Chaves County CASA has a long-standing relationship with Assistance Dogs of The West. This non-profit organization builds successful working partnerships between facilities, handlers, and justice facility dogs at CASA and many other justice facilities. Linda Milanese, the CEO, and President, alongside Jill Felice, Founder, and Executive VP, join the team at CASA to share the process of selecting justice facility dogs and handlers. They also provide several examples of places ADW dogs create positive outcomes for those that interact with them. 

Learn more about Assistance Dogs Of The West on their wesbite here: https://assistancedogsofthewest.org/

Episode Highlights 

1:00 - Meet Linda and Jill from Assistance Dogs Of The West 

4:00 - Focusing on placing facility and peer support dogs

5:30 - The mission and purpose of putting dogs in facilities

7:30 - Determining temperament of justice facility dogs

10:30 - Identifying and placing dogs in the best jobs 

12:15 - Linda shares a bit about the scientists and science behind breeding and training

14:00 - Finding the right temperament 

 15:00 - The role genetics and history play in breeding dogs

18:00 - Jill gives an example of mannerisms in a family line

19:45 - What happens to a justice facility dog when the handler or agency needs to change

22:00 - Pairing the person and the dog together

24:00 - Training handlers to meet the justice facility dogs' needs

27:30 - What happens when a handler and dog are not an ideal team

 30:00 - Owner self-training for training companion and service dogs

32:00 - The difference between a justice facility dog and a therapy dog

34:00 - How a variety of dogs supported the Uvalde school shooting families

35:00 - Using aberrant conditioning vs. punishment 

38:00 - Pulse Night Club shooting victims supported by facility dogs 

42:15 - Assistance Dogs of the West stance on punishment training

44:45 - Why it hurts people experiencing trauma to interact with punishment training

50:00 - Cute dog stories Jill and Linda have seen in the field 

54:00 - Kevin's hope for receiving a justice facility dog in the future

Learn more about our guests: 

LINDA MILANESI - President/CEO, Assistance Dogs of the West

In 2006, Linda Milanesi began her career with Assistance Dogs of the West when she apprenticed to become an instructor/trainer in the school programs. She served as Vice President of the ADW board until 2011, when she was named ADW’s Executive Director. Linda oversees a whole-systems team approach for ADW. She supervises and manages policy and procedure, advocacy, board relations, finance, development and grant-writing. She is responsible for creating and nurturing donor and foundation relations and earned income projects. She is a lead in developing the Facility Dog programs including Courthouse, Crisis Response and Peer Support canines. She regularly presents nationally, and statewide on the benefits of utilizing highly-skilled canines in partnership with professionals in the
investigation and prosecution of crime and the mitigation of the trauma associated with the
process—both for victims and first responders. She produces the annual graduation ceremony
celebrating the dogs that have been successfully trained for client placements and facility placements.  Prior to Santa Fe, she lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and worked in Philadelphia and New York City.

JILL FELICE - Founder/Senior Vice President, Assistance Dogs of the West

Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW) Founder and Senior Vice President Jill Felice
graduated from Bergen University in 1994 and founded ADW in 1995 placing dogs for
people with mobility disabilities and medical conditions. In 2006, Jill began breeding and
training dogs specifically for work with victims of crime. In 2014, she placed the first
Crisis Response Canines in the Office of Special Victims Assistance at FBI headquarters,
where the dogs are part of a rapid deployment team for mass causality incidents. Very
specialized breeding for health and temperament is at the forefront of the ADW canines
in training, ensuring the qualities necessary for Courthouse Facility, Peer Support and
Crisis Response Canines. Jill is a proponent of relationship-based training techniques,
which utilize positive reinforcement, to build positive working partnerships between
handlers and their working dogs. Jill oversees the trainers, puppy whelping, client
interviews and final client-dog matches.