Project POOCH

Project POOCH (POOCH is an acronym for "Positive Opportunities, Obvious Change with Hounds") is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that aims to provide life-changing opportunities for adjudicated youth and shelter dogs who could benefit from our small kennel and personal approach. In 1993, the program was started by Joan Dalton at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, United States. The program's success has garnered it international attention, with similar programs established in South Korea and Scotland, as well as Japanese television shows and documentaries about the program. The project has also been featured on Animal Planet.

Dogs from local animal shelters are taken in by Project POOCH and work with the youth in the program, many of whom have been convicted of serious crimes such as murder and sexual assault. The dogs who come to Project POOCH are often struggling in larger and louder kennels. They may be shut down and decompensating, or simply need some help with their basic manners, or to learn how to be a dog. The program was revamped in 2023 to consist of a cohort model where Project POOCH dogs arrive as one group, are trained as a group, and then the team work to get them adopted all around the same time. This allows the youth to work with the dogs in a consistent and predictable way from cohort to cohort, and keeps all the dogs working on the same skills at the same time.

For her doctoral dissertation, Sandra Merriam-Aduini studied the effects of Project POOCH had on violent, incarcerated male juveniles inmates, studying effects on recidivism, reformation, and behavioral changes linked to human-animal interactions emphasizing responsibility, patience, and compassion.

Between 1993 and 1999, Merriam-Aduini found zero recidivism of POOCH participants and that the program achieved educational expectations and judicial orders with success rates, including marked behavior improvements in "respect for authority, social interaction and leadership", as well as "growth in areas of honesty, empathy, nurturing, social growth, understanding, confidence level, and pride of accomplishment".

Project POOCH dogs are adopted into loving homes following meet & greets and home visits.