By Don Reid
The Daily Reporter
COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) - "I don't know if I would have made it without the program," former prison inmate Martin Daughenbaugh said, praising Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan.
Daughenbaugh was a Michigan Department of Corrections prisoner, serving nearly a lifetime, when the dog rescue and training program rescued him.
Daughenbaugh at first saw the program, housed at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, as a way to make the time he was serving easier.
Sentenced to serve 30 to 60 years as a repeat offender for armed robbery and possession of cocaine he was not scheduled for his first parole consideration until 2033.
His original convictions came during the Reagan War on Drugs in 1988 when he was just 24-years-old. His first sentence got him a mandatory 10 years minimum followed by additional, consecutive time.
A problematic prisoner for 14-years, he learned of the greyhound program, a dog training program, being started at Lakeland in late 2006. The program trained 20 dogs for 10 weeks.
Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan started in 2008 and trains up to 14 rescued shelter dogs for 10 weeks prior to adoption.
The RPSM dog program, "meant everything to me. I loved dogs. I wanted to be part of the program. I just wanted to train them. It provided me the motivation (to change my life)," he told The Daily Reporter.
"I was a high security prisoner. I had gotten into a lot of trouble. When I heard about the dog program I was told you had to be security level 2. You had to be ticket free (no discipline) for two years," he said.
So, he changed.
"I just wanted to be part of it. I loved dogs," he said.
When transferred to Lakeland, he learned he had to be discipline free for another year.
Put on one of the two man training teams, Daughenbaugh read everything he could on dogs and dog training. He became a special needs trainer for the RPSM problem dogs.
Daughenbaugh recalled one such instance in which a black standard poodle had never seen white men before he was taken into a shelter. Considered aggressive and dangerous, Daughenbaugh took on the task of training him.
"He became a wonderful dog," he said.
Others, such as Blossom, "came in crawling on her belly, scared of everything, beaten all her life," he said.
She was trained by Daughenbaugh and her life changed. She was adopted by a loving family.
There is a lot of pressure on those that train the dogs. "What if someone steals from me? (Other inmates) already think you are weak," he said.
Daughenbaugh had to control himself or lose his position as a dog trainer.
"I had that institutional mentality after all those years," he said. "It's hard to deal with it."
He knew it had to change.
There was another special dog, Quinn, a coonhound.
"The dog was completely blind. I used to run five miles with him three times a week," he said.
Daughenbaugh taught the dog to heel using a small bell on his tennis shoe. He then used the bell so Quinn could follow him on the runs.
Quinn passed his training, was paroled but after he was adopted out, his family could not handle him so he was brought back.
"He wanted a lot. He had a lot of energy and needed to be exercised," he said.
Quinn was kept at Lakeland.
Retired Warden Carol Howe used to have Daughenbaugh show visitors reviewing the dog program the 20 tricks he had trained Quinn to perform.
It was the love of the dogs and how they changed his life that made him a free man. In 2013 with prison reform, minimum mandatory drug convictions were resentenced.
Daughenbaugh found himself up for parole 20 years early. His attorney said his new clean record and work with the RPSM program was a major factor in his release.
Daughenbaugh asked Warden Howe if he could take Quinn with him. Freed at age 48, after half his life behind bars, Daughenbaugh got a job as an industrial electrician and learned the trade. He now runs jobs for his employer.
"I'm a real good worker," he said.
Both he and Quinn, were saved by RPSM and its rehabilitation program. The Michigan Department of Corrections records shows that recidivism for dog trainers is rare.
Published: Tue, Aug 13, 2019
