Empathy Unleashed w/ Audrey Hendler

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Audrey Hendler On Training Dogs To Teach Empathy To Middle Schoolers To Help Them Become Better Adults

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About The Episode

Puppies Behind Bars is a program where prison inmates help train and raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive-detection canines for law enforcement. Puppies enter prison at the age of 8 weeks and live with their inmate puppy-raisers for approximately 24 months. Audrey Hendler became involved with Puppies Behind Bars, helping out to socialize dogs in outdoor environments on weekends. Later, she got invited to go teach in prison and see first-hand the impact on the inmates. But she didn’t only see their lives change, hers did as well.

Witnessing how much of an impact and transformation these dogs had on inmates inspired Audrey’d mindset and got her brain turning. She thought about the idea of, “Why should we wait until these people are adults and are in the prison system?” The idea came to her to introduce this kind of a program earlier in a person’s life and started her own organization, A Fair Shake, as a social and emotional learning program that would bring this idea to younger kids and to avoid them falling into these problems and break that cycle and just to improve their lives overall.

Originally it was for teenagers in the justice system but then she decided to just go more broadly into schools. They experimented with all school levels but found that Middle School kids were the best age to reach. They were young enough to not be too cool for the dogs, but also old enough to form a relationship with the dogs and understand the more complex topics around the program like rescue, shelter, breed discrimination, and more. It’s a very formative time in their lives. Kids through the program have learned lessons, some overcome their fear of dogs, learned self-confidence, and even formed connections with the adults who come to be able to be counted on during the program time.

Audrey herself had never had a dog when she was a kid, as her brother was allergic. Eventually, she got one in her late 30’s, Gator (originally from Florida), which turned out to be an even better experience than she dreamed of having a dog would be. She had Gator for four years (as Audrey had adopted him later in his life) and then got another dog, Dakota, who helped her through her divorce. Now, she has two dogs: Lucy, a Great Pyrenees mix, and Razmataz, an Australian Shepherd.

About The Guest - Audrey Hendler

Audrey Hendler is the Founder and Executive Director of A Fair Shake, a program that uses the power of registered therapy dogs to help middle school children develop a foundation of empathy and self-esteem, and reduce bullying. As the kids learn to work with the dogs they learn about themselves and each other in ways that open up new possibilities for their lives. Previously, Audrey had worked at Puppies Behind Bars - a program where prison inmates help train and raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive-detection canines for law enforcement, which inspired her to create A Fair Shake.

Featured Links

InterviewJack SommerEducation, Service Dogs