After receiving my teaching degree, I discovered that my passion was working in inner-city high schools in Portland, Oregon. Practicing what I had learned from reading Gerald Jampolsky, M.D.’s book, Teach Only Love made a profound difference in the way I taught. The difference was not only what I had prepared to teach, but getting the perspective of the students.

When I was offered a position as vice-principal of a high school located at the strictest juvenile corrections facility for boys in Oregon, I asked for a tour when students were in their classes. Many of the boys had dropped out of their local high school.

After two years of planning and assessing the different learning styles of the boys, I accessed research about animal programs in prisons. Most of the programs were in adult prisons. I couldn’t find any similar programs where dogs lived on site 24/7 in juvenile facilities.

In 1993, I founded Project POOCH—Positive Opportunities, Obvious Change with Hounds—and soon discovered that dogs were the boys’ best teachers. The boys learned through the dogs how to practice: Patience, Responsibility, and Compassion.

Second Chances, a book about incarcerated boys who work with unwanted shelter dogs, learning responsibility, patience, and compassion for all living beings.