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Dogs and female prisoners get a second chance through Pups on Parole

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Kiley Esprecion, dog coordinator for Heaven Can Wait, with Calypso, an 18-month-old husky-shepherd mix, outside the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center
Photo: Steve Marcus

Lerlene Roever always loved animals. Before prison, she had dogs, cats, fish, birds and even a turtle. So when Heaven Can Wait Animal Society brought a new program to the Nevada Department of Corrections in 2004, Roever was the first person to interview for a spot.

“That program is an absolute godsend for anyone interested in a new outlook on life,” says Roever, who participated as a handler for about seven years. While serving time for a murder she says she didn’t commit, the then-inmate trained more than 100 homeless and/or abandoned dogs, preparing them to be family pets. “It’s a blessing and a half.”

So far, some 4,000 dogs and 1,000 humans have participated in Pups on Parole, according to Kiley Esprecion, dog coordinator for Heaven Can Wait. Handlers must make a yearlong commitment, learn the curriculum, stay out of trouble and maintain a full-time prison job. (The idea is to acclimate dogs to life on the outside with an owner who works all day.)

A day on the Pups on Parole circuit starts at 4:30 a.m., when handlers wake up to care for their dogs and take them on a 30-minute-minimum morning walk. “It’s very rigorous, and it’s a lot of hard work,” Roever says. “We’re walking the dogs in all weather.”

Before heading to work, handlers make sure everything’s tidy and the pups are set for the day. “We lived in such small quarters with two people and sometimes two dogs in a room with all your belongings, you’d have to make sure that things were put up,” Roever says.

After work, handlers repeat the morning process, but with extra time devoted to playing and training. They address behavioral issues and teach dogs basic obedience: sit, stay, come, heel and down. If dogs aren’t immediately adopted, handlers teach them more complicated commands, like hand gestures, agility work and tricks. Esprecion says an ironic favorite is “hit the wall,” where the dogs pretend to ready themselves for a police pat down.

“People who have adopted a dog from Pups on Parole always have a wonderful story to tell about their pup,” Esprecion says. “Many adopters stop by our adoption events to brag about their furbabies.”

Roever, who was released in 2019 after 26 years in prison, went on to work at a pet store. She also has a rescue dog of her own, a miniature pinscher mix named Twix.

Roever says that most female inmates are survivors, either of abuse, sexual assault or other serious situations, and that Pups on Parole helps them heal. The dogs enter the program “just as broken and abused as many of us were,” and then the handlers rehabilitate them and send them off to new homes. “To see the changes in them and to experience their unconditional love is just transformative,” Roever says. “We say all the time, while we’re saving their lives, they’re saving ours.”

To adopt a dog that’s been trained through the Pups on Parole program in partnership with the Heaven Can Wait Animal Society, visit hcws.org.

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