WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES

Cora Rose, adopted shelter dog and double amputee, balances on her hind legs to watch as Zach Skow repairs her wheelchair on a road in Washington D.C.

Believed to have been hit by a car, both of Cora Rose’s front legs were shattered, and infection meant they needed to be amputated. By the time Cora Rose was transferred to Skow’s rescue organisation, Marley’s Mutts, her quality of life was still in question. But as she healed, she started building strength in her back legs – and slowly but surely she was able to use her custom wheelchair to get about.

Happy and healthy, Cora Rose now serves in a prisoner therapy programme that Skow started in California, which is called ‘Pawsitive Change’. This initiative pairs incarcerated men with at-risk dogs rescued from shelters, and they then live together within the penitentiary walls for about 14 weeks. With the end goal of mutual rehabilitation, this unique programme is set up to help inmates establish compassion and develop real-life skills, reduce their chances of reoffending, and prepare them for productive lives after incarceration. Since its inception, the programme has grown to include five prisons, and saves about 60 dogs a year.

One inmate said of the programme, “We live inside a place where we can’t show our emotion – it’s considered a weakness. But with [Pawsitive Change], we can feel – give and receive affection. We become cold in here, much more cold then when we entered. But these dogs give us a chance to be human.”