Paws leave their prints at Railroad Square
November 8, 2009
A local community event set tails a-waggin’ this past Saturday at the Walk for Paws in Prison at Railroad Square Art Park in Tallahassee.
Festivities included a half-mile dog walk, live music, a dog costume contest and agility demonstrations. The event was held to raise funds for the privately funded Paws in Prison program, which brings together area rescue dogs and inmates in hopes of giving each a second chance at life.
Dogs and their owners walk to bring awareness to the Paws in Prison program.
“Paws in Prison is where we take homeless dogs-they’re like last chance dogs-and we work with about five or six area rescue groups and take the dogs and put them into the Wakulla County Correctional Institute,” said Kathy Sherman, president of the Paws in Prison program in Tallahassee. “They live with the inmates for eight weeks, and they’re trained by the inmates, and then they’re adopted out by the general public. So it’s a great win, win for the dogs, the inmates and for the families.”
Several families of dog graduates from the Paws in Prison program, and its sister program Utopia at Taylor Correctional Institute, were also present. Rebecca Neal was there with her young son, who received their adopted dog Wielers as a Christmas present last year.
“First day they were laying on the floor, rolling around together,” said Neal, holding a rambunctious Wielers in one hand. “He’s the most gentle dog I’ve ever seen.”
Several area rescue groups and pet supply providers were also present, such as Big Dog Rescue, Gadsden County Humane Society, Echo, a no-kill humane society, and Purs and Wags, a pet food supplier. Among them was Collie Rescue, a rescue group that takes in collies and collie mixes that have been abandoned or neglected. The organization works to get the dogs healthy again, provide training and hopefully find them a new loving home. Gretchen Waldo, with Collie Rescue, was there with her own collie as well as Yasmine, a participant of the Collie Rescue program.
“She was actually a cruelty case the local animal shelter found abandoned in an apartment,” said Waldo. “She and her brother were locked up together with no food or water, and they were very thin. So, they got them all vetted up, and then they asked me to take them in because there wasn’t room in the shelter for them.”
Yasmine was actually being adopted that day at the event.
“Yes, she found a home,” said Waldo, as Yasmine jumped up on two legs to lick the face of a bystander. “She’s just very attention starved from all that abandonment.”
Pattie Maney, a local artist, had a display of pet portraits set up at the event. Maney has been painting animals for roughly 10 years now, often donating a portion of her sales to animal rescues and other not-for-profits.
“I started painting, and I didn’t mean to do this, but I fell into this wonderful market now, that people are so in love with their animals,” said Maney.
Maney knows first hand the powerful effect a pet’s love can bring to a life.
“I was really depressed for many years,” said Maney. “Then I adopted my first dog, and when I got him he gave me a reason to get up and get going.”
Her experience has given her a passion for the mission of the Paws in Prison program.
“I’ve worked with them before and actually it’s just this great combination,” said Maney. “I love the idea of going into prisons, but I also think that if we can pre-train some of these dogs that are being adopted, it encourages more people to adopt animals.”
Others were enthusiastic about the program, too. Kathy Hoffman, a volunteer with R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs), discussed the communal benefits of the program:
“It shows prisoners how to be responsible,” Hoffman said. “It teaches them that they really can love and care. By learning how to care for an animal, when they’re released, (they can) help care and be responsible for probably children that they have, and other relationships.”
The event also helped serve as a reminder about the problem of animal abuse and neglect in the Tallahassee community and even the FSU student community.
“One of the big problems we have in the Tallahassee, Leon County area, is college students (who) come to school and they get dogs, but then they graduate (and) abandon the dogs,” said Susan Elsass, a volunteer with ComForT, a volunteer program in which owners and their pets visit local long-term care facilities and assisted living residences. “It is a huge problem.”
Elsass suggests that student who wants a pet might consider fostering an animal through several programs such as one offered through the Leon County animal shelter:
“If you’re a student and you’re going to be here for three years, you can foster a dog for three years,” said Elsass.
Above all, she and others urge students to consider the commitment before buying a pet.
“They need to think of the dog when they get it initially as a member of the family-a dog for life,” Hoffman said.
This is the first year that Paws in Prison has hosted such an event in Tallahassee. If it is successful they may host another.
