8
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
Incarcerated kids training service dogs
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Five incarcerated Brooklyn
youth are learning
how to care for and train
service dogs while locked
up at a juvenile detention
center in Crown Heights.
“A lot of the kids come
into the program, and
they’re very emotionally
closed. It’s hard for them
to open up,” said Jeannie
Ashford, a rep with
the program. “The dogs
help the kids to think
about their emotions.
They’ve shut down their
emotions, but when they
start training these dogs,
it helps them reconnect
with their emotions —
and with other people.”
The program — run
by the nonprofit Rising
Ground — offers incarcerated
kids an opportunity
to serve their
sentence in a secure, retrofitted
Crown Heights
home as an alternative
to the traditional prison
system.
The facility is currently
occupied by five
teenagers, who work together
to teach new tricks
to two pups — a Yorkie
named Simon, and a Pitbull
mix named Jay Mo.
“The dogs are very
therapeutic for the kids,”
said Ashford. “They love
it.”
The alt-prison facility
and its four-legged staff
helps the incarcerated
kids build social and life
skills while serving their
time, improving their
chances of staying out of
trouble once they’re free
to leave, said Ashford.
“On the first day that
the kids come into the
program, we start planning
about what they’re
going to do when they
get out,” she said. “You
can’t just take teens
and put them in adult
penitentiaries upstate,
where they are not going
to go to school and
they’re not going to have
a chance to re-enter their
communities.”
(Clockwise, from left) The incarcerated youth teach Simon, a Yorkie, to lie down on command during a training session. Dog trainer Josh
Abolt of Backcountry K-9 Training works with a Pitbull mix named Jay Mo. Rising Ground staff member Jeze Erazo gives Jay Mo a high-fi ve
during a training session. Photos by Caroline Ourso
LET OUR CLAIMS DEPARTMENT
COLLECT FROM THE RESPONSIBLE
INSURANCE COMPANY TO
REPAIR YOUR CAR TO FACTORY
SPECIFICATIONS AND DELIVER
IT TO YOU WITH THAT NEW
CAR SHOWROOM LOOK WHILE
DRIVING AN IMMEDIATE
REPLACEMENT CAR RENTAL.
IMMEDIATE CAR RENTAL
3511 Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11218
- 10 Blocks from Ocean Parkway on Ft. Hamilton Parkway -
������������������������������������������������������������������������
Established 1958
Offi cial Insurance Inspection Station
CALL
ANYTIME
24/7
TOWING
FROM
ANY
LOCATION
F T HAMILTON PKY
CHURCH AV
CATON AV
LY N D E N B LV D
37 ST
McDONALD AV
CONEY ISLAND AV
OCEAN AV
FLATBUSH AV
36 ST
PARK
SLOPE
FLATBUSH
BAY
RIDGE
NEW
UTRECT
��SHOP
LEAVE ALL YOUR CONCERNS WITH US
SATISFACTION IS OUR CONCERN!
A short drive thru the Battery Tunnel from Manhattan