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Canine Connections program at Echo Glen pairs youth, dogs in community supported effort

Published 7:30 am Friday, May 19, 2017

Canine Connections program at Echo Glen pairs youth, dogs in community supported effort
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Canine Connections program at Echo Glen pairs youth, dogs in community supported effort
Courtesy Photo Church groups recently volunteered to help with yard maintenance at Echo Glen Children’s Center, in support of the Canine Connections program.
Courtesy Photo Posing with a donation check for Canine Connections are, from left: Alexandra French; Debbie Barrientes, owner of Infusion Bar and Grill; Kristine Haak of Imageworks Northwest; Jessica Self, Valley Young Professionals; Michael Hughes, owner of Dark Horse Ink; and Chris Barrientes, also of Infusion.
Courtesy Photo Echo Glen students in the Canine Connections program walk their dogs.

By Todd Bohle

Canine Connections Adoption Coordinator

Mark Twain once suggested that kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see; perceptive words about the capacity of such an act to remove barriers and bridge gaps. As the recipient of two acts of kindness by several local businesses, Canine Connections, a local pet therapy program at Echo Glen Children’s Center has been enabled to continue serving at-risk youth and dogs.

Sigillo Cellars contributed more than $1,400 from its Oct. 12, 2016 Wags and Wine event. A few months later, on St. Patrick’s Day, many local supports and businesses came together for the second annual Pub Crawl on Snoqualmie Ridge, resulting in a generous donation of $2,000 to the program.

Thanks to Sigillo Cellars, Jessica Self, Infusion Bar and Grill, IGA, SnoValley Coffee, Glass & Bottle, Finaghty’s, Dark Horse Ink, and Imageworks Northwest, Canine Connection’s bowls are full of kibble, the program’s canine rescue dogs remain healthy, and their young dog handlers are flush in doggie treats.

Immensely helpful donations have also been made through two local church groups, Church on the Ridge and Cascade Covenant Church. These groups dug ditches and distributed mulch throughout the kennel recently , transforming a mud pit into a well-drained yard.

For those unfamiliar, Canine Connections is a pet therapy program designed to save dogs on death row from shelters across the state and bring them to Echo Glen Children’s Center, a coeducational juvenile correctional facility for adolescents, between the ages of 10 and 21.

Since 2000, the program’s mission has been, in partnership with Echo Glen, Issaquah School District, and the Snohomish County 4-H Dog Program, to promote emotional growth through responsibility, patience and conflict resolution skill building, for both adjudicated youth and unwanted dogs.

Youth members easily identify with the rescued dogs. In most cases, both have little knowledge of boundaries or limit setting, both were brought up in unstable dysfunctional home environments marked by lack of structure and consistency and both have developed offensive, bad behavior and unhealthy means of getting their needs met.

Sometimes an introduction to a rescue dog is the first recognition of empathy seen in an Echo Glen youth. The youth see themselves in the dogs.

And while both dogs and kids in Canine Connections have a history of grabbing the short end of the kindness stick, the support and generosity of local businesses and their patrons is a cause for optimism and celebration.

Canine Connections rescue dogs are also available for adoption.

For more information, visit https://canineconnectionssite.wordpress.com.

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