Founder and President of Puppies Behind Bars

What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do.

Name: Gloria Gilbert Stoga
Age: 55
Job: Founder and President, Puppies Behind Bars

What is Puppies Behind Bars?
It's a non-profit organization that trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement.

How do you go about that?
We bring puppies into prison when they're eight weeks of age, then we go in one day a week to teach the inmate how to care for the dogs and train them in commands.

How did this program start?
A vet in Florida, Dr. Thomas Lane, came up with the first guide dog prison program in 1990. I read about it and thought it was a terrific idea. So in 1997, after researching what he did, I came up with my own variation of the idea. It took seven months to get the program going, and Mrs. Libby Pataki, who was the governor's wife, helped me get approval in Albany, New York.

Why did you feel there was a need for the program, beyond what Dr. Thomas was doing?
At that time, it was difficult to find families who would raise guide dogs. Asking a family to raise a puppy for about 19 months and then give it up is a lot to ask. When there were more stay-at-home spouses it was easier, but with most two-income couples, it's hard to raise a dog that's not your pet. I just thought that it made sense to give prison inmates an opportunity to contribute to society, even when they were incarcerated.


How are the puppies chosen for the program?
We work with particular breeders and we choose them based on their level of confidence.

What about the inmates?
We have a set of criteria, which includes nature of crime, length of time in sentence, length of time they've been in prison, mental health record, disciplinary record, things like that. And if they pass that paper screening process (prisons can add their own criteria if they want), then the Puppies Behind Bars staff interviews each inmate individually.

How many prisons do you work with?
Six within New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Do you get a lot of interest in the program at the prisons?
Yeah, most people are very, very supportive of it. And sometimes prisoners train dogs more than once.

Do formerly incarcerated trainers end up working in the dog business after serving time?
Yes, two former raisers work for us. Several are working with dogs in grooming, pet shops, etc.

What's your favorite thing about your job?
Seeing the transformation of the inmates with the dogs, and then when the dogs go to wounded soldiers, seeing the transformation of the soldiers.

How do you decide which soldiers get your dogs?
We have an application. The soldiers apply and we interview them and speak to their references. We make sure the service dog will be able to live the life that's necessary to help the soldiers heal, while also making sure the dog itself has a very high quality of life.

Do you ever form attachments to the puppies in your program?
Oh yes. I love all the dogs, I cry sometimes when they leave.

Do you still get to keep in touch?
If the recipients of the dogs choose to stay in touch we love it when they do, but it's up to them.

Tags: puppies behind bars, PuppiesBehindBars