Scotland : Thursday, 25 November 2010 (Local Time)
The first prison-based dog training scheme in the UK is being introduced at Polmont Young Offenders Institue near Falkirk.
Young male inmates will be paired with dogs with behavioral problems which need to be trained and rehabilitated in order to be rehomed.
Elizabeth Ormerod said the scheme had proven successful among prisoner in other countries.
She said it had reduced aggression, violence and self-harm among inmates.
Ms Ormerod is a vet who has helped introduce human-animal bond programmes in residential care facilities, sheltered housing, schools, psychiatric units and prisons.
She now chairs the Society for Companion Animal Studies, which is organising the scheme at Polmont.
It is Scotland’s largest young offenders instution, with more than 700 inmates.
The dog programme, being developed by the University of Stiring in associtation with the Scottish Prison Service and Dogs Trust, is aimed at changing behaviour among inmates there, and reducing reconviction rates.
Ms Ormerod said dogs from the Dog’s Trust animal shelter would be selected for training.
She said : “In other countries, they’ve found that if you pair a youth with behaviour problems with a dog with behavioral problems and demonstrate to the youth how to train the dog using praise and encouragement rather than punishment and force, then you can actually change the young offender’s own behaviour.”
Ms Ormerod told that the parallels between the dog and the inmates’ behaviour was key to its success.
“The person with behavioral problems manages the dog’s behaviour, sees a change in it and realise that they themselves can change,” she said.
She said there was also a positive outcome for the dogs, with adoption rates increasing among retained canines.
Story and Foto from : www.bbc.co.uk
