Change the Lives of Troubled Youth & Shelter Dogs

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!