Lifetime Bonds
Lifetime Bonds programs provide opportunities for at-risk youth and at-risk dogs to help one another. Youth in disadvantaged communities learn how to care for, socialize and train dogs positively and participate in positive, beneficial activities with them. They develop confidence and skills with their own Safe-Humane-approved ambassador or shelter dogs, and learn about the many job opportunities in the pet industry.
Programs include:
- Illinois Youth Center Program - Boys in custody participate in a three-month-long curriculum. They work closely with adult volunteers, learning to bond with, socialize and train shelter dogs, thus saving their lives and making them more adoptable.
- Internship Reentry Program - At Chicago Animal Care and Control, boys from IYC Chicago who participated in the program while in custody work as interns alongside volunteers in our Court Case Dogs Program to bond with, socialize and train Court Case Dogs for transfer and adoption.
- Neighborhood Training Classes - In disadvantaged communities, youth and their dogs participate in six-week-long dog-training classes to teach the youth and their dogs how to be good citizens and Safe Humane ambassadors.