May 09, 2008
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - One day, the six dogs will do amazing things. They
will load laundry in washing machines and pull it out of dryers. They
will perform simple banking transactions.
They will even be able to open the refrigerator on command, select
a cold beer - yes, just like that dream-come-true TV commercial - and
bring it to their grateful owner.
For now, though, the dogs are locked in the Camp Lejeune brig. And
so are the young Marines who are training the dogs, which will
eventually be donated to Marines badly wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan
to help them regain some independence.
Civilian prisoners have been used for the labor-intensive task of
training service dogs to help disabled owners since 1981. The new
program at Lejeune is believed to be the first in a military prison.
Base officials said they were willing to do it because the dogs will
help disabled Marines, and because studies have shown that working with
dogs helps rehabilitate prisoners, calming them and improving their
attitudes.
Prisoners in the program said in interviews that the dogs turned
days of tedium into lives with focus, allowed them to contribute at
least a little to the country they let down, and even given them back
self-respect they left outside.
"I'd still be doing laundry and anything I could to keep my mind
from dwelling on the past," said Mark, a compact 23-year-old who is
halfway through a sentence of about two years. (Under the rules for
interviews in the brig, prisoners could give only their first names and
ages and weren't allowed to name their offenses).
As Mark talked, Dixon, a stocky English Labrador retriever that he
and another Marine are helping train, lay calmly at his feet.
"People don't give them the respect they deserve," Mark said. "They
think they're stupid, but dogs can really do some great things."
When he gets out, Mark said, he has decided he wants to try for a job training dogs.
A couple of bunks down, Chris, 28, and Gene, 23, sat with dark-
haired Roxy, the star pupil. She was the youngest of the six dogs, just
10 months old, but was ahead of all the others in learning the early
lessons.
Roxy will leave the brig before Gene, who has three years to go, but after Chris, who is down to just seven months.
Gene said parting with her would probably be harder on him than Chris because he gets attached to animals easily.
Chris agreed.
"The good thing is that Roxy will go on to help someone," he said.
"Someone I know, most likely, because the Marines are a pretty tight
community."
Rick Hairston, who owns a Wilmington, N.C., company called Carolina
Canines that trains service dogs for civilians, proposed the training
program to Lejeune leaders. He said that he hopes it will become a
model for military prisons around the country, and that it will help
meet at least part of the huge need for service dogs among the
thousands of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 11 prisoners picked for the program have only been in it a few
weeks, and weren't problem inmates before, but they clearly are better
behaved, said Warrant Officer John Nolan, the second in command at the
brig.
More than 100 prisoners wanted to sign up for the program, he said.
A social worker helped screen the best choices. Those with discipline
problems or major offenses were kept out.
When the dogs are ready, they will have learned more than 70 tasks,
from "handling" laundry to pulling their owners' wheelchairs around and
switching lights on and off.
In some cases, the owners will literally lean on the dogs, relying
on them to help with their balance as they do things such as get in or
out of a wheelchair or climb steps.