Change the Lives of Troubled Youth & Shelter Dogs

Project Pooch is a place where incarcerated youth can find growth, understanding, and opportunities for connection and support. During these challenging times, it’s our job to weather the storm and to keep this space and those opportunities protected for both the youth and the dogs that they care for.

Like many others in our community, we have experienced highs and lows in 2025. We watch POOCH youth transform from trainees to mentors as they discover a sense of pride and confidence in themselves. We have the privilege of witnessing the youth invest time, energy, and love into every dog that comes through our doors as they help each dog on their journey to their forever homes. Our youth have found unconditional love in so many 4-legged packages this year—from 5-pound Bonita to 80-pound Rocco, and everything in between.

We’ve also struggled with the reality of the overcrowded shelter system. We’ve talked to pet parents who have lost the resources to care for their beloved pups. We don’t typically take owner surrenders at POOCH. Many of our youth have experienced abandonment, and we teach them that adopting a dog is a life-long commitment. But we also teach them that when you are in a position to help someone in need, you should. On several occasions this year, we stepped up to help a community member in need, and Abby and Maxx now have healthy, happy homes as a result. Project POOCH truly saved their lives.

In October, one of our long-term youth started the next phase of his life journey, transitioning from Maclaren to an OYA camp facility. At his send-off party, he was astonished to hear a summary of his impact. During his 17 months at Project POOCH, he logged 2,100 hours at the kennel, working with 27 POOCH dogs along with 44 boarding and daycare dogs, for a total of 71 unique dogs! He became a mentor to incoming youth, completed three certifications, and earned more than $11,500 to put towards restitution and building a new life upon release. As he was leaving, he shared, “Before I came to POOCH, I didn’t know anything about dogs. But now I can teach a dog anything. You can’t be biased because of how a dog looks. Each dog has a different personality. I now know how to advocate for every dog.”

Project POOCH provides a place for every youth to develop into an advocate for themselves, their peers, and some of the most vulnerable around us—unwanted dogs. As they care for pups, they learn that they, too, are worthy of care and love, and can provide value to their community both inside and outside the fence.

As we turn the page on 2025, I want to thank you for your support of the work we do at Project POOCH and for helping us continue to make these life-changing opportunities possible for many years to come.

2025 Year-End Stats

• Served 22 Youth
• Youth worked 10,400 hours at the kennel
• 24 certifications earned by 11 youth
• Youth earned $46,500 through wage incentives and adoption, boarding, daycare, and grooming fees
• Adopted 19 POOCH dogs
• Served 28 boarding dogs, providing 293 boarding nights
• Served 23 daycare dogs, providing 395 daycare days
• Worked with 3 county shelters—Marion, Clackamas, and Multnomah—to assist with overcrowding
• Saw 5 POOCH youth move on to transition facilities
• Worked with dogs of all sizes and breeds—no breed restrictions!
  

Links:

• Get to know Cupcake! One of our adoptable dogs.
• Sydney is a Home for the Holidays Dog!

At Project POOCH we are currently filling up pools, pulling out the swamp coolers, and testing our sprinklers in preparation for the heat wave this arriving today. When the temperatures soar abovve 90, we have to work extra hard to ensure the safety of the dogs and the youth in our program. It's a good life lesson for the youth, to take note of the weather forecast when you are responsible for the safety and well being of living creatures. The good part about the hot weather is that most of our pups LOVE the water and are quite happy to cool themselves in the pools. And when it gets too hot to be outside, we have an air conditioned space to pull everyone inside while we continue our training, play, and learning opportunities.

2025 has been a great year so far at Project POOCH, with 11 successful adoptions, and 17 youth participating in our program putting in a total of 6,800 hours at our kennel from January–July. During their time at the kennel, these youth partipants have earned 15 nationally recognized certifications as they developed their job, life, and dog training skills. 

In March, we decided to bring two puppies (brothers) into our program. Our youth participants had been requesting to work with puppies for a long time and these two seemed like they would be a good fit. The youth had the opportunity to learn the differences in training and caring for puppies in comparison to young adult and adult dogs. They loved the playfulness and silliness of the puppies, but they did not like how dirty the puppy's kennels were every morning! In what seemed like no time at all, little Marco & Polo were ready for adoption, and off they went to their forever homes. The youth felt a huge sense of accomplishment at helping to set these pups up for success in their forever homes.

In addition to puppies, our youth have also been requesting to work with pitbulls and pittie mixes. So far this year we have brought in 4 pittie mixes—all with a different set of challenges. There was Rocco, who was seriously underweight who had been languishing in one of our county shelters for 3 months. The youth felll in love with this buy guy immediately, and set to work helping him learn his basic cues and how to settle in a home environment. Then there was Jackie, who had recently had a litter of puppies, was severly underweight, and also fighting off a serious infection. Miss Jackie struggled with separation anxiety, and the youth worked on helping her build her confidence in the world so that she could find her forever home. And currently we have Goldie and Rocco, two formerly homeless dogs who came to us through our county shelter system. 

With every dog our youth learn new skills and practice familiar skills. They learn to work with their peers, to communicate effectively, and to regulate their own emotions as they are challenged in new ways.

Our Project POOCH participants have earned $32,500 so far this year through their participation in our program. These funds are used to pay restitution and to help build a trust account, so that upon release, the youthe are able to build a life for themselves.

Project POOCH is helping to change the lives of dogs and adjudicated youth every day. We are thankful for everyone who believes in our work and continue to help support us, both financiall and by sharing our mission with their network.

Thank you for believing in what we do, and for helping pups like Jackie, Rocci, Marco, Polo, James, Honey, Vivienne, Cliff, Toby, Ace, and Abby find their amazing forever homes.

Links:

• POOCH Dog Wash: August 16!