Arizona State Prison – Kingman inmates train seeing eye dog

Darrin Bracken began volunteering at Kingman, Arizona’s Mutt Matchers animal shelter a year and a half ago.  Now, the shelter will give back to him, in the form of a seeing eye dog.

Mutt Matchers' Pound 2 Pen Partnership is a collaboration between the shelter and the Arizona State Prison outside Kingman, operated by Management & Training Corporation.

Carefully screened non-violent inmates are selected by ASP-Kingman supervisors to participate in the eight-week training programs. During the training, inmate handlers live and work with five dogs from Mutt Matchers, teaching the animals basic obedience and manners.

The sixth class of Pound 2 Pen dogs, which graduated last summer, included one special animal set aside for additional training as a service dog for Bracken, who is legally blind.

Mutt Matchers’ staff chose the 3-year-old female chocolate Lab for the demanding job because of her calm, affectionate and eager-to-learn demeanor.  After the dog was trained by Kingman inmates, it was returned to Mutt Matchers and has since undergone specialized training.  

The Pound 2 Pen inmate program will graduate its seventh class of basic obedience-trained dogs Nov. 30.  
 

(Posted 11/20/07)

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