Guest: Carl Rotans

Charmaine welcomes Carl Rotans to the show today. 

Carl is the senior instructor for Puppies Behind Bars (PBB), a non-profit organization that trains prison inmates to raise, train and care for puppies that will become service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement.

Mr. Rotans took his love and passion for his own Labrador Retrievers, and began his career in dog obedience training. This lead to his employment at a nationally renowned guide dog school located in the New York metropolitan area. It was here that he worked and received formal training and eventually took an instructor position with PBB.

Now as the Senior Instructor his duties include the training and instruction of new staff as well as opening and preliminary instruction for the program in new correctional facilities.

Founded in 1997 by Gloria Gilbert Stoga, PBB has become a world leader in prison dog raising programs and operates in correctional facilities in three states. The quality of the dogs produced is second to none, but equally important is the effect the program has on the inmates who care for the dogs. The puppies live in prison with their ‘puppy raisers’ from age eight weeks until eighteen months. As the puppies mature into well-loved, well-behaved dogs their raisers learn what it means to contribute to society rather than take from it.

Host Charmaine Hammond is the author of On Toby's Terms (Bettie Youngs Books) which is being turned into a major motion picture (see www.ontobysterms.com). She also authored Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital Friends, GPS Your Best Life and Toby Says Be a Buddy Not a Bully.  She has developed a program for authors, Your Book As a Business, where she shares her learnings, lessons and success about the business of books.