The nonprofit Canine CellMates launched a new initiative called Beyond the Bars to teach inmates at Fulton County Jail how to train shelter dogs in a 10-week program. The participants live in a special training facility so the dogs get constant socialization and training reinforcement. Beyond the Bars’ participants train dogs from the Best Friends Animal Society for a year as an alternative to incarceration. After the shelter dogs go through the training program, they are much more likely to be adopted by loving families. So far, over 400 men have participated in the program, leading to over 150 dog adoptions. Beyond the Bars gives criminal offenders a second chance at life by taking them out of the prison system and giving them tangible skills to carry with them after the year is up.
Image via Blair Devereaux of Pheauxtography
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