Saving dogs, shaping kids
What a great program! Pairing teens with dogs who need help so they can be adopted. Terrific idea and many cheers to the woman responsible, Gayle Hutchens.
By the way, Oprah Winfrey is mentioned in this story. She will be doing a show next week on "the hidden underworld" of puppymills. It will be interesting to see how she tackles the issue and what kind of people she has on the show. Will it be factual or all emotion? Maybe she will do something to help dogs, too. Please check listings to see when the show will air in your area. Her web site says it's scheduled to air Friday, April 4.
Saving dogs, shaping kids
Gayle Hutchens, founder of Paws and Think, is Jefferson Award winner
By Dan McFeely
Posted: March 29, 2008
Inspired by an Oprah Winfrey show and faced with the need to change her career, Gayle Hutchens found the perfect mix in troubled kids and doomed dogs.
Through her 7-year-old Paws and Think program, Hutchens has improved the lives of more than 200 kids while saving more than 2,000 dogs from a date with euthanasia.
On Friday, Hutchens was honored by The Indianapolis Star with a Jefferson Award for outstanding community service. The Northside resident was one of five finalists for the honor and will travel in June to Washington, D.C., for a shot at a national Jefferson Award.
"I feel humbled," Hutchens said. "This really belongs to the many friends, family members, volunteers and board members who have believed in and supported this work . . . not just me."
After a 10-year hiatus, the local Jefferson Awards were revived this year by The Star and Eli Lilly. The national program was founded in 1972 by the American Institute for Public Service to give national recognition for outstanding community and public service.
The other finalists for the award are Jerri Barnes, Noblesville, Riverview Hospital's Touch of Love program; Tracey Snapp, Brownsburg, Share the Spirit Food Drive; Kevin Tyra, Indianapolis, Ozanam Legal Clinic; and Milly Wozny, Indianapolis, Smiles Unlimited Universal Clown Ministry.
Each finalist was nominated by someone in the community. The Star accepted the nominations and named the winner on Friday.
Paws and Think pairs at-risk teens with dogs that are slated to be killed at local animal shelters. Over the course of a few months, the kids work with Hutchens to learn about animal behavior, then take on the task of training the dogs so they are better suited for adoption.
Meanwhile, without knowing it, teens experience a dramatic change through the responsibility for care and the loving bond they form with their dogs.
J.J. Kress, a 15-year-old middle school student, developed that kind of relationship with Alex, a dog he met first through Hutchens' program and which the family eventually adopted. J.J. has several learning disabilities and has trouble socially, according to his mother, Therese Kress of the Northside.
"This program has been extremely helpful," she said. "J.J. has become more outgoing. He understands what it's like to have a best friend and how to keep a best friend. He has learned responsibility in a big way."
Hutchens, 60, said she was inspired to begin Paws and Think after watching an Oprah Winfrey show that featured a similar program in California. In the summer of 2000, with her husband diagnosed with a serious illness and a need to change her career in nursing, Hutchens spent several weeks in Santa Rosa, Calif., interning with Dr. Bonnie Bergin, who developed the "service dog" concept in the mid-1970s and now runs the nationally acclaimed Assistance Dog Institute.
Hutchens, an Alabama native and mother of four who has a master's degree in nursing, put together the idea of a local program in 2000 and incorporated it as a nonprofit in 2001.
Today, the multifaceted program has worked wonders:
The Youth Canine program has helped more than 2,000 kids and spared the lives of more than 200 dogs.
She has placed 16 dogs with adults and children with special needs or disabilities through her Service Dog program.
Volunteers visit more than 1,000 children and adults every year through the Animal Assisted Activity/Therapy Program at a number of locations, including Brooke's Place for grieving young people, library reading programs, rehabilitation centers, Joy's House Adult Day Care and The Children's Museum.
"It's amazing. . . . It's bigger than me," she said. "We structure the programs for outcomes, but it's the connection that the kids and the dogs make that makes the programs work."
Hutchens recalls one particularly troublesome youth she encountered at the local Pacers Academy, a teen known as a leader among the rough kids.
"He was disruptive and aggressive, and his actions had resulted in several disciplinary actions," she recalled. "He vowed he would not participate with the dogs, but he just couldn't help himself. When he didn't think anyone was looking, he reached over to pet the dog."
Soon, he was on the floor petting the dog.
"He was one of our best trainers," Hutchens said. "And outside of the classroom, his grades improved because he started coming to school. He became more of a team player with his peers and his teachers and he became more communicative."
Call Star reporter Dan McFeely at 317-444-6253.
