The Heel Together Academy with Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services and Avon Park Correctional Institution

We have been getting lots of questions and comments about The Heel Together Academy program. It’s exciting to see how much attention the program is getting! We wanted to take a moment to discuss some of these commonly asked questions. 

So what is The Heel Together Academy? Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services picks a group of dogs who will be in the program from their facility. Many of the dogs were originally picked up as strays. The dogs get a visit to the vet for a check-up, then they are ready to go to prison! “To prison?!” you might inquire. Yes, to prison. In this case, it is a good thing! Dogs who go to Avon Park Correctional Institution are put through several weeks of training preparation. The exciting part? These dogs all get adopted! 

So what are the dogs trained to do? They get training that will assist in keeping them in their new home. The training is largely centered around our “pet manners” program. We also add in a little bit of everything: beginners' agility work, introductory skills for service dog work, and even sometimes some fun tricks. Teaching dogs how to perform any kind of complex skills helps boost morale, trust, and confidence. The training is kept very general, as we want to prepare dogs for realistic situations in life. They also get lots of socialization. APCI is a busy place with people constantly moving around along with strange sights, smells, and noises that they wouldn’t get to experience otherwise. Getting familiar with new things is key to ensuring the dogs stay in their new home. They also spend a lot of time learning to walk on a leash. They must be leashed in most areas of the facility, so this means they get lots of practice walking on a leash and paying attention to their handler. 

So what does Brook’s Dog Training Academy do with the program? Brook Lefkowitz is the head trainer with the Heel Together Academy. She conducts a group-styled class once per week to instruct and demonstrate the written material we provide. Inmates are able to ask questions and be involved in meaningful discussions relating to the industry they are hoping to enter. Much of the discussion time is related to troubleshooting real-life training difficulties with their dogs. The inmates must also complete our homework assignments each week as part of their educational requirements. 

The inmates also get take to advantage of an opportunity to be involved in a program with meaning while being certified by the State of Florida Department of Education. The certification requires 100s of hours of hands-on time with dogs, so they must repeat several rounds of the program to receive certification. This enables the inmates to experience the same program with a diverse selection of dogs. This is common in any kind of dog trainer’s certification because it’s important to learn how to work with dogs of different sizes, breeds, drives, and motivations. Dogs are all individuals and it takes great experience and skill to know how to work with all kinds of dogs. Since the program has been active since 2019, we now have many inmates at a variety of levels in the program. This creates a fantastic learning environment in which everyone can help each other, increasing the learning capacity of the program. 

At this point and time (8/29/21), there will be 8 dogs going to the facility for 12 weeks. This does change and we do have a goal of having 12 dogs total at the program in the future. The dogs stay in the dorms with the inmates for the full 12 weeks; it is the inmates’ responsibility to care for and train their dogs 24/7. The inmates are assigned in two-man teams. This ensures there is always a handler able to tend to their dog’s needs. The inmates are selected by the facility staff and must meet a number of requirements to be considered for the program. 

How can I adopt a dog from the Heel Together Academy? We would recommend following Brook’s Dog Training Academy and Highlands County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook. Updates are usually posted by HCSO when a group is starting. Adoptions go through HCSO Animal Services who can be reached at: (863) 402-6730 and you can see more information from HSCO here.

In the end, everyone benefits! The inmates can be involved in something meaningful to them while also receiving an education that will assist them in their future. Animal Services can help dogs get adopted quickly. And, of course, the dogs get to learn valuable skills and find a new forever home.