By Cathy King | Executive Director
"Remember to take time to look back down the stairs, to see how far you've come".
Seven years ago, Canines With a Cause was nothing more than an idea. Plenty of dogs were living in shelters in need of homes, Veterans returning home from combat suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder hoping to get on with their lives, and women inmates spending their days thinking about everything mistake made over the years....Who knew these lives would eventually come together and save each other in the process.
Since inception in 2011, CWAC has rescued and placed over 500 dogs through our "Pawsitive Healing" program, training and placing dogs with Veterans in need. Dogs not compatible with the PH program found loving homes through our adoption program.
In 2014 CWAC joined forces with the Utah Department of Corrections. Dogs were placed in the Utah State Prison with women inmates, the inmates were trained by CWAC staff bi-weekly and have since blossomed into professional dog trainers. Our experienced trainers are now training new inmates helping to keep our programs cost effective.
CWAC provides free training classes for veterans, enabling them to develop skills needed to train their own dogs and become experienced handlers. Dogs can provide veterans with many benefits: simple companionship, motivation to get out of bed in the morning, and unconditional and non-judgmental love. Learning to train the dog also helps to get veterans out of their homes and involved again in civilian life; it helps them develop their emotional coping skills and resiliency, and the positive training techniques our instructors use teach them to guide their dog and solve problems using methods that are enjoyable for the dog and healthy for the veteran. The dog and the handler create a strong bond through working together, and the dog is trained for specific tasks to help the veteran lead a more productive, less stressful life.
The benefits of this program are three-fold. According to the Salt Lake City VA Hospital, between 5-7 veterans are committing suicide weekly in the Northern Utah area. Over 18,000 companion animals were killed in Utah shelters in 2016. Recidivism among Utah's prisoners is at 46%. By bringing the dogs together with both inmates and veterans, CWAC's programs save the lives of dogs in need, help veterans find ways to keep living and coping, and teach prisoners work and life skills that help them give back to their communities.
What’s more, our “Pal With Paws” program will expand our ability to rescue dogs from local shelters, while improving the lives of children who also suffer with PTSD. Our relationship with Children’s Justice Center is groundbreaking and we anticipate expanding to other centers in Utah. Placing dogs with children who suffer from PTSD due to abuse.
Current CWAC programs include:
Pawsitive Partnerships-Placing shelter dogs with Veterans as loving companions/free training classes to give Veterans dog handling skills and experience.
Pawsitive Healing-Prison based dog training program-Women inmate assess and pre-train dogs for other CWAC programs.
Chateau –Dogs living in drug and alcohol rehab facility-research based program to determine how dogs assist with substance abuse rehabilitation.
Penitentiary Pups-Adoption program. Dogs rescued from shelters, trained in prison and adopted to public.
Pals With Paws-Partnership with Summit County Children’s Justice Center and Valley Mental Health, training and providing comfort dogs to children in need.
In 2016, seventy-two dogs rescued from local shelters were placed with Veterans in the training program and are currently training to reach service status. To date, three of the dog teams have reached service status and graduated.
Five dogs were placed with children suffering with PTSD due to abuse and neglect through our Pals With Paws program, we are monitoring the overall effect the dogs are having on the children’s progress.
Eight dogs lived in the Chateau Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Center. The dogs are cared for and trained by clients living at the Chateau under CWAC supervision. The participating clients keep journals of their interactions with the dogs and effects on their rehabilitation process. Three of the dogs were adopted by Chateau clients, two by Chateau employees and the remainder were placed with Veterans.
Thank you for your support, it has been a long, wonderful road. We could not have achieved what we have over the years without your support.
Sincerely,
Cathy
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