Story shared by Oregon Public Broadcast:
Project POOCH’s mission is to teach incarcerated youth responsibility, patience and compassion for all life. The young people learn to train and care for the dogs, as well as how to manage a kennel, while helping the pups find homes out in the community.
These experiences teach participants skills and life lessons they can use when released.
“Not only are we helping them change their thinking of the way they interact with animals while they’re here, when they leave here,” Bradham said, “we’re putting animal advocates into the community.”
Bradhum said the youth are learning to care for and challenge themselves along the way. This, she added, is especially important for incarcerated youth — whose brains are still developing.
“These guys are going to rejoin our community,” she said. “They will get out. So, we can choose to invest in them and invest in their development and set them on the right path, or we can be punitive.”