Puppies Behind Bars prepares service dogs in Millerton

MILLERTON — Visitors of the village might have recently spotted puppies walking around the grass on Railroad Plaza with a group of volunteers trailing behind them, leashes in hand. Little do they know that these adorable bundles of energy will soon be sent to prison facilities across the state and trained as either explosive-detection canines or service dogs as part of the Puppies Behind Bars program.

Based in Manhattan, Puppies Behind Bars trains “prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive-detection canines for law enforcement,” according to its website at www.puppiesbehindbars.com. After being trained in the prison facilities for two to three years, the dogs are directly sent out to their law enforcement recipients.

Speaking as the program’s founder and president, Gloria Gilbert Stoga explained that the service dogs will be given to police and fire departments as well as to first responders across the country for officer wellness purposes. The service dogs are trained in 92 commands while the others are trained for explosive-detection. Overall, Stoga reported that there’s a high graduation success rate among the explosive-detection canines and a 50% graduation success rate among the service dogs. The dogs that don’t pass their training are adopted out to families.

Though the puppies normally go into the prison facilities at 8 weeks of age, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the program to keep them for another four weeks, during which time they will have an additional opportunity to socialize. Once they reach 12 weeks of age, the puppies will head to prison. Among some of the prisons that participate in the program are, in New York, the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, Bedford Hills Correctional in Bedford Hills,  Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, Otisville Correctional Facility in Otisville, Wallkill Correctional Facility in Wallkill, and, in New Jersey, the Edna Mahn Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton.

As far as whether COVID-19 has influenced the program in any way, Stoga said, “It literally doesn’t mean anything to us — we’ve been doing this for 23 years. The only impact for us right now is the puppies have to stay out for an extra week, but we’re not doing anything in response to COVID-19.”

In recent weeks, the Puppies Behind Bars program has been bringing its canine charges to the village of Millerton to help them socialize with people as well as become familiar with the different noises and stimuli in the area, the sidewalks and other environmental factors that might show up in their training. Given its tremendous volunteer base, the program has had no problem getting volunteers to walk the puppies each week and help them socialize. 

“The Millerton community has been wonderful,” Stoga said. “They’ve been absolutely welcoming and delightful in helping us get to know people in Millerton, and they’ve been so generous to come out and help us with the puppies.”

Even with the pandemic going on, Ibrahim Amasha from Puppies Behind Bars said he was surprised by the number of incoming volunteers who have offered to help. By the beginning of June, he said the puppies will be ready for the next step in the program. In the meantime, Amasha said, “The puppies are having a good time, the people are having a good time, everyone’s being safe.”

Every morning for the last couple of weeks, volunteers could be seen walking around Railroad Plaza with a bag of treats in one hand and a leash fastened to a puppy’s collar in the other. For about an hour each day, Railroad Plaza was littered with black and white puppies eager to explore the world around them. Even from the Main Street head of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, bicyclists could hear the yip of puppies wanting to play.

“This is really an exquisite program,” said volunteer Joanna Porreca as she walked Kady the puppy around Railroad Plaza.

For more information about Puppies Behind Bars, go to www.puppiesbehindbars.com.