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 Christmas pups with a purpose
by Tom Campbell
December 18, 2008
Once in a while a story comes along that must be shared, a story so heartwarming that it speaks to the best in us, while also doing good. Our story comes from Camp Lejeune in Onslow County, one of our nation’s largest Marine bases and the East Coast location for the “Wounded Warrior” battalion. Many returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom come home with disabilities incurred while serving our nation. They need and deserve our help.
Service dogs are often employed to help disabled people who have lost limbs, eyesight or have mobility issues or other impairments. Until now these “pups with a purpose” had not been employed on any scale to help our veterans. That changed when the Ladies Auxiliary of the North Carolina VFW decided to adopt Carolina Canines for Service as their charity in 2006. Carolina Canines offered a service dog to a disabled veteran and our story sprouted legs.
Enter North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones, whose district includes Camp Lejeune, along with the commanding officer and other officers of the base. In order to expand this program more trainers would be needed but personnel were hard to identify. Someone suggested perhaps the inmates at the military prison might be willing and able to accomplish the task. This was out-of-the-box thinking; in fact there isn’t another prison in the country with anything like this (yet), but three cheers to those willing to try something new to help others. The Military Prison Dog Training Program was born, however few could have known how valuable it would become.
Inmates are divided into pairs, with each pair responsible for training one dog. Guards assist as needed and the dogs live in the squad bay with the trainers, actually sleeping in kennels between their bunks at night. The dogs and the inmates do most everything together, with training lasting nine to fifteen months. Eventually the dogs will be trained to perform up to 70 tasks including fetching and retrieving, providing support for someone with a prosthetic leg and a host of other functions.
Some of the pups chosen came from shelters or belonged to a military person leaving for overseas assignment and had uncertain futures. They are given a new purpose in life and respond immediately and enthusiastically to the training. Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the improvement in morale and behavior among the inmates. They also have a new purpose and something to do with their time, making a new friend while they are training together. This is rehabilitation that might have a lasting effect. The ultimate payoff is to the “wounded warrior” who has the benefit of assistance in daily tasks and, more importantly, the unqualified love and companionship often only a dog can provide. This is truly a win-win story.
When the news is filled with so many stories of people doing horrible things to each other and few days go by without learning of people in power who abuse the trust placed in them, it is easy to become cynical and lose faith in humankind. But then we hear a story like this, especially at this season of the year, we are renewed and hopeful in learning how people can work together to help others. These are truly Christmas pups with a purpose. |
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