On May 21, 2018, Tim and Sandy Day, and HBS Fellow, Mike LeBlanc, and his wife, Chiryze, visited the various K-9 programs at Camp Pendleton.  The group learned a great deal about the various K-9 missions and more importantly, met first-hand the tremendous group of Marines and civilians responsible for executing the missions.  A highlight of the day was learning that the Camp Pendleton Brig partners with Tender Loving Canines (TLC) Assistance Dogs to create the POOCH (Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles & Creating Hope) program.

POOCH was designed to provide inmates with vocational training, thus enabling employment opportunities upon release from confinement. Training dogs helps rehabilitate prisoners by teaching selflessness and responsibility through taking care of a living animal. They learn trust, unconditional love, and develop patience with new and untrained dogs.  The POOCH program also meets an increasing demand for service dogs.  Each trained dog is given at no cost to disabled veterans and veteran families with autistic children. A big thank you to all who created such an interesting day – BGen Killea, Col Keane, Sgt Biggs, Warrant Officer Nolan, the TLC team, Theresa, and the War Dog team…especially Gary, and Vanessa.