INDIANAPOLIS —Paws and Think held a week-long Youth Canine Program at Warren Central High School beginning January 31. The program, Pups and Warriors (or PAWs), helped eight at-risk students at Warren Central who have been identified based on emotional, socio-economic, and behavior issues. The students will train shelter dogs in basic obedience skills and manners using positive training methods, and the counselors who work with these students each day will also participate in the program.
Children that are disadvantaged need positive experiences to recover and rehabilitate, similar to abandoned animals. More than 18,000 animals were surrendered to Indianapolis Animal Care Services in 2012, and in order to have the best chance for adoption, the animals need to engage possible owners and demonstrate a personable disposition, despite the environment inside the shelter. A dog that has had training through positive reinforcement will be more responsive and therefore, more adoptable.
Bringing the students together with the dogs in a professionally-led, goal-oriented training program provides each with a positive, rewarding, and life-changing experience.
Dogs in the program are in need of homes, currently placed at Casa del Toro Pit Bull rescue who pulls their dogs from Indianapolis Animal Care Services, and available for adoption. The dogs are selected following extensive temperament testing to ensure that they are not aggressive. Program dogs and the participating youth will receive a graduation certificate indicating their participation, and intended outcomes for the dogs following the training program are an increased adoption rate and reduced euthanasia rate.
Paws & Think is a volunteer-led non-profit dedicated to improving lives through the power of the human-dog connection. Paws & Think partners with schools, health care facilities, the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, humane societies/shelters and other organizations to improve the quality of life for at-risk youth, seniors, people with disabilities/special needs and others who can benefit from interacting with the dogs in its programs. The organization was incorporated as Paws and Think, Inc. in 2001.
To learn more about Paws & Think, please visit the organization’s website at www.pawsandthink.org.
