Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs (PawPADs) - Serving persons with disabilities, veterans, youth, and the community throughout Minnesota

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“Prison Road Puppies” expands to include Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Duluth

PawPADs is teamed with Federal Correctional Facilities in Sandstone, MN and Duluth, MN to work with prison inmates in raising and training Assistance Dogs for placement. With 10 service dogs already in training at FCI Sandstone, the program has now been expanded to include Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Duluth.

As with the highly successful PawPADs Sandstone program, the dogs will be trained by inmates and rotated in and out of the prison to keep them socialized and exposed to public situations.

Speaking on the Sandstone program, PawPADs Executive Director Linda Ball says "We have a close partnership with the prison inmates and administration from the top down. The program has exceeded our expectations and that of the prison...there have been no problems and the administration and staff love the cooperation they get from PawPADs and curriculum and the atmosphere the dogs' presence creates."

Randy Patrick, PawPADs' Director of Operations, is a retired law enforcement officer and former United Nations Civilian Police commander, Prison road Puppies who supervised human rights investigations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Sandstone formerly tested a somewhat similar program, but we've been able to take that fundamental idea to a more serious level. This program is the same one we'll be bringing to FPC Duluth" says Patrick.

"There is no question that everyone now benefits from our program: first of all, the partners who the dogs will be placed with; the inmates, who are learning a job skill as well as personal skills that enable them to be better citizens on release, and the corrections officers and prison staff - many of whom will have been and will be taking the dogs out of the prison for public exposure."

PawPADs receives no taxpayer dollars or other Government subsidies for the program and must cover 100% of all costs associated with raising and training the dogs in the prison, including veterinary services, educational supplies for the puppy raisers/trainers, instructors' costs, and travel. As a non-profit organization, PawPADs relies entirely on individual contributions, corporate and foundation contributions, fundraisers, gifts in-kind and grants. You can be involved with these incredible programs by making a tax deductible gift right here!

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. "
~Edward Everett Hale

We depend on volunteers, veterans, and youth to help raise and train our amazing canines.
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Our Mission

To enrich the lives of people with disabilities by providing them with exceptionally skilled assistance dogs; To utilize the power of the human-canine bond as a therapeutic, educational, healing tool.

Our Strategy

We accomplish this through educational and vocational training programs which teach students, veterans, and others to train the assistance dogs for placement.

Our Vision

To enable persons with disabilities to lead more independent, self-reliant, and fulfilling lives with the assistance of a canine partner.

Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) Sandstone extends PawPADs Prison Program – “Prison Road Puppies” into 2013

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In addition to the inmate participants, the puppies are taken on week-end "puppy passes" by FCI Sandstone Correctional staff and Volunteers. The week-end visits provide exposure to family living, children, shopping and restaurant situations; the usual life outside prison walls.

PawPADs receives no tax dollars or other Government funding for the program and must cover 100% of all costs associated with raising and training the dogs in the prison, including veterinary services, educational supplies for the puppy raisers/trainers, instructors' costs, and travel. As a non-profit organization, PawPADs relies entirely on individual contributions, corporate and foundation contributions, fundraisers, gifts in-kind and grants. You can be involved with this incredible program by making a tax deductible gift right here!

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	Thank You, Volunteers! From getting 'em out of bed in the early morning to tuckin' 'em at the end of a long day of learning, Volunteers are involved in every aspect of PawPADs dogs lives and the operation of the PawPADs Campus. "I have volunteered with them for over a year, & wouldn't continue doing so if I didn't believe in them 1000%!!!" Diane H. Read more... Mowing the lawn (there's 3+ acres to be mowed here), grooming the dogs, building the "ability" course, doing basic obedience training and advanced diabetic alert training, writing policies/procedures and grants, and, of course, cleaning up after the dogs have done their "doo-ty", are only a few of the tasks Volunteers accomplish over a day here at PawPADs. Many support and volunteer at other organizations at the same time: Habitat for Humanity, Alpha Center, Grace Thrift Store, Little Brothers and Sisters, Wild Horse rescue, etc. so we respect and value the volunteer spirit we see here. THANK YOU, PawPADs Volunteers!



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