There is no doubt, when you look around the room of trainers and trainees that this is a perfectly symbiotic relationship of the incarcerated in society, with little hope and aspiration in life, training the unwanted pups, which were rescued from death row. On the backs of purple shirts around the TAILS dorm you read “SECOND CHANCE.” Yes, these lost souls — both human and canine — are both receiving second chances in life.
The tricks and skills — from dancing, hide and seeking, laying, waiting, shaking, staying, placing — all give these neglected animals another chance at a better life in a new world. There is no doubt that if the pups are properly trained, it will be much easier to integrate them into their forever family. In animal rescue, you see this time and time again.
Watching the young dogs perform their skills reminded one of a training session with toddlers. Just when you think they have mastered a certain task, they go royally backwards with distractions, being mouthy with their trainer or getting sidelined by the other dogs. As if on cue, Astro starts off a chorus and the other members of the choir have to join in. They are allowed their small opportunity to let off steam and then it’s back to work. The clicker is a fantastic training tool, as are pouches full of treats used to maneuver the dogs back on track. It was explained that before and after “count” on the yard at the end of the day, when the enormous yard is empty of people, the dogs can go off-leash and go a little mad if they wish.
After the four months of training, the dogs will stay on with their trainers at the facility until they are successfully adopted, and this is where additional help can sometimes be required from their sister rescue SCAR. If the pups are not adopted during the four-plus months by the inmate families or staff at the facility, then they must be further marketed in order to make room for additional dogs in need. There never seems to be a shortage of dogs on death row, and now the Salinas shelter is closed, the County shelter is constantly overflowing with unwanted dogs that have nowhere to go.
SCAR does their best to post the adoptable dogs on social media and invite them to their events. Recently some of the youngsters got to visit a book-signing event with adoptable critters from SCAR onsite in Carmel. One of the pups, Ruby, struggled with the world outside in a social setting, very unlike the one she was accustomed to. She got wildly excited and had to be walked several times around the block in order to calm down. However, Hailey and Astro did just great!
The ultimate goal at the TAILS Academy is to be able to construct their own holding facility for pups that are in danger of euthanization at the shelter and have qualified for the program — also to provide much-needed transitional housing for paroled inmate trainers to be able to stay with the dogs onsite and work with decompressing the animals and continuing their training skills prior to the dogs entering the program, whilst also achieving vocational certificates themselves to become trainers, groomers, vet techs, etc. Members of the TAILS group are diligently working towards this end.
Currently the following dogs are available for adoption through the SCAR/TAILS program. Contact SCAR at 831-525-5160 for more info. Apply at scar.pet to become their forever family. The $199 includes all vaccinations and spay or neuter.
Soon-to-be graduates of the TAILS program at the CTF in Soledad:
- Loki — Male, chi/dachshund/terrier mix, 3 months (Trainers: Jon, Aaron, Tino DeAnda, Alfonzo Figueroa)
- Brock — Male, mini-retriever mix, 6 months (Trainers: Dennis Rock, Denis Regalado)
- Rusty — Male, terrier mix, 6 months (Trainers: Carlos Campaz, Mark Waters, Victor Lomeli)
- Rosie — Female, chi/dachshund “Mama,” age 7 (Trainers: Chad Thomas, Gabe Sanchez, Dave Goff)
- Petey — Male, pit mix, 6 months (Trainers: Correyon Jefferson, Arnold Juarez, Rolando Gutierrez)
- Astro — Male, pit bull mix, age 1 (Trainers: Geraldo Resendiz, Fernando Lomeli)
- Hailey — Female, German Shepherd, 6.5 months (Trainers: Jerry (JJ) Choate, Armando Sanchez, Louis (Boe) Belvin
- Ruby — Female, Rottweiler mix, 7.5 months (Trainers: Orvis Anthony, Ryan Renz, Rudy Lopez)
As we have learned in animal rescue and, specifically, the relationship between SCAR and TAILS and all the lives they jointly save on a daily basis, the life you may ultimately save is your own.
Lucy is the co-founder of SCAR (South County Animal Rescue).
