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By Sarah Haughey for The Examiner

Inmates at the Maple Street Jail are helping correct problem dogs’ behavior before the dogs are adopted, a therapeutic exercise that benefits the convicts and canines.

Through an innovative partnership between the Sheriff’s Department and the Peninsula Humane Society, the Transitioning Animals Into Loving Settings (TAILS) program takes men who are in custody for nonviolent crimes and turns them into dog trainers.

Members of the Sheriff’s Department had been looking into providing the 46 men who live full-time at the facility with something constructive to do during the day, Lt. Lisa Williams said. The facility already had a garden with some chickens, but one of the deputies suggested creating a dog training program that could be run at the county level with shelter dogs.

“We spoke with the Peninsula Humane Society, who was wonderful and receptive to the possibility,” Williams said. “This is just a wonderful program; it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

The purpose of the program is to match dogs that have questionable adoption potential with inmate volunteers who have been trained to care for and provide behavior modification to the animals.

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