A paw-fect Partnership

We have been very lucky to have the ladies from Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women volunteer with us on a regular basis for many years now. Currently, we have five ladies who do a variety of jobs which help them learn warehousing and customer service skills while contributing to the community. 

They have recently been joined by Pablo and Pedro, two Guide Dog WA puppies living at the Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women. 

The five-and-a-half-month-old brothers (who are growing very quickly!) have been hard at work learning socialisation and obedience skills from selected prisoners who’ve been specially trained as puppy handlers. 

As part of their training, Pablo and Pedro visit Perth’s Foodbank Centre every week with Boronia’s minimum-security prisoners who volunteer with us. 

But it’s not just the pups who are learning new skills. Their handlers say the dogs are also teaching them some very important life lessons. 

If you’d like to see how quickly Pablo and Pedro are growing up, just play the video.

The pre-release program provides housing in an environment that closely mirrors life outside of prison as it attempts to allow for a less traumatic transition back to everyday life. Staff help facilitate training of the prisoners and try to arrange employment on their release in conjunction with local businesses as a measure to prevent reoffending.