Project POOCH, Inc.® has successfully paired youths who are currently incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, with shelter dogs since 1993.

Youths (guided by professionals) learn to train the dogs, groom them, and help them get adopted. The dogs leave the program ready to be great pets, while their trainers re-enter the community with new job and personal skills and increased compassion and respect for all life. Both youth and dogs experience unconditional love, often for the first time.