Shelter Me

Second Chances

– Boomer, where are you, boy?

– Boomer.

Sometimes the unthinkable happens, but with the help of Love Lost and its pet image recognition software, you can upload your pet’s photo to our national database.

It’s open to all.

So whether you lose or find a pet, Love Lost can help reunite families.

At Love Lost we believe pets belong at home with those who love them.

– Petco Love Lost.

Hi, I’m Edie Falco and I wanted to introduce you to a very important member of my family.

This is Sammy.

She was saved from a puppy mill two years ago and brought to an animal shelter, which is where she came into my life.

Right now there are so many pets like Sammy in shelters across the country and they need our help.

Shelter Me is a series that celebrate shelter pets by telling their stories.

As you will see, amazing things can happen when animals like these are given a second chance.

In this episode, we go inside a juvenile detention facility where teenage inmates learn how to train dogs.

How’d that feel?

– Good.

He’s learned a lot.

– A poet delivers an emotional performance about the impact shelter pets can have on our lives – In this spot right here love occurs.

– And a professional photographer takes a group of students into a shelter to show how to take great pictures.

– Ah, that’s great.

That’s better than my shot.

– A pet in a shelter is just temporarily homeless.

You can be the one to change that.

You may find yourself wondering who is actually helping, who.

Please get involved with your local shelter.

Give pets like Sammy a second chance.

Come shelter me Your light is all I need to survive In a world where the cool wind’s blowin’ Will your love be a shelter for me?

– Today’s a pretty important day.

We’re gonna go into Juvie Hall here in Orange, California, and what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna meet the guys who have volunteered for this particular program.

I’m going into Unit Q for the dog program.

– The PAW Program is a program in which we take shelter dogs from the Orange County Animal Shelter and we pair them with kids who are serving commitments at Orange County Juvenile Hall.

– PAW is an acronym for Pups and Wards, and it’s a way of bringing both of them together to give both of them second chances for a life after the shelter and a life after incarceration as a minor.

– Stand at your door.

Let’s go, gentlemen.

Let me see your left hand and wristbands are on.

– The PAW Program is run in the only long term commitment program at Juvenile Hall.

We have had kids here for robbery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking.

So these kids are sentenced to lengthy commitments and they are housed in this particular unit.

– Hey gentlemen, thank you so much for coming.

I know this is a great program and I’m thrilled that you’re here today.

I mean, believe it or not, it’s time for another group of dogs to come and you’re gonna be their trainers.

– Janette Thomas is the gal that originally approached the animal shelter, which approached us, regarding this program.

She comes in on her own time and volunteers her time, and all of her efforts.

She has a true love for animals and a true love for kids.

– This is a volunteer program for them.

They have to groom the dog, feed the dog, clean the dog, take care of it.

It’s a lot of responsibility, like having a child for some of them.

Jonathan, you are new to the program.

I’d love to get your feedback on really why you wanna do this and what you hope to get out of the program.

– Just get some knowledge, you know, how to treat a dog, how to take care of him, and hopefully just pass it on to my son when I get out.

– How old is your son?

– A year and a half.

– How long have you been here?

– For a year and three months.

– A year and three months.

And how much longer do you have?

– Eight more months.

– I don’t ask what their offenses are, only because I don’t want that to jade my perception of who they are or what they can do.

We’ve all made mistakes at one point in our life, we’ve made mistakes.

Probably not as heinous as some of these young men, but everybody deserves a chance.

This is like having a baby, even though it’s not a baby in diapers, it’s a young dog.

It really depends on you for everything.

Over at the shelter, it gets water, it gets food, and it’s pretty warm at night, but it doesn’t have companionship.

And dogs need, like people, companionship.

They need friends, they need love.

I mean, you look over at that board over there, we’ve had 25 dogs that have gone through the program.

We had Furby.

Furby was one of the cutest little dogs.

He was nearly nine years old, but even though he was old and he had a little bit of arthritis, people just loved his personality.

And I really hope that’s what touches your heart, is the personality of these dogs.

The third part of this equation is that we’re gonna have wonderful families who can’t wait to have dogs that are fully trained.

These are great shelter dogs and there are so many dogs at the shelter like this.

Can’t wait to do more.

It’s gonna be a great day and I can’t wait to get started.

This facility is in a unique location because it’s less than a mile to the county shelter.

So it’s great relative to accessibility, but it also provides a great opportunity for the kids to go on a field trip before the dogs come into the shelter.

This is a huge outing for the kids.

Some of ’em haven’t been out since they’ve been incarcerated.

– We’re OC Animal Care.

We’re the largest shelter in Orange County.

We take in about 30,000 live animals every single year.

We can house anywhere from 482 dogs, 300 to 350 cats and about 50 bunny rabbits.

– Most people say, oh, who wants to go to a shelter?

You know, they’re throwaway dogs.

I look at shelters as, and I call this diamonds in the rough.

This is amazing for the kids because many of them have never been to a shelter.

He just wants to kick it.

– Everybody has a story, just like the dogs.

They may not have had structure, they may not have had love.

They got into bad habits with drug and alcohol abuse and just got into, you know, gangs.

Dogs run in packs, kids run in gangs.

So there’s so many analogies between the dogs and the kids and it just seemed to be like a perfect blend.

– Hey, hey, little feisty… – She’s like, gimme the snacks.

– Danny was in the program last time.

It was the first time he was in the group and he stood in the back.

But I just watched him.

He didn’t say much at all during that whole program, but these pearls would come out of his mouth, you know, he would basically tell you what was heartfelt.

– She’s not comfortable.

Give it a little time.

I’ll work with her.

She’ll be comfortable and she won’t do that.

She’s strange, you know, it’s like everybody’s watching her so she’s like protective ’cause this is where she stays at.

A lot of chihuahuas are like that.

Well, I’ve been in and out of Juvenile Hall for quite some time.

The first time I got busted when I was 11.

So now I’m doing three years.

I got busted for aggravated assault.

– I see a huge change in him.

I mean, he was hard.

You can see he’s got tattoos.

He is not just tattooed on his arms, he is got ’em on his neck.

He’s a pretty heavy gang banger.

– The process we go through, we train him and teach him how to be interactive and disciplined so when they go to a home, they won’t get him and be like, oh, it’s nice at the beginning.

And then just once they start not really liking him, then they just throw him away or like give him away.

Like why they end up here.

– What do you think his biggest training challenge would be right now?

Yeah, getting him to go off.

You know, you basically have to turn around every time the dog comes to you.

– I feel pretty bad for those dogs, you know?

And like Janelle was telling me that like sometimes like, not like every day they come out of the cage and stuff, like to walk him around and stuff.

So they’re kind of lonely, you know, gimme – Baby girl.

Oh yes, there she is.

Look at the happy tail.

There you go.

Since two years I was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and assault mayhem.

I get out in 70 days, I just plan to get out there to college, get a job and stuff, you know, start a new – life.

One of my objectives is to expose them to the softer side of a dog.

To meet dogs that they probably wouldn’t have even given a second thought to on the outside.

But when they see the transformation that happens over time, they’re really stunned because many of them have transformed themselves into new people by the time, you know, the 10 weeks is over – With the PAW program, I have seen that the transformations do start to happen.

And so you might have someone that before they kind of have given up, they really don’t think that they have clear goals.

Just having them start to think about that life changes need to happen and that they can happen.

And so definitely this ties in with the PAW program.

– Come on, baby.

The dogs that are being selected for this program, they have a chance, like so many deserve.

They’ll be saved.

They have a second chance at a great life and the people who adopt them will get great dogs.

So it’s a win all the way around for the kids, for the dogs and the adopters.

Come on.

– We’ve had approximately 27 dogs go through the program and be successfully adopted.

– Let’s go.

– We’ve probably had over 50 kids that are directly involved with the caretaking of the dogs, but over a hundred that have been impacted by the program itself.

– These dogs wanna love someone.

They absolutely do.

And these kids need someone to love them.

– This is Cooper.

– This is the one.

– One of the things that I see that changes when the dogs arrive is that people begin to laugh.

Sometimes they might feel that, because they’re here at Juvenile Hall, they have to be, as some will say, rough and tough.

And so it loosens ’em up and you see this loving side Daisy’s about three years old.

She’s a half golden retriever, half poodle.

She was brought in by her family.

They said that they can no longer take care of her.

Very, very sweet and loving little girl.

She’s got lots of energy though.

– My name is Ricardo Caesar Mendoza.

I’m 18 years old.

I got sentenced to nine months and I currently have five months done.

But in my situation it happens.

And then what can I do about it?

I’m just gonna do my time.

I’m not gonna cry about it.

– Very playful.

Shelter dogs.

They’re great dogs, you know, they’re just like any other dog, but they’re just in a shelter, you know?

So it just takes a little bit more time, you know?

– This is a little Banjo.

He’s a little schnauzer mix.

He’s a little bit anxious right now.

He’s had a big day.

He’s about three years old.

He was picked up by the animal control truck.

He was just running around town.

So he is what they would call as stray.

He would be great at all different types of tricks.

So you guys will have a great time learning some new stuff with him.

He’ll learn very fast.

– He’s gonna be a cool dog.

– The PAW program is really unique.

Kids want to be in the program, they want to be a part of this.

I usually get more minors filling out applications than I can accept.

– This particular program, when they ask for volunteers, the guys cross those gang lines.

They basically say, I wanna do this and I will work with you – While I’m here.

The main, my main goal is to get out and to not come back.

So I try to not let that get in my way.

My rivals in here and don’t let that get in the way of what I need to do.

– The ability of these guys to bring the temperature of the unit down because they get along.

The fighting in this unit is certainly much less than it used to be.

And it also gives, you know, the other kids in the unit, Hey, I’d like to be in their program, you know, I want a dog.

What do I have to do to get in?

– It somehow goes inside them and finds the child in them, which so many of these kids were not children, and they laugh and they play – Well.

I personally believe that shelter dogs are the only way to go.

This is Clyde.

Clyde is my 4-year-old little MinPin that I actually was able to adopt from the program that we have here at Juvenile Hall.

I think that it’s instilled a lot of calmness in the units.

It’s instilled a lot of patience in the kids because it’s not easy training dogs and it’s not easy having to spend, you know, nights listening to them bark.

But they do and they learn that, you know, any kind of dog that they get, they can train.

You know, it’s, it’s not an easy thing, but they’re learning that easy is not always the best way.

And so it’s been a great program.

– She’s gonna be a fast learner.

For the next 10 to 12 weeks, they are together potentially 24 hours a day.

Obviously the kids go to school and different things, but they’re together the majority of every day and every night.

Training them, socializing them, and making them into great pets for somebody in the community.

– Janette will come in for the first six weeks and she’s gonna train those kids how to train dogs.

She teaches about dog behavior, about their mannerisms, the different types of breeds that are out there.

She spends about three to four hours a week teaching them just basic how to train a dog.

Go ahead Jonathan.

He’s all yours.

– My name is Jonathan de Sanchez.

I’m 16 and I’ve been here for a year and three months and I’m doing two years.

– When Cooper was sick, Jonathan was the one to tend to him, which is huge as opposed to just, at a point, these kids will go home and at least they’ll have the tools to take them forward.

– I’m hoping just to have a nice house with my baby’s mom and my son and just live a regular life, you know?

Maybe not a perfect, perfect life, ’cause I don’t believe in a perfect life either, but maybe not a bad life either.

You know, just give my son the best I can, you know?

Give my son what I didn’t get.

It’s okay.

Talk to him nicely.

Banjo, he’s doing great.

He’s a little bit shy today.

He seems to have shut down.

He is a little bit anxious, but it’s only day one.

We’re gonna take a treat.

Daisy.

Get her down and then we’re just gonna move the treat like this.

Come on.

Here it is.

Here it is.

There you go.

Go ahead.

Keep moving.

Look at that.

Awesome.

My name is Andrew Centeno.

I’m 16 years old.

I’m here for a second degree robbery and possession of a firearm.

I’m doing a year and a half.

We’re just starting out with the dogs.

I mean, we just got ’em.

They’re a little distracted.

It is because I mean, eventually they get tired of too much attention and they just want to wander off.

– Give him a little more leash.

Good job.

– Stay.

– They were never taught this, so they’re not just gonna learn it like that.

They just, you have to work with them.

– Excellent.

Very nice.

– Little by little they’ll learn more and more.

– Okay.

Danny, call him.

Cooper was a dog who was running around and picked up by the animal control truck.

And when I temperament- test the dogs, I wanna see how they respond to hands.

And when I would go like this to to Cooper, he would shy away and he would shun and he would move back.

He was afraid of hands.

Hands to him were not a good thing.

Now what we’ve done today is an exercise that I would do in week four or five, certainly not week one.

To take a dog off leash outdoors and have him run a four point, you know, recall is amazing.

– I think he just loves to interact with people, you know, I think that’s the main thing.

And when you call him, it’s like he’s just, he feels the love.

– Like people, if you treat someone with kindness, you begin to trust again.

And then from the trust, becomes, you know, you begin to flourish into who you really have the potential of becoming.

And that’s what I see in these dogs so very often, which really to me makes this whole program worthwhile.

He’s not paying any attention to you.

Good.

Give him a treat for sitting.

1, 2, 3, go back, give him a treat, go back, give ’em a treat.

Yes.

Excellent.

Beautiful.

Nice job.

And what we’ll do is I’ll give the kids like a homework sheet when we go back inside, they’ll have a list of all the commands that we did today so that they can practice during the next week.

I come in once a week, we review the commands that we’ve already learned and then I start with another four or five commands.

That was excellent.

Okay.

Come on guys.

Nice job.

– People think that Juvenile Hall is supposed to be a punitive place where kids commit crimes, they need to come here and they need to be punished.

That’s not our job.

We are here to rehabilitate.

We are here to provide people with skills so that when they do get out, that they’re not gonna be repeating the crimes that they committed it.

– Great job.

I’ll be back next week.

Have a good weekend.

Bye-bye guys.

It’s important to bring in those types of programs that will really be beneficial to the kids.

And at the same time, we’re gonna be able to help these dogs too.

– We’ve actually seen some of the wards who have come and volunteered with Janette afterwards, work with some of the dogs.

It’s tremendous to see their growth and the knowledge that they’ve gotten from Janette and the fact that they’re using it now.

– There’s a big one for me.

His name’s Jonathan.

He was in our program for two years.

He actually helps Janette over at the shelter.

He’s been doing some volunteer work over there.

We’re very proud of him.

It was a long-fought battle.

– He’s been great.

He comes here once a week.

He leaves school.

He takes the bus to get here, which is a big effort.

And then we are here probably once a week for about two to three hours.

He helps me evaluate the dogs.

He’ll tell me which ones he thinks would be good in the program next door.

So for me, that information is priceless.

What do you think about that guy?

– Well, he looks energetic.

He was incarcerated when he was 14 years old.

– He was a hardcore gang member.

In fact, so bad that he wasn’t able to come out of his room without fighting.

– Like they’re a little stubborn, but they’re good dogs.

– He seems pretty nice.

– Yeah, he seems mellow.

– In talking with his staff members, they said he was outrageous.

You know, lots of gang banging, lots of drugs.

It was just attention-seeking behavior.

– At that time we were doing this dog program.

He saw the dogs running up and down the hallway.

He saw the kids playing with them and it kind of piqued his interest.

– I got into the PAW program and then I got into a fight.

I got kicked out and then I got into the PAW program again.

And I made it through that time and I, I got really into it.

And then I started changing a lot.

– He became one of our lead trainers two groups ago.

We had a dog named Jasmine, and she was adopted by a family who has a special needs child.

I saw the pictures of the day the family met that dog.

Jonathan was there and that child was on the ground and really couldn’t sit up.

But Jonathan laid down on that ground and played with that dog and played with that kid.

You would never have seen that from him.

A year and a half prior to that.

– Hey what do you think?

– He’s up in the caves.

He looks cute.

Working with the dogs in the shelter, in Juvenile Hall, it helped me, because like, I started caring for somebody else besides myself.

This is Dottie.

She came from the shelter to the PAW program.

I, myself personally trained her.

– It was amazing because she just settled him down, you know, took all of the bad stuff away.

– I personally think that we relate to these animals next door in the shelter because they’re looking for a second chance.

Just like we are.

– Do you think he has any manners?

– No, not yet, but with a little bit of training.

No, we can fix it.

– He’ll be perfect.

– Yeah.

– Good morning.

How are you?

– I have seen incredible transition stories from some of the guys in this program.

– Well, when he first got here, he wouldn’t listen.

Like he would just roam around and do his own thing.

But now he, he’s gotten a lot better, now that he’s gotten to know us a little better.

He works good, you know, he listens a little more and he knows tricks and commands.

– Sit.

Stay.

– What I love to see is the relationships that not only build with the kids and the dog, but with the kids themselves.

A lot of these kids wouldn’t even talk to each other, let alone work together as teams.

And to see, watching the dog go from one person to the other, that really breaks down all the gang barriers, all this garbage that they came in with.

All the history.

– Leave it.

Clean up.

Yes.

Good boy.

– Gimme five.

That was awesome.

– It’s like another friend, you know, another friend that won’t backstab you, put it like that.

Like he’s just right there kicking it with you.

You know, you could talk to him, play with him.

It’s pretty good.

I’m, I’m really gonna miss him.

He is a good dog.

He’s a great dog, you know.

Yeah, he’s wonderful.

– Okay guys, let’s get the dog into his position.

Awesome.

That’s a great way to finish up graduation.

Nice job.

I wanted to be a vet.

That was always my dream as a kid.

And when I got outta college, unfortunately, you know, life takes a different path.

So I, I didn’t get into veterinary college, so I ended up with a different career and I was in corporate for 25 years and had a great career.

But there was always a passion.

I wanted to work with dogs.

And when I, when I retired a few years ago, I, that was my way of getting back into what I loved.

Awesome.

That was terrific, Jose.

Good job guys.

That’s great.

Working with a shelter dog.

There’s so much more in a dog that they can offer you.

And a better opportunity to get these dogs out of local shelters and get them into loving homes, which is really the goal of this program and others like it.

Awesome, that’s great.

– Good girl.

Getting kids involved, kids who don’t have life skills, you know, this institution works very hard to try to rehabilitate them, but they need to learn skills.

They need to learn responsibility and patience and empathy and, and all of that.

And that’s one of the, the key values of this program.

How’d that feel?

– Good.

He learned a lot.

– You did a really nice job.

He’s awesome.

I’m really proud of you.

Thanks for doing that.

– Everybody has a journey and I have a journey as well.

And I can tell you that these programs fill my heart.

When I see kids who basically are on the road of destruction and embrace a loving animal who basically helps them change the course of their life.

That’s what feeds me.

You know, I do this as a volunteer because I believe in the program.

I believe that it makes a difference.

I have someone I think you’d like to see, – Jordan.

Oh, for goodness sake.

How are you?

How are you, how are you doing?

– I could see something special in Jordan when he raised his hands and I said, great.

Come on into the program.

We found this little poodle mix at the shelter who I thought would be perfect for a woman who had recently lost her husband.

– We got her into the program, got her completely shaved and cleaned up.

She was a gorgeous dog, absolutely beautiful, friendliest dog you’ll ever meet.

The kids loved her.

– She was just exactly what I needed and who I needed at the time.

And your training, the work that you did with her was incredibly wonderful because that’s who made her who she is today.

– I wanted her to be trained correctly.

That way she can go to a home and not mess it up and think, and the owner doesn’t think bad of the trainer who trained her – Before Lulu left I got really, really attached to her.

I didn’t want her to go nowhere.

But I knew she that she needed you and you needed her.

So it was the right thing to do.

Let her go and for you to be with her.

– Thank you.

– It’s what this program’s all about.

It’s about giving back.

It’s about second chances.

It’s about people who need each other.

Susan had a need, Jordan had a need and brought that together because of Lulu.

– Stay.

– Yes come here, Lulu.

Good girl.

– I miss that trick.

Good girl, Lulu.

– You made me very happy.

– And to see you out and about and being successful.

I’m thrilled.

It’s like you’re one of my own kids.

I’m extremely proud of you.

– Thank you.

I appreciate it.

– You’re welcome.

Today’s a big day.

It’s graduation and it’s really the culmination of 10 weeks of, of dog training, you know, session with the kids and the dogs.

And it’s a big celebration for everybody.

– We actually have a little ceremony where the kids who have been training the dogs will actually hand it over to the new owners of the dog.

– I see it.

I see change in these minors, from the time that they start the program to the time that they finish it.

They’ve really bonded with these dogs.

They’re learning from each other that they need to believe in themselves.

That they’ll get that second chance.

That they’re worthy of that.

And they’re getting that through this program.

After today’s graduation, we will have had 28 dogs graduate and all of them have been placed in loving homes.

And what’s extra special about today is that one of the dogs is so exceptional.

To see the before and after transition of what Cooper looks like today.

His temperament is so special that what we’re going to do is take him from this program into another program that we have at a state women’s prison and transfer him into advanced training with the hope of training him for a child with autism.

– It makes me feel bad knowing that there’s people out there that need extra help.

So it makes me feel great knowing that Cooper’s gonna go to that kind, like to go help a person like that, you know.

– Today’s the day to say goodbye.

It’s pretty hard, but I’ll try to handle it.

When I started the program, I was heartless, you know, like I didn’t really care.

But after a period of time I started loving the dogs.

You know, I started growing heart, started feeling how they felt like all alone.

You know, like no one loving them or not having a house, always getting abused.

Like I felt it too.

So I feel what the dog feel and I think it will help me when I get out.

Like have some heart now, think about choices, like the things that I’m gonna do.

– The people who we’ve identified to adopt these dogs embrace the program.

They’re just thrilled that they’re getting a dog that has, you know, all the manners that they’d love to have.

He’s a very happy, he just made me giggle.

That’s why I called him Banjo.

The big part of that is basically handing their loving dog over to the new owner, you know, and basically completing that bridge.

It really is a sign of accomplishment for them and is certainly is a chance for the people you know, the adopters to say thank you.

This is a culmination of 10 weeks worth of hard work.

I want you to be proud of what you’ve done.

I know I am and staff are extremely proud of your accomplishments.

And what we’d like to do is recognize that today.

Thank so would everybody like to see what the dogs can do?

There you go, that’s Peekaboo.

– When you turn around and see what happens to both the young men and the dogs because of this training program, quite honestly, it takes my breath away to see what you’ve accomplished in 10 weeks based on your commitment and hard work and what these dogs have basically done for you and what you have done for them, I think is amazing.

Many of you have told me over the years in the other groups, you learn patience, responsibility, compassion.

You can do so much with what you’ve learned.

I’m really counting on you to do that because hopefully the dog has taught you something and I really look forward to you being able to teach other people on the outside of how they can, you know, make great family pets that are loving shelter dogs.

So thank you so much for that.

And my friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you.

So can I ask Andrew and Sergio if you would come forward please and we can basically lovingly hand over Banjo to his new owners.

– Come on, Bus.

Come on Banjo.

– Bus?

– I’m gonna call him Buster.

Come on, Bus.

– Ricardo and Christian, thank you so much.

Thank you.

All of you guys will get a, a certificate of appreciation.

This is special ’cause you’re going home tomorrow, huh?

Good luck at home.

All right.

I’m really proud of you.

Thanks so much for all your work with Banjo.

Thank you.

You’re welcome.

– Without Janette, we could not do this program.

– Hopefully we can do one more.

– Okay.

Thank you, my friend.

– She just provides not only for the dogs, but especially for those that she’s training, the dog trainers.

From the beginning, and then when it gets tough, is to learn how to make it through those challenges, move forward and then to be successful.

– Jose Jimenez, – Her passion is just incredible.

Her energy is just abundant.

She just brings so much and she, it’s contagious.

It rubs off on me and I know it rubs off on the kids and I know it rubs off on the dogs as well.

– Jonathan Sanchez, I know you worked really hard with him and I know you’re gonna miss him, but he’s gonna be an awesome dog for someone who really needs his help.

So thanks for doing a great job.

I look forward to doing it again with you.

– Thanks.

There’s nothing better for me than to hear people you know, praise the program because of what it’s done for themselves, the dogs and their family and these kids as well.

– I’m leaving tomorrow, so now I know that I accomplished something before I left this place.

– I just love everything about this program.

We’ve got a great dog.

She’s been trained and we’re just looking forward to having her in the house and and making her part of the family.

– This can be a life changing program for some of ’em and I’m really convinced that certainly this group here was one of the best I’ve ever had.

Both relative to the the kids and the dogs.

And I have high hopes for all of them.

If we could get programs like this into other institutions and catch these young people and even adults and rehabilitate them, rather than just be focused on correction, they will go out with life skills.

If we can grow the programs, then we can take more dogs from shelters and get them out of there.

– This isn’t cages and cement and stone walls.

You’re seeing it wrong.

This is baggage claim at LAX, platform at Grand Central.

Curbside, engine running, door open, waiting.

This is not goodbye.

This is hello.

This is where families grow, where best friends meet, shake hands, speak amidst the barking and the purrs, in this spot right here love occurs.

A cage is unlocked, an arrival gate swings wide.

A heart opens and from inside love leaps out.

Runs out, creeps out, comes out, timidly appears or, without fear, bowls you over, jumps into your arms or rolls over, stands up on two legs, begs “Home.

Let’s go home.

I’m tired.

It’s been a long trip.

You ready?”

And I’m ready.

You ready girl?

Yes.

Come on girl.

Let’s go home.

Just like an airport and bus stops, behind each of these arrival gates a beloved family member or best friend waits for you to show up call their name, pick them up, take them into your arms, gather up their things and bring them home.

First time I was here I picked up Patches.

I was 13, it was my birthday, she was a springer spaniel sheep dog.

And when I saw her, she ran into my arms.

I was never more excited than when I opened up the car door and she leapt in.

Come on girl, let’s go home.

Now here is where I met Nina Simone.

Nina Simone was the last cat I owned in a home I shared with a woman.

Now, one day the woman told me that she didn’t love me enough and she left me alone in a home with Nina Simone, who never left my side.

Here is where I met my coolest cat.

His name was Jack.

But to me he was Brad Kitten, Fight Club cat.

Oh man, that cat was so cool, I wanted to be him.

You know, I would look at him, I’d say, damn, Jack’s got it all figured out.

That cat knows things.

You know, he actually managed to make me insecure.

I wanted him to like me.

I would hold in my stomach around him.

I went to bed in makeup.

I would let him pick the radio station.

I wanted to be in his gang.

Here is where they found Samson.

A yellow Lab who went from here to a hospital after being trained as a therapy dog.

He would go straight to the bed, put his head in the patient’s lap, and suddenly a laugh is heard.

A hand is raised and a different kind of medicine is scratched lovingly behind the ear.

And they met him here.

Over there is where a 4-year-old boy with autism who had never said a word found Cheetah, went straight up to her, said “Cat.”

Turns out he could talk.

He just needed someone with the patience to listen.

This isn’t dogs and cats.

Dogs and cats are just that.

I’m talking about Brad Kitten and Samson and Cheetah and Nina Simone.

I’m talking about Mr. Whiskers.

You understand me?

I’m talking about Mr. Whiskers.

I’m talking about Dirk Diggler and Guinness and Ambassador and Captain Fluff.

What you know about Captain Fluff?

Huh?

What you know about Linus Lamar Odom the cat.

Shout out to Patches.

Lady Pill Bottom.

Tell Scratches and Myladar I got the car running out front, window cracked, chew toy in the back.

Let’s do this.

Wrangle Dime.

Ball Knock.

Mr. Fluffy Butt Esq, get off the couch, boy, you know better than that.

I’m talking about Turtle and Chicken and Dog.

All cats, every one of ’em.

Mad love to Spiro and Dora, Walker, Derby, Pickles, Face Face, Eyeballs And Fur, Fatso, PawPaw, Bug.

Not on the rug, baby.

Not on the rug.

Face it, this is not dogs and cats.

This is more than that.

This is smiles and laughter and friendship and love.

This is belly rubs and chew toys and endless licking and love.

This is waiting by the door love.

Coming when you call love.

This is going after the ball and bringing it back and going after the ball and bringing it back and going after the–hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute.

You didn’t throw it that time.

You pretended to throw it but then you didn’t.

You still have it.

You tricked me.

But that’s cool.

Now throw the ball and I’ll go get it and bring it back.

This is sleeping by your side.

This is purring in your lap.

This is not dogs and cats.

This is family.

This isn’t cages and stone walls and cement.

You’re seeing it wrong.

This is baggage claim at LAX, platform at Grand Central, curbside, engine running, door open, waiting.

This is hello.

This is where families grow, where best friends meet, shake hands, speak, amidst the barking and the purrs.

In this spot right here, love occurs.

A cage unlocked, an arrival gate swings wide.

A heart opens, and from inside love leaps out, comes out, creeps out, runs out, timidly appears, or, without fear, bowls you over, jumps into your arms, rolls over, stands up on two legs, begs, “Home.

Let’s go home.

I’m tired.

It’s been a long trip.

You ready?”

And I’m ready.

You ready girl?

Yes.

Come on girl.

Let’s go home.

– Everybody, I’m Seth, and this is the One Picture Saves A Life workshop.

Come on this way.

We’re gonna go in here.

I’m gonna teach you guys some tips and tricks about how to take better pictures to save the lives of homeless pets.

Come on in, come on in.

– My name is Seth Casteel.

I’m a lifestyle pet photographer.

I photograph dogs, cats, a variety of other pets.

And I do work with some wild animals too.

The goal today is to teach the public and shelter volunteers how to take better pictures of the pets here, to increase adoption rates.

– Wow.

We have a good turnout.

I became a pet photographer just by chance.

I used to do movie advertising, working for a movie studio.

There was a number of cats that were living at Sony Pictures at the time.

– Everybody find a seat.

– And some friends of mine were helping feral cats that were living on this studio lot.

And they found some baby kittens and they said, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do with these kittens?

We need to find them homes.

So I volunteered to take some pictures of these kittens.

We put them out on the worldwide web.

Within 24 hours all the kittens were adopted.

I thought that was pretty cool.

I thought, wow, this is awesome that the pictures can make such a difference.

– I want to thank everybody for coming out today.

So let’s have a round of applause for everybody for coming out.

– So then I started volunteering at the shelter, photographing dogs and cats.

That led me into career as a pet photographer.

And so today, these days, now I’m a a full-time animal photographer.

And then of course a big part of my work is continuing to help domestic pets find forever homes through photography.

My ultimate goal for all the work that I’m doing is to change the perception about rescue and adoption.

Getting people to come in here and show people this is not a negative place.

This is actually a good place to come and find an amazing pet.

– Good girl.

– And so many people just don’t know that.

– You like this one?

– So by taking improved positive photographs, representing the personalities of these pets, we’re getting people to come in and give this place a chance.

– Has anybody here seen the commercial advertising animal shelters, and there’s this sad music and there’s really sad images.

And maybe you heard Sarah McLachlan.

Has anybody seen these commercials?

Okay, how many people change the channel when you see those commercials?

Anybody change the channel?

Why do you change the channel when you see that commercial?

– I think people are more motivated by things that make them feel inspired, and that are positive, than things that make them feel guilty.

– I couldn’t agree more.

We wanna inspire people to come in and be a part of this.

We want people to come adopt.

We want people to come to this place and not be afraid.

That’s what this program is about.

It’s about being positive.

It’s about creating inspiration.

It’s about creating awareness.

Alright, so I’m gonna show you guys some before and after pictures and get your thoughts on these pictures.

Here we have Donut’s before picture.

Can somebody tell me what’s wrong with Donut’s picture?

– I think this picture makes Donut look almost like he’s a criminal and that he’s in jail behind the bars, and it just doesn’t look very appealing.

Like, you wouldn’t want this dog in your house ’cause he looks like a bad dog.

– Jail?

Who wants to go to jail?

Who wants to bring their family to jail?

Nobody.

So when you see this, you think, gosh, how can I go to jail and hang out there?

You don’t wanna go hang out here.

And then bad dog.

A lot of people just don’t understand.

They can get good dogs and good cats at the animal shelter.

But when you see pictures like this all the time on the internet, you just think, geez, all these dogs and cats are bad.

They’re locked up.

They don’t look happy.

They don’t look healthy.

How could I ever envision having this pet in my home?

That’s the struggle that we have.

But when you have these positive photos like this, now this is a dog that you want to come meet and you wanna bring into your home, and you can see the difference.

I mean, it’s hard to believe this is the same dog.

Here we have Wilma.

This is her original intake shot.

Again, not the most positive.

Doesn’t really inspire people to want to come in and say hello.

So now we have this picture.

This is Wilma’s new adoption photo, which ultimately resulted in Wilma being adopted.

So we want to create these positive photographs that invoke positive feelings in us.

So we wanna come in, we wanna meet the dog, we want to come in to the animal shelter.

We don’t wanna be scared.

So this is the kind of picture that we want to ultimately create.

And this is what I’m gonna be teaching you about today.

All who wants to go photographs some pets?

Woo.

Let’s go.

All right guys, we’re gonna go photograph dogs, cats, maybe some rabbits.

Everybody come this way.

Come on out.

All righty guys, this is Girly Girl.

She’s gonna be our model.

So when you’re meeting a dog, I never ever put my face near their face.

I’m always saying hello and being respectful and sensing if they’re anxious or not.

I always work one-on-one with a teammate and your name is?

– Maria.

– Maria, good to meet you.

So she’s gonna help me today.

Keep Girly Girl calm and keep her sitting and standing while I take a picture.

I always take pictures in the shade, always.

I never take pictures in the sun.

And then I’ve got a little background here.

This doesn’t look like much, but it’s still elements of nature.

There’s colors, there’s leaves, there’s a tree here.

Now there’s a fence behind there, but with this camera, you’re never gonna know it.

So it’s also important to limit the number of distractions.

We have other dogs here barking, which is a challenge, but this is the best place to take pictures anywhere.

So we’re gonna go for it anyways.

But the fewer distractions you have, the better it’s gonna be.

Oh, look at her just laying down on the grass.

That’s actually fun.

So I’m gonna have you kind of move just slightly off this way, still her on the leash.

So it’s also really important that your handler always has a good grip on the dog.

It’s all about safety.

So she’s laying down, I’m gonna try to work with this and just get a shot of her laying down in the grass.

I always like to introduce the element of surprise.

I wanna find some motivation that the dog is gonna respond to so I can make a direct connection with the lens.

You want them looking straight into the lens.

So sometimes it could be food, offering them food, or sometimes it could be a noise.

So I have a squeaker toy here, the inside of a squeaker toy.

So I’m gonna try to introduce this and see if she pays attention to it.

Out of nowhere.

See that?

See how she just turned and looks straight at me.

So now if you do it 50 times, she may not be as excited about it anymore.

You have her in position, you do a little squeaker and she responds.

Her ears are up, eyes are alert, she’s smiling right now.

And you have all these elements that are gonna make it positive.

– Good job little one.

Oh, look how good you look.

You look really – Good.

So I’m always gonna be on the dog’s level and have that perspective.

It’s just easier to make a connection that way in the photograph.

Sometimes you might have to crawl around a little bit in the dirt to get those shots.

That’s terrific.

Really, really good.

The reason why I’m using this camera set up is the working distance.

Some people will use a really long lens and they’ll be like 30 feet away trying to take pictures.

But it’s hard to engage with the dog at that level.

I like that kind of three to four foot range.

If she liked treats, I can offer a treat to her and she would take it and I can still make noise and I’m not gonna be too far away.

If I’m 30 feet away, it’s hard for me to offer her a treat.

So now I’m gonna have you guys come over here and work with me and I’m gonna have you guys take a picture.

– I’ve never taken photos at a shelter before.

I usually mainly take pictures of just like my family or friends.

– So she’s looking kind of straight at you.

She’s already calm.

So in a second when you have her in your camera, you’re looking through the viewfinder, I want you to squeak.

Squeak the squeaker.

– I love it because I feel like I’m really good with people and trying like with my dogs, I like to get them to interact with me and I like to get them moving and stuff.

So I thought this was a great chance for me to practice and then also help.

– Oh, terrific.

Ah, that’s great.

That’s better than my shot.

That’s terrific.

Oh, look at you.

– A picture does really make a huge difference.

You can fall in love with the dog over a picture.

And I think that it’s really, really important to adopt dogs rather than buying dogs because there is so many dogs that just don’t have homes right now.

And I think it’s important to find ’em homes before we’re getting new dogs.

– Ah, you’re up.

You got the squeaker toy.

So get down kind of low.

She wants you to pet her.

– We definitely love having the public come by.

Help us play with the animals, keep ’em happy, take the photos.

– Okay, so zoom in just a little bit.

– We have volunteers but unfortunately we don’t have enough of them as well.

Having a great photo helps draw those people in that are looking at the website.

They see the photo, they fall into love with the animal.

They come here, sometimes they don’t take that animal ’cause they see another dog here and it’s an amazing dog and that’s the right dog for them.

– Try to make another weird noise.

Just take a lot of pictures.

You know, the more pictures you take, the more likely you’re gonna get something good.

Alright guys, I’m gonna show you how to photograph a little dog in a little space so we can get a great picture in this really tricky environment.

So come on in.

Good.

And this is Crumpet.

Crumpet is a little terrier mixed friend who desperately needs a new photograph.

– You ready little Crumpet?

Okay.

– The good news is we have shade and we have green, green, green.

So we can use this.

I may not be able to get directly on the ground, but what I can do is, I can shoot slightly above Crumpet and shoot down.

That way I have Crumpet’s, beautiful face, and I have nothing but a a green, non-distracting, beautiful background.

So we’re gonna try to get Crumpet’s attention somehow.

Hey little Crumpet.

Crumpet’s already sitting and staying.

I’m gonna use my squeaker toy here.

What is that Crumpet?

There you go, Crumpet.

Are you going to eat this food?

Oh, it’s okay.

So Crumpet doesn’t really want any treats.

That’s okay.

But Crumpet is sitting and staying pretty good and looking directly at the camera.

Oh he wants–oh my god.

– Hi little Crumpet.

Hi little Crumpet.

– Are you trying to snuggle again?

This Crumpet here is just wanting to sit on my lap.

We might as well try to work with it.

And I think people see this picture, they’re also gonna know.

Crumpet is definitely a lap dog.

They should be ready to have a dog that wants to give you a hug.

– Good job little Crumpet.

Oh you did so good.

– So here we’re gonna work on offering dogs treats.

I’m gonna offer him this treat as he is chewing the treat.

I’m gonna take a bunch of pictures.

Kaiser watch.

Gentle.

Good.

– I visited the website of my local shelter and I saw that many of the animals didn’t have pictures.

Or in the pictures you couldn’t really see them very well.

– Good job buddy.

– I’ve been inspired by this class.

I’m going to my local shelter in a couple weeks to take pictures of the animals and I’m really excited to use the new skills I learned today to help the animals get adopted.

– Kaiser.

Come here, Kaiser.

Good boy.

This class was amazing.

I’m so excited of the things that I learned.

I can’t wait to go back to the shelter and maybe an image can change a life for that dog.

Good job buddy.

– All right, who do we have here?

– She’s called Sasha.

– Alright guys.

Cats are certainly a unique challenge.

They require a lot of patience.

They’re very different to work with than dogs, but they need pictures just as much as the dogs need pictures.

Every shelter’s a little bit different.

They might have a an amazing cat room with cat furniture and trees and everything, with windows and natural light.

If they have that, use it because it can create beautiful pictures.

So we’re gonna embrace this cat tree.

So we’re gonna try to take pictures of this cat in this cat tree and just do a really awesome headshot to try to show off this cat’s personality so we can get this cat adopted.

Alright, so I’m gonna show you guys how to entice this little kitten.

So this cat really likes this treat that I have.

Stay there little guy.

So he likes the treat.

I’m just gonna do a couple pictures here.

I can also make noises too.

Hey look, look.

But I’m gonna try to use smell.

I’m gonna use–whoop, you got it, almost.

Can you see how fast I have to be?

Smell it.

Smell it.

Oh, there you go.

You gotta get it.

So you can try food if that works.

Terrific.

Otherwise you can try noise.

And you see the cat’s gonna look at the keys just for a second.

That’s when you gotta take the picture.

Sometimes I’ll use a squeaker toy for dogs, but keys sometimes can be a really fantastic trick in getting cats to look at you.

So here’s a shot I just did.

Now it’s not perfect, but you know it’s something, the background’s blurry, this little cat’s looking straight at me.

I don’t even mind the little yellow color in there.

Just a pop of color.

It’s kind of cool.

Oh, You like it too, don’t you?

– You like it?

Yeah, you like it?

But I think it’s a pretty good shot.

You know, look at the eyes are so important with the cats.

So you can see, because the cat’s facing this window here, we have good ambient light.

We have good natural light coming from the window.

So the cat’s eyes are gonna be really lit up.

And it’s so important that the cat’s eyes are bright ’cause it just makes him look so lively.

– So how did you get him so crisp when he was moving so much?

He looks perfectly sharp in the photo.

So how’d you do that?

– If you have a camera like this, you just wanna make sure that your shutter speed is always really fast.

So I say one 60th of a second or faster, then you’re gonna have really sharp photos.

If you have like a point and shoot camera, you wanna put it in sports mode.

Okay, – Are there any tricks to keep the cat still?

– Patience.

Patience is the secret.

Alright guys, I wanna see you take some pictures.

There you go.

Get low, get in position first.

There you go.

– Seth actually taught us that there are things we can do to help shelter pets.

Even if you’re not really a professional photographer, you can still use your photo skills to help save pets.

The pets are really nice.

They bring joy to people’s lives.

It’s a really empowering experience and fun as well.

– All right, so what we’re gonna do for these little bunnies is we’re gonna build a little photo box studio.

I don’t like the cages in here.

I don’t like the bars.

Hey, that’ll work.

There we go.

And then we also have this beautiful red sofa, which we’re gonna put down here in our photo studio for these bunnies.

Now we have a hippity hoppity photo studio.

Now we’ve got a really positive environment to put our bunnies in and the bunnies are still gonna stand out so we don’t have cages of concrete anymore.

Just beautiful backdrop.

Alrighty, Team Bunny Rabbit.

You’re gonna be on bunny patrol right now.

So if the bunny tries to run away, maybe ask the bunny to come back to the couch.

You’re gonna come over here and put the bunny on this couch.

So I’m gonna get down really low on the ground.

So, slowly on the couch.

So just pet the little bunny rabbit until he is relaxed.

And don’t let him go yet.

Don’t let him go.

Start, start, you know, just feel how he’s, how he’s doing.

When you start to feel like he’s relaxed, you can slowly start to move your hands away, okay?

Almost.

Really good.

You can touch him again.

Good.

Looking good.

Look how cool he looks.

A big challenge when bunnies look straight at us is we can’t see both eyes if they look straight at us.

So we want them to look slightly profile like we have here.

That way we see one of the bunny’s eyes, the bunny looks super relaxed, but really good, really positive.

No elements of negativity.

The bunny looks super comfortable.

We can see what color the bunny is and we can see the gray ears.

I think it’s a winning shot.

Good job, little bunny.

Okay, so I’m gonna have you guys do some pictures.

So I’ll have you come over here with your phone.

I’ll be on bunny patrol, in case the bunny tries to run away.

And remember you’re taking the picture with your phone, zoom in a little bit.

The bunny seems calm, I’m gonna slowly back away.

– I think a lot of people don’t know about the shelter process and there’s the sweetest animals here and it’s a huge variety.

People would be so surprised.

– I didn’t realize this, but you don’t have to volunteer at a shelter to take photographs.

You can just come for an hour or half an hour.

– Seth was saying it only takes 15 minutes to take photos.

This is one of the few activities where you can make a real difference and you don’t have to be a professional photographer.

You can just go with your smartphone or whatever you have.

– I would definitely suggest bring your own props.

Think about the scene.

Think about cool furniture and backgrounds and pretty colors, fake grass and flowers, other little fake plants.

You can come up with a beautiful little studio and it’s gonna make the pictures that much better.

Here’s a closeup – After you take your picture of the pet, posting on Facebook and Twitter is the best way to get it out there.

Tell friends, ’cause you never know who’s looking for an animal and you might just post it at the right time.

– The goal for One Picture Saves A Life is to tell people the truth, is to tell people that, listen, you know you have an oppor- tunity here to save a life.

You have an opportunity to find a great pet.

You have the opportunity to teach your kids a really valuable life lesson about how we as a society should treat our pets.

And so this is a place that’s a win-win situation.

It’s not a place to be scared of.

It’s not a place to stay away from.

It’s a place that you should want to come to and you want to help out whether you’re volunteering, whether you’re coming just to say hello to the dogs, whether you’re coming in to adopt a new friend, whatever it is, you should come here and be a part of it.

Good.

Let’s kind of look at her.

Turn little bit so we can see your face.

– Perfect.

‘Cause you’re in my blood Captured my soul, now Yeah, you’re in my heart That’s where you belong – Petco Love Lost.

A national lost and found pet database can help Using image recognition technology so every pet can be back where they belong.

– Oh my baby – Home with the families that love them.

Petco Love Lost.