BROOKSVILLE, Fla -- A program in Hernando County called "Heel to Heal" is helping get dogs ready for adoption, and it's changing more than just the dogs' lives.
- Program pairs inmates with dogs for 8-week training
- Inmates work with dogs to prepare them for their new homes
- Program currently accepts 5 dogs at a time
Five dogs are the newest recruits to go through an eight-week boot-camp like program at the Hernando Correctional Institution, getting them ready to go to their forever homes.
"These five dogs are very, very positive and they work very hard. They all have different personalities of course," inmate Marie Rivera said.
The five dogs currently in the program have already been adopted. In about a month and a half they'll go to their new homes, as have over 50 other dogs who have previously graduated from this program over the last two years.
"By putting the dog through this program, we're ensuring that the dog is going to be homed and most likely stay within that home,” program trainer John Gore said.
Gore volunteers his time to help the inmates train the dogs. He also runs New Sentry K9 Services in the county.
Rivera has been working with the program since the very beginning.
"I love dogs and I needed a vocation, and this is a vocation here," she explained.
She's now become an assistant for the program. She said over the last two years working with the dogs has changed her life.
"They heal the brokenness," Rivera said. "When I'm working and I'm broken and then I get a dog that's more broken than me and we kind of grow together."
"I am not the person I used to be at all," she added. "I like to think I've grown and expanded and I'm ready to go back home and be a positive member of society."
All of the dogs come to the institution from Hernando County Animal Services. They only take five dogs at a time right now, but they hope to grow that number in the near future.