Pawsitive Approach is a joint effort between the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (specifically, the Dominguez State Jail), the Windham School District and Guide Dogs of Texas, Inc..

Our common Pawsitive Approach goals are:

What will be accomplished?

1. Offenders in the Dominguez State Jail will develop life skills while cooperating with fellow offenders, jail employees and volunteers while learning to nurture, socialize and teach basic obedience to puppies who may be later trained as guide dogs. The act of caring for and being responsible for a puppy will teach offenders life skills and provide them with tools like patience, teamwork and understanding. Our collective goal is to help these individuals develop the skills necessary to build character, contribute to their families and to their community at large.

2. The puppies raised in Pawsitive Approach are candidates for formal guide dog training by Texas' only guide dog school, Guide Dogs of Texas, Inc.. Approximately a quarter of a million blind individuals live in Texas and another three thousand Texans become blind each year. They deserve the mobility, independence and loving companionship a well-trained guide dog offers.

3. The average jail confinee at the Dominguez State Jail receives one disciplinary case a month. To process a disciplinary case, it costs the State of Texas $175. Offenders, who are Puppy Raisers or aspiring Puppy Raisers, must avoid disciplinary cases. Presently, the Dominguez State Jail has 14 offenders involved in Pawsitive Approach and several other offenders on a waiting list. As long as we maintain 14 eligible offender participants, who are "case-free", the program will save the State of Texas $2,450 a month. As the program expands, the savings will grow.

How it all happens:

Every puppy placed at Dominguez State Jail is raised by a team of two dedicated men and a volunteer Puppy Raiser. This team works hard to prepare the puppy for future guide dog work. The Puppy Raising TEAM will share the responsibility of raising and socializing a puppy. This shared responsibility will foster the focus, patience, cooperation, understanding and teamwork needed to accomplish a common goal.

The inmates teach the puppy basic obedience, good social manners, and perform daily grooming as well as establish the emotional bond between puppy and handler. The inmates are allowed up to five, officer-supervised, walks per week with their puppy in San Antonio. Many of these walks are done in the downtown area. Training walks require a variety of settings so the offenders will also work in malls, shopping centers and residential areas.

The pups also lack the experience of living in a true home. This is where you can be of such a huge benefit. You can help to reinforce their learned behaviors and expose them to the environment by taking the pup on an indoor training walk once a week, and bringing them to your home for one or two weekend visits a month, with more indoor training walks on these days.

Each Pawsitive Approach puppy is assigned a volunteer-raiser to perform the indoor walking and living tasks the offenders cannot contribute to fully.

What happens next?

When the puppy has matured, he becomes a candidate for the next phase of the training. This means the Team must say "goodbye" to the puppy they raised. Although there are tears, it means the Team has reached it's goal and the puppy has become a confident, happy dog who will work to become the eyes of a blind Texan. They will have made a wonderful difference in the life of a visually impaired Texan.

How did this program come about?

Like most things in life, timing is everything. Puppy Program Manager, Yvette Rowland of Guide Dogs of Texas, Inc. was developing this program at the same time Principal Owen Kelly at the Dominguez State Jail was wanting to developing an educational program for confinees that centered around the human/animal bond. We "share the same vision" - something that will last long after the confinee returns home.

Who wins? We all do! The confinees and their families, the guide dog program, the prison system, taxpayers and most importantly, visually impaired Texans.

For more information about our puppy program, click on one of the following pages:

Helping With Pawsitive Approach
About Puppy Raisers
Puppy Donation Requirements