Photo courtesy of Dallas Pets Alive.
Dallas Pets Alive!, a local nonprofit that supports pet adoption and rescue, has partnered with the Texas Department of Juvenile Justice to provide temporary shelter dogs to teach young residents valuable life skills. We are working on a new initiative.
The new initiative “BARK'' is the first of its kind in the juvenile system. This not only benefits dogs and their owners in need of pet foster care, but also the young people they care for. The BARK program teaches perseverance, positive behavior, and responsibility by engaging youth in caring for and training temporary foster dogs.
“We receive so many calls for help from people who are in crisis and don’t want to give up their pets. When people are going through a crisis, they don’t want to let go of their best friend, and they do. We shouldn’t,” said the executive director and founder of Dallas Pets Alive!. He said. “DPA is all about collaboration and innovation, and (BARK) is a great example of that.”
BARK Coordinator Lisa Broussard says the collaboration with Dallas Pets Alive grew out of DPA's Positive Alternatives to Shelter Abandonment (PASS) program. PASS assists individuals who need temporary foster care for pets during times of crisis or transition.
In the BARK program, youth participants receive weekly virtual training sessions through GoodPup, another DPA partner program. Through these sessions, they will learn guidance on dog training techniques and provide an opportunity for youth to have their questions answered by expert dog trainers. The trauma-informed dogs, trained by Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) officers, participate in training classes led by Roman Gottfried, owner of Roman's Holistic Dog Training. These classes are in line with the philosophy of how TJJD staff work with youth to understand a dog's past trauma and take a compassionate approach to addressing behavioral issues. The emphasis is on
This training develops the philosophy of how TJJD staff work with youth, with an emphasis on understanding a dog's past trauma and using a compassionate approach to addressing behavioral issues. It is reflected.
“The advantage is that they have to come up with and do all the training themselves, with the guidance of a virtual trainer. They have to learn the skills,” said Animal Control Officer at Dallas Pets Alive. Vice President Sarah McGoldrick said.
