SHELTER DOGS HELP TROUBLED TEENS

K9 Connection: At-Risk Teens And Shelter Dogs Get A

New 'Leash' On Life
Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald ~ Huffington Post

At-risk teens. Animals abandoned at shelters. Two marginalized groups in great need of
love, security, and a chance at living a good life. With an alarmingly-high rate of teen
suicide (the third leading cause of death among teens) and over three million unwanted
dogs and cats euthanized each in year in shelters, it is easy to feel helpless towards these
two populations who demonstrate an overwhelming need.

An innovative solution: put these two groups together and unleash the healing power of
the human-animal bond. That's what Katherine Beattie and Pat Sinclair envisioned when
they formed k9 connection, a non-profit organization that educates and inspires at-risk
teens through bonding with and training homeless shelter dogs.

k9 connection, located in Santa Monica, California, is a remarkable organization whose

mission is to teach at-risk teens how to train homeless shelter dogs in basic obedience
skills in order to increase their chances of adoption. Through the training they provide to
the dogs, the teens benefit by learning how to be more responsible and accountable, the
importance of goal setting, and how positive reinforcement offers an alternative to force
and violence.

At lot of the lessons the kids learn by training the dogs can be applied to the various
challenges they may face in their daily lives. In turn, the shelter dogs develop skills that
allow them to smoothly transition into permanent, loving homes.

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During the course of the training the students learn how to train the dogs, and they also
spend time learning life skills within workshops facilitated by various talented volunteers.

The day I visited the campus of the school where the k9 connection program was taking
place was an experience I will never forget. I was observing the basic obedience training
session where a professional dog trainer was helping the kids understand how to
communicate with the dogs. Each teen was paired with a volunteer. At one point during
the training, one of the volunteers had to leave early and I noticed a very frustrated teen
trying to get his dog to sit and take treats without success. I was told that this particular
teen had significant emotional challenges. I decided to fill in and try to help him out. I do
have a background in basic training of shelter dogs, and I absolutely love working with
kids and animals. Under the supervision of the k9 staff, I thought I'd give it a try.

When I got over to the teen (I'll call him Robbie), he sadly said to me, "I can't do this."
Apparently Robbie was having difficulty understanding how to give the dog a treat. He
was offering the dog a treat with a closed hand. The dog was gently trying to get the treat
out of Robbie's hand and was confused as to what was happening. I showed Robbie how
to open his hand and offer a treat. He was afraid to do it himself. I put my hand under his
and positioned his hand to offer the treat. The dog gently took the treat off of Robbie's
hand. The immediate pride and beaming face on Robbie was priceless. We did it again
together a few times, and then Robbie tried it himself--successfully. With a grin from ear
to ear he gave me a big hug and asked me to partner with him. I was honored. We
proceeded to teach his dog a few tricks, and I witnessed Robbie's confidence soar. In a
short period of time, I witnessed a youth who was labeled emotionally disturbed and
afraid of a dog open up emotionally and connect with his companion.

After the outdoor obedience class, we proceeded into a room to have a workshop
facilitated by a communications coach. The workshop involved goal setting and
visioning. Robbie and I had a good time coming up with ideas of possibilities for his
future. His main goals were to get along with his family and to help people. He wanted to
be a doctor or a massage therapist so he could help people feel better.

After all of the teens and volunteers were finished mapping out their goals and visions, it
was time to share. Robbie asked me if I could read aloud to the group since he didn't feel
comfortable doing so. As I read to the group Robbie's list of goals, all of which had to do
with helping others, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

A few weeks later, I showed up at the graduation and saw Robbie. He successfully
completed the program and taught his dog all of the obedience skills. I went up to him
after the event, not really knowing if he'd remember me. He gave me a big hug and said
"Hey, where've you been?" He then proceeded to introduce me to his family members as
the lady that helped him to not be afraid of the dog. To say that I was deeply touched is
an understatement. Robbie had graduated from the k9 connection program and had
developed a special bond with the dog he had trained.

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I've long known the k9 connection was a remarkable organization. They have helped
many kids and dogs for years. But there's nothing like personal experience. I felt very
blessed to have that opportunity to work with Robbie that day. I witnessed someone go
from feeling emotionally closed down to connecting with a dog to opening up with
possibilities for the future.

At the conclusion of each training session is a graduation ceremony for the students. If
you ever need a heart-opening cry for seeing what is good in the world, go to a k9
connection graduation. When you hear the speeches of the kids and how working with
the dogs has affected their lives, you better have your own box of tissues--or a mop.

Several students shared how they often skipped school in the past, but working with the
dogs gave them a reason to come to school because they didn't want to let the dog down.
Others shared how helping the dogs increased their sense of leadership, responsibility,
and patience. Many were from broken homes and the close bond they felt with their dog
was very special. Some offered how they lacked confidence and self-esteem, and
knowing that they helped to save a dog's life meant the world to them.

So now these students have had these life-changing heart-opening experiences with their
canine companions. Their canine companions are now being adopted into loving homes.
What is next? This is a crucial time for these kids to not feel abandoned and to have
continuing opportunities to develop the life skills they have learned.

What is also remarkable about k9 connection is that they make a long-term commitment
to their participants. After the obedience training program, the graduates are supported by
k9 staff and volunteers ongoing assistance in to fulfill their visions and goals. Some of the
teens decide to become Peer Leaders and they help the new students entering the
program.

k9 connection has been able to have a profound effect on the lives of both teens and dogs.
Teens who have graduated from the program have demonstrated improvement in
behavior, self-esteem, skills of goal setting and impulse control, and the sense of
accountability and community. Students barely making it through high school are now
succeeding in college. And every shelter dog in the program has been saved from
euthanization and placed into a loving home.

Giving Paws to Troubled

www.cenewsblog.com

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Teens living in a juvenile detention center in upstate New York are getting special
visits—from man’s best friend. Fifteen boys, ages 13 to 18, are helping train abused dogs
as part of a joint effort between the Sergeant Henry Johnson Youth Leadership Academy
and the nonprofit organization Glen Wild Animal Rescue. The dogs, mostly pit bulls,
are from shelters operated by Animal Care & Control of New York City. Once the dogs
are healthy, they are brought to the Youth Leadership Academy. The goal of the program
is to rehabilitate dogs so that they can be adopted.

The teens learn to train the dogs by using positive reinforcement techniques. Each teen is
paired with a dog. One of the boys, 15-year-old Orlando, has taught his furry friend Bo to
sit, heel, and give high-fives. The dogs begin and end every training session by rolling
around in the grass. Orlando rewards Bo with a treat and some love. He says the program
has changed the way he views pit bull fighting, a popular sport in his Bronx (New York
City) neighborhood. “Now I know it’s a harmful thing, and it breaks my heart,” he told
The New York Daily News.

The program doesn’t just help the dogs; it benefits the teens too, according to Youth
Leadership Academy psychologist Sue Newman. "While we’re helping the youth address
their needs, the youth are helping the dogs in addressing theirs,” she told the Daily News.
Many of the kids can relate to the dogs and learn that “if you give love, you get love.”

“The bond that forms between each shelter dog and its handler is very strong and because

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of the emotional attachment many important lessons are learned,” says Liz Keller,
director of Glen Wild Animal Rescue. “[The teens] learn how hard life on the street is for
some of the stray animals. They learn that transition is hard for the dogs that once had a
home but are now homeless.”

Many of the dogs in the program have been adopted. In addition to helping boost kids’
self-esteem, the program also offers career possibilities. Ruben Reyes, director of the
Youth Leadership Academy, says he hopes that some of the teens will be inspired to
work with animals when they return home. Keller wants to expand the program so more
kids and animals can benefit.

Photo: Liz Keller (Glen Wild Animal Rescue)

The Power of Dogs and Teens: K9 Connection

At-risk youth. Homeless dogs. These phrases do not bring to
mind positive or encouraging thoughts.
Written by Jen Muccia, Best Friends Community News Writer
Photos supplied by K9 Connection

At-risk youth. Homeless dogs. These phrases do not bring to mind positive or
encouraging thoughts. But in 2005, Katherine Beattie and Patricia Sinclair set out to
change these groups for the better. By pairing together this unlikely match of
underprivileged populations that are often forgotten about in society, Beattie and Sinclair
found a way to give these groups a second chance at a better life. Guided by their motto,
“Building Lives by Saving Lives,” they started the organization out of Santa Monica, CA
that would come to be known as K9 Connection. They sought out to accomplish two

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things: to teach dogs from local animal shelters the basic behavioral skills that would
make them more adoptable and to help at-risk teens develop a sense of personal
motivation and accountability. They believed these teens could help homeless dogs and
at the same time, help themselves

Every year, the K9 staff, composed mainly of community volunteers, organizes various
courses with different teens. Involved in each course are students that come from
underprivileged environments or troubled backgrounds. K9 matches a homeless dog
with each student and for 17 consecutive school days, the students spend 2 hours every
day, training their dog. By using the method of positive reinforcement, students learn to
train their shelter dog basic obedience skills. Activities include teaching the dogs to walk
with them on a leash, socialization and simple commands such as sitting and staying.
When the dogs respond positively to the training, the students in turn feel a sense of
pride and accomplishment they have not previously been accustomed to. This process
teaches the teens an alternative to force and violence and they begin to develop
invaluable lessons such as the benefits of controlled and non-reckless behavior.
Graduates are encouraged to visit K9 Connection after graduation to follow up on the
status of their dogs, attend planning and volunteer meetings and even become a part of
the K9 training team.

The result of this experience is remarkable and the success stories are countless. “It is
easier to reach teens than it is to reach hardened adults,” says Beattie, founder of the K9
connection. Now organizing her 19th program since 2005, she says she has found that
during every program, something happens to these teens and dogs that can only be
described as magic. She says, there is something unexplainable about what dogs bring
to humans, especially children just about to abandon childhood, or children who have
never even had a childhood.

Beattie also believes in the power of prevention and often says, “An ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure.” These vulnerable groups of teens and homeless dogs reward
each other in the process of education and friendship. The outcome is simple: groups of
enlightened, encouraged, motivated teens with a renewed outlook on a successful future
and loving, loveable, smart and sociable dogs with renewed energy and revived
personality.

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 Program aids troubled teens, dogs
By ANN ZANIEWSKI
Of The Oakland Press

Holding a tiny treat, a 17-year-old named Tim told Sabrina, a black-and-white pointer, to
sit and stay. She obeyed.

“Yes, good girl!” he said, crouching on the ground and petting her face . “I think we got
her trained pretty well.”

Tim and Sabrina are part of Teacher’s Pet, a program in which at-risk youths train shelter
dogs with the hope that they’ll help enrich each other’s lives.

Amy Johnson started Teacher’s Pet in 2005. The program involves teens from Oakland
County Children’s Village, a county-run facility for young people who have been placed
there by the courts and a number of other facilities.

“By working with behaviorally challenged dogs, the dogs get adopted, and it helps (the
teens) gain a sense of accountability ...” said Johnson, a therapist and certified dog trainer
who works in Oakland University’s School of Nursing.

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Participants spend the first part of each session discussing proper animal care, how to
read a dog’s body language, responsible pet ownership, puppy mills and dog fighting.
They write in journals and make fliers about the dogs.

The second half of a session is spent teaching dogs obedience skills.

Ten teens from Children’s Village visit the Oakland Pet Adoption Center, the county’s
animal shelter, in Auburn Hills twice a week. The Teacher’s Pet program lasts for 12
weeks, with the kids working in teams of two with two groups of dogs for six weeks
each.

Rochelle Meacham, administrator of Oakland County Children’s Village, said the youths
love the program. She has seen them use things they learn working with the dogs in their
own lives and relationships.

She’s also spotted behavioral improvements.

“They have a new appreciation for not only animals, but even their own self-worth,” she
said.

Larry Obrecht, manager of the Oakland County Animal Control Division, said the
training makes the dogs easier to adopt.

The teens often feel a special bond with the animals.

“We can kind of relate to them being locked up,” Tim said. “They’re in cages all day.
Before we got to the program, we were in cages.

“It’s a little therapeutic, too, for us and the dogs.”

Recently, the teens talked for several minutes with Teacher’s Pet volunteer Angela
Lijewski before picking up their pooches. They walked the dogs outside and then started
working on obedience skills, with many of the teens having treats.

In one room, two youths, volunteer Rob Krinock of Rochester Hills and a lab mix with a
shiny black coat named Hector played with a ball.

Krinock held the ball in the air. Hector barked. Krinock kept the ball for several seconds,
only giving it to Hector when he stopped barking.

“He’s learning that he has to wait before he gets it,” Krinock said.

Krinock said the teens fill with pride when the dogs start responding to their commands.

“I think the concept is outstanding,” he said. “You have troubled dogs and troubled
youths. They can really relate.”

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Outside, two 16-year-old trainers walked around with Hooch, a husky, mastiff mix. He
gleefully wiggled around on his back on a small mound of snow at the edge of the
parking lot, and then slid down it like a slide.

“I love this dog,” said Dion, one of Hooch’s trainers.

When the session was over, Dion crawled into Hooch’s large cage with him and took off
his leash. He gave the dog a few treats before saying goodbye.

Dion said if he got a pass to leave Children’s Village that weekend, he would come back
to visit Hooch.

“Do you know when Hooch will be available for adoption?” he asked.

There’s good news from the shelter — four of the five dogs in the first 6-week session of
the program were recently adopted.

The teens just started working with a new group of dogs.