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Paws of Hope is a program that started in June of 2009 at the Sanders Estes Unit Correctional Center as a form of rehabilitation for offenders as well as a way to save the dogs and make them more adoptable. Management and Training Corporation (MTC) contracts the Facility through the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. MTC's main goal is to help reahbilitate Offenders for re-entry into society, so this is the perfect program for our Facility where all the Offenders will be going home soon.
The dogs in the program are from a no kill animal shelter, Happy Endings Dog Rescue and Camp Diggy Bones, and trained by the offenders and are well cared for. These dogs are able to be adopted by contacting us or the shelter. All dogs can be adopted for a small fee of $100.00 after the necessary application has been filled out. The dogs come with all their shots and are spayed/nuetered, potty trained and kennel trained plus do a lot of interesting tricks.
There are 40 Offenders that help train the dogs and we have a professional dog trainer, Wendy Palmer out of Burleson, that comes to the facility to teach the Offenders all of the basics and more. This is such a great program and we are happy to be able to utilize it. The Offenders take a lot of pride in the program and it gives them a chance to love something and feel like they can get away from it all for an instant when they are around the dogs. The dogs stay in the cell with their designated trainer, are around people 24/7 and have several "potty breaks" a day, plus an hour of outside time.
We are now in our eleventh session and now have a total of ten dogs. The new session began on July 6, 2012 and the dogs will graduate around the end of September. We are a non-profit organization.
MTC Sanders Estes Unit
Program Director -Lt. C. Chaplin (972) 366-3334
E-mail- christine.hogan@mtctrains.com
MTC website- www.mtctrains.com
Volunteer Trainer:
Wendy Palmer
E-mail- doghouse4me@earthlink.net
Camp Diggy Bones:
Owner: Gene Mason
E-mail-rescuealife@vzw.blackberry.net
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPS DONATE ITEMS TO ANYONE INVOLVED IN THIS PROGRAM!!!!
Please be patient as you navigate this site. There has already been quite a bit of interest in it and we are making changes and updating the site as often as we can. So please check back as things may change and more information come out.
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