GRAFTON, Ohio — They have become the most recognized and respected faces, and their population swells to 70 on any given day.
News 5 was allowed access inside the Grafton Correctional Institution to capture the hand-off between an incarcerated adult training a service dog and the family receiving that dog.
"You can’t help but be in love with having the animal next to you," said Seth Kafoure, an incarcerated adult and dog trainer through the WAGS 4 Kids program. "It brings the stress level down, and it helps you through your day quite a bit."
For the past several months, Kafoure helped train Tara, which meant keeping her by his side all day and night.
"It’s pretty humbling," he added. "We kind of polish up her basic commands: sit, stay down, come, heel."
"They give their lives to these guys, and they’re with these dogs 24/7," Warden Keith Foley said. "They eat with them, they sleep with them and spend their whole days with these dogs. It’s a lot of companionship."
We're airing a story about the growing population of prison dogs (that are trained) at Grafton Correctional Institution.
— Clay LePard (@ClayLePard) May 30, 2023
Please enjoy a video of every time one of the dogs said hello to our camera.
10/10 to Duke, Xander, Penny, Tara, Wyatt, Pixie, Greta and Berlin. @dog_rates pic.twitter.com/Ed01Az69aj
Josh Allender is on the other side now. After being incarcerated, he now helps train inmates to become trainers for the next generation of service dogs through the nonprofit WAGS 4 Kids.
"I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life, and I can honestly say now I’ve done a lot more good than bad," said Allender, the director of canine training and family services. "[The incarcerated adults] can make a difference and change the way people look at them."
The nonprofit is just one of several programs involving dog training on the prison's campuses.
"The fact we get to help our community while we’re in here," Kafoure said. "Those [memories and lessons] are things we’ll take with us after we’ve left here."
News 5 watched as Tara left the prison with the Goodwin family to help with their 6-year-old son Parker, who has autistic tendencies.
Because of the pandemic, that hand-off was the first time in years that an inmate at Grafton could meet the family and be there to say goodbye to their service dog.
"I could not have a time to train a service dog, so the fact they dedicate the time to do it means a lot," mother Amanda Susalla said. "We appreciate it a lot. It’s definitely going to be helpful."
"It touches your heart in a way you can’t imagine," Foley said. "This is how every day should be."
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