BARK program at Gainesville State School

BARK - Building Attachment & Resilience K-9 program - brings dogs in need together with youth who have some similar needs. The program helps the youth learn responsibility and build attachments with the dogs, who are fostered temporarily with the youth while their owners are in treatment or rehab themselves. This sweet circle of positivity provides a community service to the adults whose dogs are cared for, assists justice-involved youth with buildings connections and empathy and provides the canines with interim care that allows them to return home when their owners are out of crisis. It also benefits the shelters, which are overflowing and would possibly end up with these dogs if an appropriate foster setting could not be found.