Community program
Friends From The Pen
A meaningful program that brings together dog training, rehabilitation, and second chances. Friends From The Pen reflects K9 Advantage’s commitment to helping dogs grow in skill and stability while supporting people and communities through purposeful work.
Program story
A program with purpose
Roy Hayes’ groundbreaking prison dog rescue initiative with K9 Advantage
In 2008, Roy Hayes, founder of K9 Advantage Dog Training, partnered with the Companion Animal Rescue Effort Network (CARENET) to launch the Friends From The Pen program at Arizona State Prison in Kingman, Arizona. The program ran from 2008 through 2010 and is no longer active.
This unique prison-based dog rehabilitation program pairs shelter and rescue dogs facing euthanasia for serious behavioral issues with carefully selected inmates. Over an intensive eight-week period, inmate handlers live with and train the dogs full-time, providing the consistent structure, attention, and positive behavior modification these dogs need to become calm, obedient, and adoptable companions.
During its 2008 through 2010 run, Friends From The Pen delivered life-changing results. In that time, the program successfully saved 125 dogs. Participating shelters and rescue organizations sponsored the dogs, and once training was complete, they were placed into loving forever homes—giving them the second chance they deserved.
The program specializes in resolving complex behavioral challenges that often lead to euthanasia, including:
- Dog-on-dog aggression
- Aggression toward strangers
- Chronic escaping
- Destructive behavior
- Extreme fear and shyness
- General unruliness and lack of impulse control
Each dog receives 24-hour care and daily hands-on training from their inmate handler. Detailed daily logs track every session and milestone. Roy Hayes personally reviews these records and adjusts training plans as needed, ensuring every dog benefits from professional, psychology-based methods focused on lasting change.
More than just transforming dogs, Friends From The Pen gives inmates a powerful sense of purpose, responsibility, and valuable skills in animal care and positive leadership—creating meaningful rehabilitation for both the animals and the people involved.
Although Friends From The Pen is no longer an active program, its pioneering work remains a powerful example of the practical, results-driven approach to understanding dogs and creating real behavioral change that continues to guide K9 Advantage’s training programs for Arizona dog owners today.
How it helps
Friends From The Pen highlights the power of routine, handling, and relationship-based training. Dogs benefit from daily structure, engagement, and skill-building. Participants benefit from meaningful work, hands-on learning, and the opportunity to contribute to a positive outcome. The result is a program centered on growth, stability, and second chances.
Program highlights
A look at the heart of the program, from hands-on work and steady progress to the pride that comes with each graduate’s next step.
