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Pawsitive Works seeks
shelter partner
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July 18, 2011 |
By Kathryn Star Heart
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Rhonda
Hammerslough and Karen Schumacher |
Pawsitive Works, the program that pairs at-risk
youth with shelter dogs, is ironically in need
of dogs for the Bonners ferry sessions. With a
solid record of two successful years of
providing classes for Sandpoint and one year for
Coeur d’Alene behind them, this innovative
program is seeking a shelter partner in order to
continue serving its mission in Bonners Ferry.
According to Karen Schumacher, Executive
Director and founder of the Pawsitive Works
program, animal shelters in Coeur d’Alene,
Spokane and Sandpoint have bought in to the
concept of pairing probationary youth with dogs
in need of training and socialization for the
duration of the five week training program, but
the shelters in Bonners Ferry are not currently
available to provide the dogs necessary for the
program to operate.
“We’d be happy to work with any animal rescue
organization,” commented Rhonda Hamerslough,
Program Administrator and Research Coordinator.
“Pawsitive Works has one goal: to get the
program in Bonners Ferry in order to help the
dogs and probationary youth get together.”
With that idea in mind, Pawsitive Works is
committed to providing a participating shelter
with marketing materials, fund raising
participation and community awareness efforts as
well as information needed for submitting
grants. These things help in order to make the
program viable for any local shelter.
“We’re only talking about four dogs for five
weeks,” said Karen. “Trained and socialized dogs
are more desirable and more easily adoptable.”
Rhonda pointed out that several Boundary County
youth programs, including Juvenile Probation and
Boulder Creek Academy, are in line to
participate in the program.
The pilot program, which operated in
collaboration with Second Chance Animal Adoption
two years ago, had a 100% successful adoption
rate for the dogs that were trained and
socialized by the teen trainers under Karen’s
supervision. The second year of the program,
which ran in collaboration with Panhandle Animal
Shelter in Bonner County, also had a 100%
adoption rate for the shelter dogs. All the dogs
were adopted during the five week program and
were allowed by the adoptive families to finish
the five week program before entering their new
homes.
Not only does Pawsitive Works help shelter dogs
become more adoptable but the at-risk youth
involved in the program benefit as well.
According to Pawsitive Works literature, “the
program helps struggling youth identify and
modify damaging behavior patterns through the
care and training of shelter dogs. Each youth is
paired with a dog that they train three times a
week for five weeks.. Youth are guided through a
professionally developed, standardized
curriculum in which they learn about dog body
language, positive reinforcement training
techniques and ways to address difficult
behaviors. The youth practice patience,
tolerance, communication and concentration when
working with the dogs. A strong bond and
relationship is formed that elicits empathy in
the youth. Helping them recognize how to feel
empathy and have an increased self-concept is
the key to helping them become productive
members of society. The Human-Animal bond
facilitates astonishing changes for the youth
and the dogs.”
Pawsitive Works, an evidence-based program, uses
standardized tools such as pre/post testing to
provide quantitative measurements of behavior
change.
“The program is already operating in other
communities but is jeopardized in Bonners Ferry
because one shelter is no longer taking in dogs
and the other shelter has denied us access to
the dogs,” stressed Karen. “We have a program
with the funding and the youth but no dogs. A
huge part of our mission is to help the dogs in
the shelters. Our motto is “Shaping both ends of
the leash” and we have to have the other end,
the dogs, to make this happen.”
“We are reaching our arms out to the community,”
concluded Rhonda. This is a program that can
help kids and dogs. We just need ideas for how
to get this program running in this county.”
Pawsitive Works can be contacted at 208-946-3883
or via email at
Karen@pawsitiveworks.com or
Rhonda@pawsitiveworks.com. Visit the
Pawsitive Works website at
www.pawsitiveworks.com for more information. |
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© 2011, Kathryn Star Heart |
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