Puppies for Parole in Cameron
Western Missouri Correctional Center (WMCC) and Fort Dodge Correctional Facility (FDCF) don’t sound like places with barking puppies, but that’s exactly what you can find. Ashley Anderson, a decorated dog trainer in Des Moines Iowa, started working for Puppies for Parole in 2014. She was introduced to the program through friend Kathy Turner, the City of Cameron’s Animal Control Officer.
Ashley loves dogs and loves working with them. Growing up her family always owned German Shepard’s. When her family let her pick out her own dog, she chose a Coon Hound named Molly. “I remember wishing I could take my dog everywhere,” Ashley reminisced. She ended up having Molly for 16 years. “My family was traditional about raising dogs and used lots of punishment. It made Molly a very fearful dog. That’s where my passion for training came from, I think.”
Puppies for Parole has been known to produce highly affective and well-trained dogs. “The two prisons in Cameron have been successful in providing well-mannered dogs with the potential of service work for four to five years,” said Ashley. Many of the inmates participating in the program have in been in the prison system for 20 years or more. Most of the offenders will not be released. Ashley believes the program is good for the inmates; allowing them to develop a connection to the dog and deep emotional ties. She also believes that it teaches offenders something about the consequences of the actions that brought them to the place they are in today. “They grow a connection with a dog and watch it grow up. Then I come to take the dog. It’s very ironic. At some point these men took someone [or something] special away from someone else”.
In the program offenders learn to train with positive reinforcement, which has been shown to be more effective than punishment. “We have one day where they have to take leashes and collars off and make the puppies listen to them which gets really funny because they can’t get mad.” Ashley’s job is to oversee training of dogs by inmates and then connect dogs with adopting families. “It only took about nine months for prisoners to train a puppy to hit a light switch and pick up almost anything,” said Asley referencing skills needed for a specialized placement
Ashley has a few dogs over the years that she has raised and is close with. She lit up when asked their names and stories. Zee, a Black Mouth Cur which is the same breed as the original Old Yeller, was a first placement for the puppy parole program. He was adopted to a family with an eight-year-old girl with autism. “They were looking for a Black Lab and her parents didn’t like Zee at first for its Bull look. As soon as the little girl was introduced to the dog, she just started talking to it, so they had to take it.”
Rubin, a Blue Tick coon Hound, was another special case. He actually lived with Ashley for nine months because he needed specialized training for seizure alerts. A little girl in New York needed a dog for seizures and the dog needed to be hypoallergenic. It just so happens Blue Tick Coon Hounds have short coats and they don’t shed.
The Cameron Puppies for Parole program has placed more than 50 dogs.
