Dr. Joan K. Dalton, M.S.T., Executive Director of Project Pooch. (USA) who was visiting Japan as the main speaker for the Live Love Animals International Symposium ‘Rescuing Children and Animals − Rehabilitation Methods Involving Dogs’ (organized by NPO Knots) was invited to the Hyogo Prefecture Animal Well-being Center to give a talk on the introduction of Project Pooch and its results.

Mr. Tatsuda, Director of the Center, made a speech and provided an introduction to Dr. Dalton before she gave her talk.

Then, Dr. Dalton introduced the program run by Project Pooch. (an organization which advises on the most effective programs to treat or prevent juvenile delinquency). Dr. Dalton manages Project Pooch from the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. ‘POOCH’ means ‘progress and change with dogs’.

Not all the young offenders at the correctional facility take part in the program. Those wanting to participate raise their hand and are then screened during an interview. Only those who meet all the criteria, (such as having no past record for animal abuse, etc.) can join the program. Currently there are 11 youths participating.
Participants are able to choose their partner dog themselves by viewing a video showing a number of dogs from local shelters, etc. After that, they are responsible for their dog’s daily care and provide training until they find a new home in the local community.

Thanks to the program, young people can learn about taking responsibility. They also come to recognize that they are needed and, by developing patience, the positive influences on their behavior and emotion is readily apparent. Furthermore, because the participants learn certain skills that are normally only used by animal professionals, some go on to take up work at pet shops after graduating.

The program originally began with two youths who, to this day, still occasionally visit Project Pooch to give advice to the youngsters following on in their steps.

Dr. Dalton’s talk included the very moving story about one particular boy who had been abandoned by his parents. No visitors ever came to see him and he never received letters from home. However, one day he was sent an important mail enclosing a ‘Certificate of Petcare Animal Technician’ recognizing skills he had learned during Project Pooch). The mail was addressed to the boy directly and, as he had never received post in his life, he was very emotional about it. Normally all post is sent to the facility, but Dr. Dalton requested specially that it be sent to the boy directly. Such levels of consideration are undoubtedly equally important to the process of rehabilitating juvenile offenders.

The exceptional record of ‘zero repeat offenders’ from among the program graduates seems to be attributable to a combination of the efforts made by the support staff, the dogs from the shelters, the carefully crafted program content, and the personality of Dr. Dalton herself.

72 people from many different prefectures came to hear the talk, and all listened very attentively. The questions and answers time was very lively and went into extra time. Ultimately, a very valuable time together was shared by all.

It will be difficult to employ this kind of program in Japan in the immediate future. However, we feel that in this complex and busy age, activities that put to use the beneficial effects of the human to animal relationships will be more and more necessary.