This case study presents the findings from an animal intervention test program in Abuquerque, New Mexico, in which youth offenders interacted with shelter dogs to foster empathy, community, responsibility, kindness, and an awareness of healthy social interactions among these teens.

Teenagers who had been incarcerated for a variety of reasons including gangs, drugs, prostitution, committing a sexual offense such as having an under-age girlfriend, and other more violent crimes interacted with shelter dogs for three weeks for a training program, assisting in obedience training and grooming of the dogs. At the end of the three weeks, the dogs were returned to the shelter for adoption, and the teens were asked to write letters to potential adopters of the animals. Researchers used these letters to measure the success of the program.

Excerpts from these letters are included in the research article. They demonstrate the positive experience received by both the animals and the teen offenders. The experiences of positive reinforcement to solve a problem exhibit the potential of similar programs to improve the situations of both offending teens and dogs.