Question Corner: 2018 WPR Survey Answers

In which questions from the 2018 WPR survey get answered…

Q. What is the evaluation process for a NEADS dog?

A. Around a year of age the NEADS dog is brought back to campus for an evaluation. The eval does not have to be at exactly a year of age. The timing depends on client training, trainer availability, and kennel volume. The evaluation allows the trainer to spend time with the dog and get a closer look at the dog’s obedience, task work, and personality outside of the prison facility. During the evaluation process the trainer takes the dog on town trips to grocery stores, the city, restaurants, pet stores, hospitals, and assortment of other places. While out in public the trainer assess how the dog responds to everything they are exposed to; men, women, kids, small animals, wheelchairs, surfaces, heights, traffic, and whatever else they run into while out and about. When the dog is not working with the trainer they get play yards with other dogs, one on one time, and campus walks with volunteers. Once the evaluation is over the trainer can determined where the dog excels and areas of improvement.

Q. What is it like for a day in the life of an inmate handler?

A. In December 2017, an inmate handler wrote about what a typical day is like for him. Read it here.

Q. What is like for a day in the life for a NEADS trainer?

A. Read about a typical day in the life of a NEADS trainer here.