By Jim Simpson
Sheriff Butch Conway certainly has a daunting task enforcing law and order in Gwinnett, a busy way station for criminals of every stripe. The dog days of summer can be rough on everyone. With an eye on the non-human element, Conway noticed the huge number of animals, mostly dogs, held in the county’s animal shelter that are euthanized each year.
Thus Operation Second Chance, also known as the Jail Dogs program, was conceived. Founded in 2010 as a partnership between the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department and the Society of Humane Friends of Georgia, the program is still going strong. Beginning with only five dogs pulled from the euthanasia line at Gwinnett County Animal Control, Jail Dogs now houses over 30 dogs at a time. To date, more than 500 dogs have been rescued, vetted, trained, and adopted into new families.
But there’s a twist to this tale.
County jail inmates are the dogs’ handlers. Carefully selected by program directors, they are given the opportunity to provide foster care and basic obedience training to the county’s homeless dogs to prepare them for adoption.
On arrival into the unit, each dog is assigned a primary inmate handler and sleeps in the inmate’s cell. Secondary handlers are also assigned for continuity in training if primary inmate handler transitions out of the jail.
Trainers visit three times a week to teach inmates how to train and care for the dogs, focusing on basic obedience, tricks and agility. Groomers, vet techs and other animal welfare volunteers and professionals also visit the unit regularly, educating the inmates on proper techniques.
In 2013, the program added cats into the fold for female inmates to care for. To date, nearly 60 cats have been adopted.
A recent Jail Dogs Facebook post detailed a successful adoption day at the Hollywood Feed store in Snellville. “Logan the cat was adopted along with Theodore the Chihuahua. Yara (a pitbull) will be meeting a potential adopter tomorrow and Lucy has a few families interested in her. Now we need to find a home for our little scruffy guy Simon. He is a shy guy that would love nothing more than to have a family of his own very soon!”
The Jail Dogs program offers both the inmates and the rescue dogs second chances. That was the case earlier this year.
Rescue dog Lee was scheduled to be euthanized on the same day the program intervened to take him in. He was in the program for more than two years when in April, one of his former inmate handlers was out of jail and turning his life around and wound up adopting Lee.
An annual fundraiser, the Jail Dogs 5K road race and fun run, will be held on September 14 at Little Mulberry Park in Dacula. Participants are invited to run with their dogs, and any dogs adopted out of the program are especially invited back for a reunion of sorts.
Visit JailDogs.org to see all dogs and cats available, and to fill out an adoption application.
