U.S. prisons groom dogs for Iraq war veterans

Jason Szep of Reuters tells us about Edward Parent and Chuck -- Parent is a prison inmate and Chuck is a Labrador retriever he is training to be a service dog for disabled U.S. veterans:

"The Iraq war is going to change the whole demographics of the
disabled population in this country," said Sheila O'Brien, executive director of the National Education for Assistance Dog Service (NEADS), which has trained dogs to assist people who are deaf or physically disabled since 1976.

O'Brien tapped the nation's swelling prison population for help since 1998, after some persuading by then Massachusetts prison commissioner Michael Maloney. She's now convinced inmates can train dogs like professionals and wants to build on the program's 10 prisons by adding three more.

"The prison program just about cuts the time needed for formal training in half." she said.

The number of young, physically disabled U.S. veterans is surging. Already, at least 180,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have applied for disability benefits. O'Brien reckons thousands are wounded badly enough to need assistance.

"We are gearing up to meet that need and one way we are doing that is by doubling the number of puppies that we are placing in prison," she said.

Inmates stay with the dogs 24 hours a day for about a year, meeting with an expert trainer from NEADS once a week and even brushing their puppy's teeth at night, before the dogs enter two months of more advanced training with professionals.

"Chuck is like my son. I treat him as that," said Parent, who is serving a 10-year sentence at the John J. Moran medium security prison in Rhode Island for killing a teenage woman with his car while driving under the influence of alcohol.

"I protect him from other dogs. Other inmates. From himself. I take care of him just as I would my child. I feed him. I bathe him. Everything," he said. "What it's done for me is unbelievable."