Service dog trained at Logan Correctional saves life

 

[September 13, 2019] 

We have all heard there are two sides to every story. On Friday, September 6, 2019, those two sides collided into one amazing narrative.

Service dog trainer Dakota Wall met disabled Army veteran Jim Champion.

Overwhelming emotions turned into tears as the two joined together with family, friends, and staff of Logan Correctional Center, Illinois Correction Industries, and Paws Giving Independence, as well as other trainers of Helping Paws to tell their side of the story.

Dakota Wall worked at a shelter when she was a teenager but had not even walked a dog on a leash until she started training dogs at Logan Correctional Center (Logan CC). Wall entered the program there and has been training service dogs for about four years.

Bowie, her third dog, a Border Collie/Labrador mix, is her favorite.

 

Border Collies are not made for being a service dog and Bowie came from an animal shelter, when he was six months old, so he already had some problems when he got to Logan CC. He was insecure and scared and Wall had to build up his confidence before Bowie could get started with training.

When the dogs come for training, they bond with their trainer for the first 30 days and then start to learn simple commands like sit, down, heal, and side before they start the hard directions.

According to Wall, “Bowie was interesting to train because he was definitely my hardest dog. For a while I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.”

Jim Champion was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis while still enlisted in the Army. “A medical discharge was not my plan, but you live your life the best you can with the situation you’re given,” he said.

Champion applied for a service dog in 2005. He was turned down without reason. So his family bought a Labrador and trained her. She passed away in 2017. In 2016, Champion applied for a service dog again and waited for two years.

“My wife, Sandy, found out about Paws Giving Independence, and here I am. They need more of these programs, so people don’t have to wait so long,” Champion said.

It was a special day for both Wall and Champion to be able to meet each other. Wall told everyone, “We don’t ever get to see what the dogs do for recipients once they leave. We get stories, but we don’t get to meet them.”

The meeting on Friday came about because Champion requested it.

Wall explained, “My dog, Bowie, saved his recipient from a fire five days into service.”

Champion told his story about the fire, how Bowie saved his life and how much Bowie means to him

“I heard a “pop” and opened my eyes and I didn’t see anything. Bowie was growling and I told him quiet. He continued to growl and then started barking.

The next time I opened my eyes there was a spark, like a welder’s spark, and the smoke in my room was choking. I yelled FIRE and Sandy came running and got the fire out.

"My fish tank was charred, the timer was gone, the cabinet under the fish tank was gone, and boards (on the wall) were scorched.

Shocked and amazed how much and quick it all happened, Champion said, "That was after just a few seconds of the fire."

"As a quadriplegic, I can’t exactly jump out of bed, and Sandy, as good as she is, would not have had time to get me up in time. So yes, Bowie, literally saved my life that day and I am forever grateful!

“If saving my life didn’t seal the bond between Bowie and I, I don’t know what did. Bowie is my little buddy. In the morning I wake up to kisses. We have a bond that I’ve never had with another dog.

"I let him be a dog, but he always finds his way to be in the room with me. If no one else is home, he stays with me all day.

"Not only did he save my life, he gives me the confidence to stay home alone. I sleep better at night knowing Bowie is watching for fires or anything else that might happen.

"He has given me the confidence to go places. Before Bowie when I went places, I felt like everyone was staring at the vet in the wheelchair. Now when I go in places, everyone says, 'Oh, look at the pretty dog.'

“I’ve had MS for 31 years and my wife has been on probably 20 MS walks. This is the first year I ever went on an MS walk and it’s all because of Bowie. I want to go places because I don’t feel like I’m going to be the center of attention anymore! He is emotional support, my buddy, and he plays with me, and everyone in the family loves Bowie, even the cat.

"I am thanking them (trainers) on behalf of every recipient who has received from PCI. They would all give their left arm to be here today.

It’s a win-win-win:

- it saved the dog’s life from a shelter,
- it gives the girls something to do,
- it gives the recipients so much.

"Bowie has become instinctual to knowing what I need and does it before the command. He is only 18 months old, out of the program a little over 90 days, and he is so smart. His future is astronomical.

“It was my dream to come meet the trainer of the dog, but I thought it would never happen. I’m on cloud nine! Today is special. If I could get the word out and help one handicapped person, one recipient, if I could help one person to think positive, then I feel better about myself,” Wall said.

According to Wall, from a young age, Bowie had an innate sense for smoke. He used to wake her up when burning was happening on the grounds at night. Wall asked another trainer what to do and was told to acknowledge him and tell him it’s okay, not to discourage him from alerting her.

When asked what her response was to knowing Bowie had saved Champion from the fire, Wall responded, “I cried. I cried. It made me feel so happy. I was so proud of him.”

Wall described how hard it was to see the dogs leave but she has confidence, now, that Champion loves Bowie as much as she does and will take good care of him. “He loves Bowie just as much as I do,” Wall said.

More people in need can now get trained dogs

Michelle Yuen co-founded with Brandi Weyers Paws Giving Independence (PGI), a non-for-profit organization in 2008. Yuen was eager to announce, “All of our dogs, once they live here go to a foster home and start working with their person. They go on a 3-month probation period where they work on training, all their skills, and they have to pass their public test. So, Jim and Bowie, last month, officially passed their test. They are officially a certified working dog handler team.”

In 2013, Helping Paws, a partner with PGI, came to Logan CC. The program is directed by Brock Webb and supervised by Doug Adams of Illinois Correctional Industries (ICI).

Webb is in charge of the program. He sets up groups and classes. “The program is important because it is a win for everyone. Most service dogs are so expensive it’s not an option," he said.

Webb elaborated further on the requirements and benefits to the trainers who partake in the prison program.

The work provides valuable social and work skills

"The second part of the program is that it is a real job for the offenders. They build accountability and learn a skill they can take into the world. [Service dog training is] a very sought-after program. The inmates here have a lot more accountability than others.

"[The program involves] sixty girls, give or take, who have to learn to work together. They all have different assignments and with different ethnicity and religious groups, they have to learn to work with everyone around them.

"They can take that skill into the world, whether they are going to the grocery store or looking for their first job,” Webb said.

At Logan CC, ICI currently has 20 dogs in the program with 55 offenders working.

Webb explained a little about PGI, which is out of Peoria, and Mid America Service Dogs of Chicago. “Both companies are nonprofit and completely volunteer run. Neither company charges their recipients for their dog. The companies do the matching magic to find the right dogs for the right people.”

Offenders receive 90-day contracts through ICI. If their sentence permits, they receive 45 days off the sentence for each of those contracts. The offenders are put into an apprentice program and receive certification from the U.S. Department of Labor as a certified animal trainer after 4,000 hours.

“This program is one of the top recidivism reducing programs in the entire state,” Webb said.

Along with the service dogs, Logan CC has three full time therapy dogs. They work a five-day, full-time schedule visiting mental health units and tending to therapy needs within the facility populations.

[Lisa Ramlow]