved her for so long before we met her.

Recently we sent in a DNA test for her - and funny story, Pearl has no lab in her!"

Scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to see Pearl's DNA results!

Celebrate another Success!

In the July newsletter, we introduced you to parolee, Lisa S, who has her own dog training business. Today, we want to share with you the live testimonial of Lisa and her story to success!

Witness Lisa's Story

DID YOU GUESS PEARL'S DNA?

Her parents say, "The Pyrenees definitely explains her nighttime patrolling of the house! What we’ve always known for certain is that she is a 100% sweetheart and we love her so much. A huge thank you to Paws in Prison for entrusting us with Pearl."

Looks like Pearl hit the jackpot with her two-legged sibling's care!

Results of the

Cutest Critter Contest!

Congratulations to the top 12 pets that will grace the 2025 calendar!

So many PIP alumni gracing the calendar! First place goes to Ginger and Ms Kitty with 290 votes. Beanie earned Second place with 207 votes and Tater and Sprout will take third place with 130 votes.

The other winners are Paisley Ann (96 votes), Luna FKA Pixie (85 votes), Cash (11 votes), Marley (80 votes), Scooby (75 votes), Butters (70 votes), Harley FKA Treasure (60 votes), and Pearl (40 votes). Our current residents, Taco, Yoda, Xyla and Noodle, will share a month with 50 votes each.

Unfortunately, we fell short of our fundraising goal from this campaign. Perhaps you can help us overcome this shortfall by buying the Cutest Critter calendars? They will be available for sale for $30 soon on our website. Maybe you can buy some stocking stuffers?

Training Tip: TOUCH TARGETING

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. Touch targeting can be the start to learning the top priority "come" recall command.

Step one:

Have a treat ready in a closed fist behind your back or in your hand. Use the opposite hand as your beginning target.
Hold your target hand out with your palm open and your fingers flat.
Place your open palm close to your dog's nose. Most dogs will instinctually want to sniff it.

Step two:

Once you feel the contact of their nose on your hand click or say "yes" and give the treat from the other hand.
Repeat!

Step three:

Repeat until the dog is strong in the touch, and then start to add distance.
The end goal is to have your dog drive toward the target (palm) when presented with the word "touch" as shown in the video below.

The below 2-minute video summarizes the touch training technique with little Mia and concludes with Autumn. Because Autumn is unable to hear, we used this technique to get her to "come."

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. 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 the trainers. For Autumn this touch trick reinforces her recalls at the same time she’s playing.

Click the button below to see the training tip in action.

Touch Training Tutorial

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US SAVE MORE THAN DOGS!

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

And a big thank you to those that participated in the Cutest Critter Contest: Jennifer B, Debra B, Misti C, Lisa C, Tara C, Melissa D, Dave F, Sylvia G, David H, Erika H, Micah H, Shanna Hubbard, Jennifer K, Jeri M, David F, Jane M, Jill R, Cindy S, and Preeti Y!

Monthly donations, no matter the size, help us know what we can count on each month. Thank you to Daniel H, Marcus L, Debbie M, Jennifer K, Shelly R, and Diana S for your continued support!