Slide Show: Dogs Behind Bars

Service dogs, which support people with disabilities ranging from sight impairment to mental illness, must learn to respond to up to 90 cues. They open doors, turn on lights, and pull off socks.

Service dogs, which support people with disabilities ranging from sight impairment to mental illness, must learn to respond to up to 90 cues. They open doors, turn on lights, and pull off socks.

Inmate trainers earn 42 cents per hour, about what they’d make as a prison janitor. Dog program participants are not allowed to rack up infractions of any kind, from minor (untidy rooms or beds) to serious (gambling, tattooing), least of all major transgressions like fighting.

Inmate trainers earn 42 cents per hour, about what they’d make as a prison janitor. Dog program participants are not allowed to rack up infractions of any kind, from minor (untidy rooms or beds) to serious (gambling, tattooing), least of all major transgressions like fighting.

Aiden was born under an abandoned trailer on the Lummi Nation reservation in 2011, part of a feral dog pack that roams the reservation west of Bellingham. Today, he is a companion dog paired with a veteran suffering from severe PTSD.

Aiden was born under an abandoned trailer on the Lummi Nation reservation in 2011, part of a feral dog pack that roams the reservation west of Bellingham. Today, he is a companion dog paired with a veteran suffering from severe PTSD.

Wagging tails don’t just make inmates happier; they make them better able to rejoin society. Though no study has definitively proved it, all signs point to pet programs combating the bane of the correctional complex: recidivism. One Wisconsin program reported that of 68 released inmates who participated in the dog program, not one had returned to prison.

Inmate trainer Larry Gregory Jr. and collie Sally in class in the Cedar Creek visiting room, which is covered in cartoon murals.

Most of the dogs that do stints at Cedar Creek are headed
to military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Wagging tails don’t just make inmates happier; they make them better able to rejoin society. Though no study has definitively proved it, all signs point to pet programs combating the bane of the correctional complex: recidivism. One Wisconsin program reported that of 68 released inmates who participated in the dog program, not one had returned to prison.

Inmate trainer Larry Gregory Jr. and collie Sally in class in the Cedar Creek visiting room, which is covered in cartoon murals.

Andrew Rogers, or Flip, treats his retriever Zola after a lesson. Most dogs at Cedar Creek are purebred; the collies and Labradors descend from lineages better documented than those of the royal houses of Europe, bred for intelligence, health, and disposition.

The half dozen animals at Cedar Creek are rotated constantly to be trained outside the prison. The longer each stays, the more attached the inmate trainers become. And if the dogs stay in the prison too long, they can lose their ability to function in crowded public spaces like stores, sidewalks, theaters, and buses.

Aiden with Gregory in the two-man room they shared. Inmate trainers are housed in two-man rooms rather than bunks in the open dorms. They also have the freedom to exit the housing units at night—a dubious prize when it’s spitting cold rain at 3am and their dogs can’t decide whether they really want to do their business.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 11 to 20 percent of service members who did wartime tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. Service dogs help sufferers refocus their anxieties, break cycles of stress, and interact socially, but a single service dog represents an investment of up to $30,000 and hundreds of hours of training time.

The half dozen animals at Cedar Creek are rotated constantly to be trained outside the prison. The longer each stays, the more attached the inmate trainers become. And if the dogs stay in the prison too long, they can lose their ability to function in crowded public spaces like stores, sidewalks, theaters, and buses.

Aiden with Gregory in the two-man room they shared. Inmate trainers are housed in two-man rooms rather than bunks in the open dorms. They also have the freedom to exit the housing units at night—a dubious prize when it’s spitting cold rain at 3am and their dogs can’t decide whether they really want to do their business.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 11 to 20 percent of service members who did wartime tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. Service dogs help sufferers refocus their anxieties, break cycles of stress, and interact socially, but a single service dog represents an investment of up to $30,000 and hundreds of hours of training time.

Andrew Rogers, or Flip, treats his retriever Zola after a lesson. Most dogs at Cedar Creek are purebred; the collies and Labradors descend from lineages better documented than those of the royal houses of Europe, bred for intelligence, health, and disposition.

Aiden’s trainer, Larry Gregory Jr., was thrilled to see Aiden placed with a soldier; his still-living grandfather served in World War II. “I think the biggest thing is being able to give back,” says Gregory. “Give back to the veterans.”

Aiden’s trainer, Larry Gregory Jr., was thrilled to see Aiden placed with a soldier; his still-living grandfather served in World War II. “I think the biggest thing is being able to give back,” says Gregory. “Give back to the veterans.”