ILLINOIS
Program teaches troubled youths to teach dogs
Canine companionship is helping some local kids turn around their troubled pasts at the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center.
A program called Teacher's Pet has them train dogs taken in by animal control, helping them develop responsibility, empathy and self-esteem -- and, eventually, finding homes for the strays. "The dogs can be frustrating to work with sometimes, but it's good to have someone to talk to when things aren't going right," said Lindsay, 15, who has been in the program for a couple of months. "I like knowing that I helped these dogs find a good home."
The program was started about 14 months ago with youths and six dogs in hourlong sessions held twice a week for about six weeks. Since then, the center has expanded it to 20 youths and 14 dogs in sessions held Tuesday through Friday, said Berry Treadwell, the program's coordinator. The sessions for girls and boys are held separately.
In the 14 months since the program has existed at the center, 46 youths and 73 dogs have gone through it. All but one dog has been adopted, he said. "It builds self-esteem and self-worth and teaches the kids empathy," Treadwell said. "And the better you feel about yourself, the better you treat other people."
For Lindsay, who has been at the center for 3 1/2 months, the program has meant a lot. She said it's taught her patience and understanding as well as the value of friendship. "They help you cope," she said. "They teach you that it's OK to make mistakes and not know everything."
Under Teacher's Pet, the youths at the Juvenile Justice Center teach the strays basic obedience skills and care for them. After the six weeks is over, the dogs "graduate" and are put up for adoption at the county's animal shelter. "The dogs that come in with the most problems always leave the best-trained dogs," said Lisa Rabine, program facilitator and dog trainer with Teacher's Pet. "The kids here just do a wonderful job."
Treadwell said Teacher's Pet has zero recidivism, meaning those who have gone through it have stayed out of trouble.
Funding for the program comes primarily from donations, but the county contributes a nominal amount of money to help cover the cost of supplies for the dogs and the trainers' time, Treadwell said.
The program is the brainchild of a nonprofit agency with the same name that started in Waterford Township about six years ago. It works with dogs and kids at the Kingsley Montgomery School in Waterford, Crossroads for Youth in Oxford and Oakland County's Children's Village in addition to the Macomb Juvenile Justice Center. The Macomb program, however, is the largest, said Rabine.
"(In the program), they're helping the animals, but they're also helping themselves," said Charles Seidelman, the Juvenile Justice Center's director. "They're learning to be responsible; to give something away when it's usually been all about them."
Charles E. Ramirez
22 July 2010
