About 30 volunteers, adoptive parents, a veterinarian and a veterinarian technician were invited to Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) along with five very eager dogs for the second annual “CBCC Reunion” on Sept. 26.
The reunion is a way of reuniting the incarcerated dog handlers with the dogs they trained and were adopted out into the community, and was the idea of Barb Brabant and Mel Marshall of WAG and Tanja Cain and Michelle Klepps of CBCC.
Dogs in the program are paired with the incarcerated trainers and are with them 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The trainers have actively worked with many dogs throughout the years, and the number of dogs they take can easily double when litters of puppies are given to WAG. Program Coordinator Brabant said, “up to five puppies at a time can be in a cell with two trainers. It can make for a long night and a big mess in the morning.”
Anxious and eager, the dogs were led into the visiting room where their trainers were already on their knees waiting for them with open arms.
Brabant, who started the program March 2012, is thrilled that CBCC has allowed the reunion event. “The trainers pour their hearts and souls into these dogs. They not only train them in basic obedience but show them love and compassion,” she said. Many of the dog handlers state that this is the first time in their lives they have felt or have given these kind of feelings.
The event not only allows the trainers to be reunited with their dogs but enables them to meet the dogs’ new parents and gives the parents the chance to see who turned their dog’s life around.
Heartbreaking though it can be to relinquish a dog just as it’s turned around, the trainers are given a new dog that needs them just as much as the last one. At one point, the trainers were allowed to give testimonials of their experiences. William Friedrichs, a trainer for the past four years who has handled and trained some of the most difficult dogs, stated, “This is a great program. We get these dogs, who aren’t really unlike us… they made some mistakes. To be able to take a dog that no one wants, that’s unfit for society, and work with them and see them become part of someone’s family… that’s what makes this program so rewarding. If a broken dog can come in and get rehabilitated, it parallels the goals for which we’re striving.”
Beyond the tail-wagging reunion, seven trainers were awarded certificates for passing Grisha Stewart’s “Behavior Adjustment Training” test: the training program WAG implements. Stewart flew from Alaska to conduct the rigorous two-day test.
Unit Supervisor Michelle Klepps said, “I never saw a group of men study that hard – they even had notes posted above their bunk to study at night.”
Stewart has only certified 120 people into her program, worldwide, since 2010. After her visit to CBCC, it is now 128, including Brabant who also took/passed the test.
All seven trainers passed, six scoring in the 90th percentile and one scoring 100 percent. “I was unbelievably proud as this is an incredibly hard test,” stated Brabant. “It gives the trainers something to fall back on when they get out.” Even trainers with no chance of release still took the test and scored exceptionally well. “I know (the high scores are because) they care so much about the dogs and being in the program, plus it gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride.”
To learn more about the CBCC program or WAG, Brabant will be at the ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday, Oct. 28, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at 751 McComb Road, Sequim, for the unveiling of the new WAG facility in the location of the former McComb nursery. Directors and volunteers will be on hand to give tours, answer questions, tour the Memorial Garden, and show dogs available for adoption.
For more information, visit http://www.wagsequimwa.org.
