Women’s Prisons
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (Bedford Hills, New York)

Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (Clinton, New Jersey)

Men’s Prisons
Eastern Correctional Facility (Napanoch, NY)

Fishkill Correctional Facility (Beacon, New York)

Green Haven Correctional Facility (Stormville, NY)

Otisville Correctional Facility (Middletown, New York)

Wallkill Correctional Facility (Wallkill, New York)

Each puppy-raiser is carefully screened by the staff of the correctional facility and by Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) personnel.

In order to qualify for the puppy program, the individual has to have a clean prison disciplinary record for at least one year and must be considered both reliable and trustworthy by prison officials.

Puppy-raisers are required to sign a contract with PBB that outlines all of their responsibilities vis-à-vis the puppies and the program. The contract states clearly that any inmate may be asked to leave for any reason deemed appropriate by PBB.

Requirements for participation in the program include mandatory attendance at weekly puppy class and successful completion of reading assignments, homework and exams. Furthermore, the puppy raiser must always put the needs of the puppy before his or her own, must be able to work effectively as a member of a team and must be able to give and receive criticism in a constructive manner.

Puppy-raisers and their dogs are housed together, in individual cells, on one dedicated cell block.

The puppies are very visible throughout the facility. The employees of the facility (both security and civilian staff) interact with the puppies throughout the day and care deeply about the puppies’ welfare and well-being. Please remember that the inmate puppy-raisers love the dogs deeply and know that they will be dismissed from the program immediately if they do not do their utmost to take care of the dogs.

After breakfast (generally around 5:30-6:00 a.m.), the puppies are exercised in an enclosed area in a group setting. We call this “puppy rec” and the puppies play among themselves and with their raisers for at least one hour. This play is always supervised by puppy raisers.

The dogs then go to work with their raisers for approximately two hours. Our inmates are employed in a variety of positions including as clerical staff in office settings; working in the prison laundry, barber shop or library; and working as assistants to senior prison officials. Very often, puppy-raisers will “swap” dogs so that each puppy gets accustomed to a number of different environments; those inmates attending school are permitted to bring their dogs to class with them.
The puppies and their raisers return to their housing units for lunch, rest and another one-hour recreation period. They go to work again in the afternoon, and after dinner the pups get their last recreation period of the day before receiving their daily full body massages, getting their ears cleaned, their teeth brushed and their nails clipped, and getting groomed. This is also the time when most of the inmates spend quiet, personal time with their dogs, reading, watching television, and just bonding with their pups.

Prisons are self-contained communities with a variety of settings and stimuli. Each facility has a mess hall, gymnasium, recreation yards, religious centers, classrooms, industry training programs, horticulture centers and offices. At Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, there is also an infant care center, where children live with their mothers for the first eighteen months of their lives. The puppies are permitted nearly everywhere and are exposed to everything that the facilities have to offer.

To provide additional exposure, Puppies Behind Bars has two well-established volunteer programs involving people from the surrounding communities. The weekend puppy sitting program involves families agreeing to host a puppy in their home at least one overnight per month. “Puppies by the Hour” is a similar program with volunteers taking the puppies out on day trips into the community.

We also operate a “puppy shuttle” whereby up to sixteen puppies come into Manhattan every weekend for exposure to a chaotic urban environment.

In order to participate in the program, each volunteer must attend training sessions, provide references, and commit to our program for a minimum of one year.

We have raised more than 2,000 puppies.

Yes, each inmate is very sad when their puppy leaves prison, and virtually all of them cry. They cry in front of instructors, in front of correctional officers, in front of other inmates, and alone in their cells. The tears, however, are not necessarily just tears of sadness. They are also tears of pride, for each puppy-raiser whose dog becomes a working dog feels deep joy in knowing that they–and their dog–succeeded and that their dog is going out in the world to make a difference in someone’s life.

Service dogs are responsible for aiding wounded war veterans and first responders with everyday routines. This includes such things as turning on lights, retrieving dropped items, opening and closing doors, and doing the laundry. For wounded vets and first responders with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and/or TBI (traumatic brain injury), our dogs can dial 911 on a special phone, can clear a room so the vet knows no one is lying in wait, can awaken the vet from nightmares, and can watch behind the vet, assuring him or her that the dog “has my back.”

Explosive-detection canines (EDC’s) are responsible for seeking out explosives and alerting their handler when they have recognized an explosive scent.

Therapy dogs are responsible for assisting police departments with officer wellness and improving community relations. 

Service dogs: Responsible for aiding wounded war veterans and first responders with everyday routines such as getting dressed, turning on lights, retrieving dropped items, allowing them to go into public because they make their humans feel safe, etc.

Explosive-detection canines (EDC): Responsible for seeking out explosives and alerting their handler when they have recognized an explosive scent.

Thank you, but the temperament and health history of our dogs are extremely important, so we only work with dogs whose lineage we can trace back multiple generations. We do not accept donated dogs of any age.

Puppies Behind Bars only provides service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders. There are many service dog schools in the country that do provide service dogs for disabled adults; if you go to Assistance Dogs International’s website (assistancedogsinternational.org), you will find a list of service dog schools throughout the country.

All puppies are individuals and not every PBB puppy is destined to become a working dog. While our goal is to produce working dogs, we respect our puppies as individuals. If a puppy does not meet the requirements of a working dog, PBB sells them to appropriate families as pets. While these particular puppies may not have been destined to sniff out bombs or help a war vet, these puppies will most definitely bring smiles to whichever family is lucky enough to adopt them.

If you are interested in adopting one of our dogs, please download our application here.

First, check out the pages “Support Us” menu of our website to learn how to support PBB

Puppy Socializer
If you are 18 or older and live within 45 minutes of one of the correctional facilities in which we run our program, you can volunteer for us.

We also run puppy shuttles to Manhattan every weekend.

While our dogs work throughout the United States and even the world, our office is in New York City and our prisons are in New York and New Jersey.

Puppies Behind Bars seeks experienced service dog trainers available to work at PBB’s affiliated correctional facilities in the New York metropolitan area on a part- or full-time basis. Applicants must live in the vicinity of one of the facilities.

Please send a cover letter and resume to Gloria Gilbert Stoga at programs@PuppiesBehindBars.com