Not every pursuit begins with indoctrination on the procedures for entering a maximum-security federal prison. Not every hobby includes collaring an “inmate” to take home on weekend furlough. And not every pastime ends up with the adoption of a “parolee.”
For four years and counting, spouses Rey Giallongo and Cheryl Palmer have volunteered with Puppies Behind Bars, which pairs puppies slated for civil service with prisoners who teach them basic obedience skills. The program has received extensive media attention of late for its work in training dogs to assist wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Giallongo is executive vice president of business banking and wealth management at Stamford-based First County Bank, while Palmer is corporate vice president of revenue and product development in the Stamford office of Club Quarters, a member-based hospitality chain based in New York City.
The Stamford couple both grew to love dogs at early ages ”“ Palmer”™s family had a German Shepherd called Hobo, Giallongo”™s a mutt named Maverick ”“ and became aware of Puppies Behind Bars while at a restaurant in Norwalk, where diners at a nearby table were accompanied by a dog wearing a vest emblazoned with the Puppies Behind Bars logo.
After investigating further, they decided to get involved, having recently grieved the loss of their two pet dogs.
Puppies Behind Bars Inc. was started in 1997 by Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who in adopting a dog from Yorktown Heights, N.Y.-based Guiding Eyes for the Blind learned of the extraordinary cost for training guide dogs ”“Â $25,000 ”“ then heard of a Florida veterinarian”™s theory that prisoners would make worthy candidates for teaching basic obedience and socialization skills for puppies, which in turn might contribute to inmates”™ own rehabilitation.
Since then, nearly 400 dogs have graduated from the program, with about 240 of them pressed into service on explosive-detection canine units, and nearly 100 as guide dogs for the blind, including a dozen for blind children. Under Puppies Behind Bars”™ Dog Tags program, 25 more have been assigned to maimed soldiers returning from Iraq, trained to respond to nearly 100 separate commands.
As of the 2008 fiscal year, Puppies Behind Bars had a $1.2 million budget and some 400 volunteers.
That number obviously includes Giallongo and Palmer, who still remember vividly that first visit to Bedford Hills Correctional Institute in New York, where the couple went through security checks on their way to a daylong seminar with others volunteering for Puppies Behind Bars.
“Yes, you are pretty nervous,” Palmer said. “You are behind locked gates, right?”
Evidently she got comfortable in time ”“ Palmer now puts her managerial talents to work scheduling puppy furloughs at Bedford Hills. There are 75 dogs “in prison” at six tri-state area institutions, including 16 at Bedford Hills and nine at Federal Correctional Institute at Danbury.
“You are talking about some people who have probably never experienced unconditional love,” Palmer said. “I”™ve seen male inmates weep over dogs that are completing their training.”
She knows how it feels ”“ Palmer”™s and Giallongo”™s first puppy under the program was Joe, who happens to be Powell”™s half brother.?“I sobbed the first time, when I lost him,” Palmer confessed.
Giallongo and Palmer plan to continue participating in the program as long as they are physically able. And the program that they turned to as they recovered from the loss of their pet dogs in time furnished a new pet ”“ Powell, a graduate of Bedford Hills that subsequently developed allergies and was given a medical discharge.
Powell is not alone on that front ”“ some 130 dogs that have been through the system have been released for a range of reasons.
