Maggie barked in excitement as her new owners walked through a gated fence Monday afternoon during the 11th Paws on Parole ceremony.
The ceremony was hosted by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, and it marked the graduation of two dogs — Maggie, a 10-month-old mixed-breed puppy, and another mixed-breed dog in the program, Cedric.
Through the Paws on Parole Unleashed program, female inmates from the Alachua County Jail train the dogs for adoption from the Alachua County Animal Shelter. The program lasts about eight weeks.
Inmates earn the opportunity to train dogs if they have “good behavior and willingness to learn and contribute,” said Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell.
Both Cedric and Maggie performed actions like sitting, staying, shaking and working through an obstacle course Monday — a feat which was met with “oohs” and “ahs” from the crowd of about 30.
At the end of the ceremony, the inmates who trained Maggie and Cedric and the dogs’ new owners were given certificates of completion.
Rose Mansfield, 9, smiled as she talked about her new four-legged family member.
“I love her,” she said. “We like to play around the house, and she likes to sleep with us in our bed at night.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 12/2/2014]
Officer Debra Scott of the Alachua County Jail hugs Maggie, a 10-month-old dog, at the Paws on Parole Unleashed program graduation Monday morning. The program pairs adoptable dogs with inmates who train them for eight weeks to pass the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen test.
