Prisoners' Best Friend
12/14/2015
ActivePaper Archive
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Prisoners’ Best Friend Program reforms canines, criminals BY ANTHONY GOTTSCHLICH [email protected]
WILLIAM JOHNSON OF Urbana, a London Correctional Institute inmate, bonds with his dog, Feeona. Purebred Rescue Organization, based in Bellbrook, rescues dogs and sends them behind bars for training, then finds homes for them. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
1/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
RON ALVEY/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
JOE BOXER (left to right), Meesha and Hooch are dogs owned by Debra and Russell Urzi of Springboro. Two of the animals, Joe and Hooch, were adopted from the Purebred Rescue Organization. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS CHARLES SEE OF Dayton, a London Correctional Institute inmate, trains Kahn. See has trained dozens of dogs since 1998 in two state prisons http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
2/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
BELLBROOK — After living in a trash bin, heavy drug use and a two-month stint in a state penitentiary, Murray is ready for the easy life. A belly full of biscuits and a lot o’ lovin’ would do. At age 3, this 63-pound fawn boxer is clean and healthy now, free of the disease and starvation that left him gaunt, saggy and near death just months ago. A steady course of heartworm injections and a special diet took care of that. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS LONDON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE inmate David Boots pets Britzee, a Labrador retriever that he trains.
He slobbers a little, most boxers do; but Murray has a pleasant demeanor, impeccable manners and he’s potty trained to boot — thanks to a bunch of criminals trying to make the most of their time behind bars.
He’s also for sale. This sad-eyed pooch with the hardscrabble background carries a $200 price tag, shots and an emasculating procedure included. “He is a gorgeous boxer boy,” said Penny Barkley, assistant director of the Bellbrookbased Purebred Rescue Organization of Ohio Inc. Purebred is a nonprofit group formed in 2002 that rescues dogs (purebreds, mostly), trains them with the help of prisoners in Chillicothe and London, Ohio, and finds them homes throughout the state. “Ninety percent of our dogs go to our cell-dog program first, where inmates handle the dogs and train them for six to eight weeks,” said Barkley, who owns two boxers, Danny and Jenna. “Once they leave prison, they’re available for adoption.” It’s their time behind bars that prepares Purebred’s dogs for the outside world, Barkley said, where they learn manners from the most behaviorally-challenged elements of society. It is there where they learn to cohabitate with humans without staining rugs, jumping on furniture and being otherwise pesky, unruly pets in general. In return, they also teach the prisoners a thing or two. http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
3/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Four-legged cellmates Two-thousand convicts — rapists, murderers, robbers and miscreants of every ilk — crowd the 80-year-old confines of the London Correctional Institution in Madison County. But only a lucky dozen have a dog for a cellmate. One of them is Dayton native and Dunbar High School graduate Charles F. See, 30, state of Ohio inmate No. 337710. He’s a large fellow with short, thinning red hair and a mustache. Imprisoned in 1996 for robbery, See has trained dozens of dogs since 1998 in two state prisons, first in Warren County and now here in London. “Kahn,” a 7-month-old Shiba Inu, a small Japanese purebred that looks like a cross between a red fox and a Pomeranian, is See’s cellmate these days. He came to See’s cell five weeks ago shy and scared, the victim of an abusive owner. “He’s coming out of it a little each day,” said See, standing by the door to his 5-by-10 cell, which is a cubicle, really. The only bars here are the small cage that houses Kahn when See’s at chow hall or in the showers. A single cot and foot locker fill out the rest of the cell. “The dogs do different for each one of us,” See said. “For me, the dogs teach you a lot of responsibility.” See had his share of trouble the first two years of his sentence, scuffles with inmates, bad attitudes and so forth, but “when the dogs came, all that ended,” he said. No more scraps in the prison yard. No more shoving matches, arguments, mouthing off to guards or other misbehavior, either. Get out of line and you could be bounced from the program, your dog days over. But the dog still needs you, See said, and he, as well as other prisoners, can’t stomach the thought of leaving their four-legged friends behind. “The dogs teach you that,” See said. “It teaches you that someone needs you.” Some inmates, including himself, haven’t felt that before, he said. “On top of that, someone’s going to get this good dog,” See added. “You can take a dog that’s abused and scared and no one wants him; now he’s a great pet. And a lot of that comes back to us, a lot of people come back and give you feedback on (how the dog’s doing), so that feels pretty good.” http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
4/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
At any given time, Purebred typically has six dogs in London’s cell-dog program, said Sonya Holcomb, a corrections program specialist who runs the program. Circle Tail Inc., a Cincinnati rescue group that provides trained dogs to people with disabilities, contributes the rest, she said. The dogs stay in training for six to eight weeks, depending on their needs, how anxious their prospective owners are (if they have any) and their popularity. Kahn, for example, might not stick around for much longer. “He’s a $2,000 dog on the street,” Holcomb said. Holcomb ran a similar program at the Madison Correctional Institution across the street from the London prison before joining London five months ago. She said she has a waiting list two-years long of prisoners wanting to join the cell-dog program. A prisoner must have at least two years left in his sentence and at least a year of good behavior under his belt to be eligible, she said. “This has got to be their main objective, taking care of these dogs,” she said. London is a Level 1 and Level 2, or minimum- and medium-, security facility and many of the hardest-core criminals here have been doing time for decades, Holcomb noted. Some are involved in the cell-dog program. Case in point: Leonard James Fugate of Dayton. Fugate, 49 in July, was convicted in 1980 of murdering a Wright State University associate professor and a Kettering couple who owned the East Dayton apartment building where Fugate lived. According to a 1983 Dayton Daily News story, Fugate slit the professor’s throat and dumped the body in a ravine. He stabbed the apartment owner more than 50 times in the chest and cut off a finger to remove a ring. The man’s wife was found bound and gagged, stabbed more than 30 times and shot once above the left eye. These days Leonard Fugate coaches a canine in the finer points of appropriate animal behavior. He doesn’t train Purebred’s dogs, however. The prisoners learn their training methods from Purebred volunteers, books and a veterinarian from Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine who visits the prison once a month, Holcomb said. The dogs leave the clink with an array of new skills under their collars: sit, down, stay and http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
5/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
shake, for example. They can also craft a spoon into a shiv and bench-press 300 pounds. (OK, not really.) See, who is up for parole in 2006 and plans on getting a dog when he’s out, keeps a scrapbook of photos of the dogs he’s trained. He said it’s not really hard to see the dogs go. “Sometimes you get to like others better, but you always know one’s coming right behind it,” he said. Boxers adopted Russell and Debra Urzi of Springboro appreciate what prison did for the two boxers they adopted from Purebred last year. The couple wanted dogs already trained that would be good with children and well-behaved in the house. They didn’t want to go to a breeder. “The good thing about Purebred is you can save a dog and at the same time get what you want,” said Debra Urzi, who named the dogs “Joe Boxer” and “Hooch.” While there are dozens of dog rescue organizations in Ohio — the Urzis adopted a third boxer, “Meesha,” from Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue — Barkley said she and friends Lori Blackburn, Bevala Manning and Mary Aleshire started Purebred two years ago “because of the overwhelming need of purebreds needing homes.” They also wanted to serve the Dayton area, she said. “We were previously with Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue and spun off to help a larger variety of dogs that needed our help,” Barkley said. Purebred and its 25 volunteers typically handle about 25 dogs, including Labrador retrievers, Great Danes and Pomeranians, at a time, Barkley said. She said the group found homes for 153 dogs last year, an 80 percent jump from the 85 dogs it placed in 2003. That’s welcome news to local animal shelter operators who struggle with space, funding and the painful job of euthanizing unwanted dogs. The Greene County Animal Shelter, for example, drops its adoption fee to a buck a dog for rescue groups. “It’s better in the long run for everybody involved if the animal can find a home,” shelter manager Danny Reynolds said. The majority of Purebred’s dogs last year, or 57 percent, came to the group through “owner surrender” — meaning the owner could no longer keep the dog for one reason or another, http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
6/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Barkley said. “The No. 1 reason is moving, then comes divorce, death of owner and children on the way,” she said. More than a third, or 37 percent in 2003, were from “rescuefriendly” animal shelters in Clark, Greene and Miami counties that ask for the group’s help. Six percent came in as strays and were unclaimed. Barkley said the average cost to Purebred is about $185 per dog, which pays for medical expenses — each dog is spayed or neutered — food, collars, leashes and other items. The $200 adoption fee covers the expenses and allows a little extra for dogs with major health problems, she said. The organization also relies on donations. Earlier this year, a group of senior Wright State University business students raised funds for Purebred in a class project for their Effective Leadership Management course. The six students — Melissa Andrews, Rob Ernst, Jessica Huff, Laura Nelson, Erin Steck and Alyson Satchell — spent eight weeks selling candy and candles and soliciting businesses, family, friends and their communities for donations. In the end, the students donated 3,000 pounds of dog food to Purebred, numerous leashes, a 1989 Chevy conversion van the organization uses to transport the dogs around town and to prison and back, and other supplies. “It was tough in the beginning because we were running into some roadblocks,” said Erin Steck, who graduated June 12 with a degree in marketing and management. “Grocery stores wouldn’t give us any food, even the damaged food, because they had contracts where they had to give it back” or because the students weren’t registered as a charity. “It was hard in the beginning, but it was really nice to be able to present them with all the the things we did at the end.” The students earned an A on their project, Steck said. “They should have,” said Barkley, smiling. “They really helped us a lot.” As for Murray, the lush life lies ahead.
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
7/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
“Murray is in a foster home now and I suspect they will be adopting him,” Barkley said. For more information about Purebred Rescue Organization — or to see if Murray is still available — email Barkley at [email protected]. or visit www.purebredrescueorganization. com. Contact Anthony Gottschlich at 225-7408.
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
8/8
ActivePaper Archive
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Prisoners’ Best Friend Program reforms canines, criminals BY ANTHONY GOTTSCHLICH [email protected]
WILLIAM JOHNSON OF Urbana, a London Correctional Institute inmate, bonds with his dog, Feeona. Purebred Rescue Organization, based in Bellbrook, rescues dogs and sends them behind bars for training, then finds homes for them. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
1/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
RON ALVEY/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
JOE BOXER (left to right), Meesha and Hooch are dogs owned by Debra and Russell Urzi of Springboro. Two of the animals, Joe and Hooch, were adopted from the Purebred Rescue Organization. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS CHARLES SEE OF Dayton, a London Correctional Institute inmate, trains Kahn. See has trained dozens of dogs since 1998 in two state prisons http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
2/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
BELLBROOK — After living in a trash bin, heavy drug use and a two-month stint in a state penitentiary, Murray is ready for the easy life. A belly full of biscuits and a lot o’ lovin’ would do. At age 3, this 63-pound fawn boxer is clean and healthy now, free of the disease and starvation that left him gaunt, saggy and near death just months ago. A steady course of heartworm injections and a special diet took care of that. JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS LONDON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE inmate David Boots pets Britzee, a Labrador retriever that he trains.
He slobbers a little, most boxers do; but Murray has a pleasant demeanor, impeccable manners and he’s potty trained to boot — thanks to a bunch of criminals trying to make the most of their time behind bars.
He’s also for sale. This sad-eyed pooch with the hardscrabble background carries a $200 price tag, shots and an emasculating procedure included. “He is a gorgeous boxer boy,” said Penny Barkley, assistant director of the Bellbrookbased Purebred Rescue Organization of Ohio Inc. Purebred is a nonprofit group formed in 2002 that rescues dogs (purebreds, mostly), trains them with the help of prisoners in Chillicothe and London, Ohio, and finds them homes throughout the state. “Ninety percent of our dogs go to our cell-dog program first, where inmates handle the dogs and train them for six to eight weeks,” said Barkley, who owns two boxers, Danny and Jenna. “Once they leave prison, they’re available for adoption.” It’s their time behind bars that prepares Purebred’s dogs for the outside world, Barkley said, where they learn manners from the most behaviorally-challenged elements of society. It is there where they learn to cohabitate with humans without staining rugs, jumping on furniture and being otherwise pesky, unruly pets in general. In return, they also teach the prisoners a thing or two. http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
3/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Four-legged cellmates Two-thousand convicts — rapists, murderers, robbers and miscreants of every ilk — crowd the 80-year-old confines of the London Correctional Institution in Madison County. But only a lucky dozen have a dog for a cellmate. One of them is Dayton native and Dunbar High School graduate Charles F. See, 30, state of Ohio inmate No. 337710. He’s a large fellow with short, thinning red hair and a mustache. Imprisoned in 1996 for robbery, See has trained dozens of dogs since 1998 in two state prisons, first in Warren County and now here in London. “Kahn,” a 7-month-old Shiba Inu, a small Japanese purebred that looks like a cross between a red fox and a Pomeranian, is See’s cellmate these days. He came to See’s cell five weeks ago shy and scared, the victim of an abusive owner. “He’s coming out of it a little each day,” said See, standing by the door to his 5-by-10 cell, which is a cubicle, really. The only bars here are the small cage that houses Kahn when See’s at chow hall or in the showers. A single cot and foot locker fill out the rest of the cell. “The dogs do different for each one of us,” See said. “For me, the dogs teach you a lot of responsibility.” See had his share of trouble the first two years of his sentence, scuffles with inmates, bad attitudes and so forth, but “when the dogs came, all that ended,” he said. No more scraps in the prison yard. No more shoving matches, arguments, mouthing off to guards or other misbehavior, either. Get out of line and you could be bounced from the program, your dog days over. But the dog still needs you, See said, and he, as well as other prisoners, can’t stomach the thought of leaving their four-legged friends behind. “The dogs teach you that,” See said. “It teaches you that someone needs you.” Some inmates, including himself, haven’t felt that before, he said. “On top of that, someone’s going to get this good dog,” See added. “You can take a dog that’s abused and scared and no one wants him; now he’s a great pet. And a lot of that comes back to us, a lot of people come back and give you feedback on (how the dog’s doing), so that feels pretty good.” http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
4/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
At any given time, Purebred typically has six dogs in London’s cell-dog program, said Sonya Holcomb, a corrections program specialist who runs the program. Circle Tail Inc., a Cincinnati rescue group that provides trained dogs to people with disabilities, contributes the rest, she said. The dogs stay in training for six to eight weeks, depending on their needs, how anxious their prospective owners are (if they have any) and their popularity. Kahn, for example, might not stick around for much longer. “He’s a $2,000 dog on the street,” Holcomb said. Holcomb ran a similar program at the Madison Correctional Institution across the street from the London prison before joining London five months ago. She said she has a waiting list two-years long of prisoners wanting to join the cell-dog program. A prisoner must have at least two years left in his sentence and at least a year of good behavior under his belt to be eligible, she said. “This has got to be their main objective, taking care of these dogs,” she said. London is a Level 1 and Level 2, or minimum- and medium-, security facility and many of the hardest-core criminals here have been doing time for decades, Holcomb noted. Some are involved in the cell-dog program. Case in point: Leonard James Fugate of Dayton. Fugate, 49 in July, was convicted in 1980 of murdering a Wright State University associate professor and a Kettering couple who owned the East Dayton apartment building where Fugate lived. According to a 1983 Dayton Daily News story, Fugate slit the professor’s throat and dumped the body in a ravine. He stabbed the apartment owner more than 50 times in the chest and cut off a finger to remove a ring. The man’s wife was found bound and gagged, stabbed more than 30 times and shot once above the left eye. These days Leonard Fugate coaches a canine in the finer points of appropriate animal behavior. He doesn’t train Purebred’s dogs, however. The prisoners learn their training methods from Purebred volunteers, books and a veterinarian from Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine who visits the prison once a month, Holcomb said. The dogs leave the clink with an array of new skills under their collars: sit, down, stay and http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
5/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
shake, for example. They can also craft a spoon into a shiv and bench-press 300 pounds. (OK, not really.) See, who is up for parole in 2006 and plans on getting a dog when he’s out, keeps a scrapbook of photos of the dogs he’s trained. He said it’s not really hard to see the dogs go. “Sometimes you get to like others better, but you always know one’s coming right behind it,” he said. Boxers adopted Russell and Debra Urzi of Springboro appreciate what prison did for the two boxers they adopted from Purebred last year. The couple wanted dogs already trained that would be good with children and well-behaved in the house. They didn’t want to go to a breeder. “The good thing about Purebred is you can save a dog and at the same time get what you want,” said Debra Urzi, who named the dogs “Joe Boxer” and “Hooch.” While there are dozens of dog rescue organizations in Ohio — the Urzis adopted a third boxer, “Meesha,” from Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue — Barkley said she and friends Lori Blackburn, Bevala Manning and Mary Aleshire started Purebred two years ago “because of the overwhelming need of purebreds needing homes.” They also wanted to serve the Dayton area, she said. “We were previously with Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue and spun off to help a larger variety of dogs that needed our help,” Barkley said. Purebred and its 25 volunteers typically handle about 25 dogs, including Labrador retrievers, Great Danes and Pomeranians, at a time, Barkley said. She said the group found homes for 153 dogs last year, an 80 percent jump from the 85 dogs it placed in 2003. That’s welcome news to local animal shelter operators who struggle with space, funding and the painful job of euthanizing unwanted dogs. The Greene County Animal Shelter, for example, drops its adoption fee to a buck a dog for rescue groups. “It’s better in the long run for everybody involved if the animal can find a home,” shelter manager Danny Reynolds said. The majority of Purebred’s dogs last year, or 57 percent, came to the group through “owner surrender” — meaning the owner could no longer keep the dog for one reason or another, http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
6/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
Barkley said. “The No. 1 reason is moving, then comes divorce, death of owner and children on the way,” she said. More than a third, or 37 percent in 2003, were from “rescuefriendly” animal shelters in Clark, Greene and Miami counties that ask for the group’s help. Six percent came in as strays and were unclaimed. Barkley said the average cost to Purebred is about $185 per dog, which pays for medical expenses — each dog is spayed or neutered — food, collars, leashes and other items. The $200 adoption fee covers the expenses and allows a little extra for dogs with major health problems, she said. The organization also relies on donations. Earlier this year, a group of senior Wright State University business students raised funds for Purebred in a class project for their Effective Leadership Management course. The six students — Melissa Andrews, Rob Ernst, Jessica Huff, Laura Nelson, Erin Steck and Alyson Satchell — spent eight weeks selling candy and candles and soliciting businesses, family, friends and their communities for donations. In the end, the students donated 3,000 pounds of dog food to Purebred, numerous leashes, a 1989 Chevy conversion van the organization uses to transport the dogs around town and to prison and back, and other supplies. “It was tough in the beginning because we were running into some roadblocks,” said Erin Steck, who graduated June 12 with a degree in marketing and management. “Grocery stores wouldn’t give us any food, even the damaged food, because they had contracts where they had to give it back” or because the students weren’t registered as a charity. “It was hard in the beginning, but it was really nice to be able to present them with all the the things we did at the end.” The students earned an A on their project, Steck said. “They should have,” said Barkley, smiling. “They really helped us a lot.” As for Murray, the lush life lies ahead.
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
7/8
12/14/2015
Prisoners? Best Friend - Dayton Daily News, 2004-06-20
“Murray is in a foster home now and I suspect they will be adopting him,” Barkley said. For more information about Purebred Rescue Organization — or to see if Murray is still available — email Barkley at [email protected]. or visit www.purebredrescueorganization. com. Contact Anthony Gottschlich at 225-7408.
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/cox/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=DDN%2F2004%2F06%2F20&id=Ar00102&sk=BF137AE3
8/8
