By Michael Alcala
Daily Record, Canon City, Colo
CANON CITY, Colo — Dogs are more than just cute, cuddly and curious.
Man’s best friend can also help inmates realize they are capable of change.
The powerful bond between dogs and inmates, and the positive impact they have on each other, was recently portrayed in “Nothing Safer,” a documentary now streaming on PBS.org and the PBS app.
The film highlights the Prison-Trained K-9 Companion Program, which began in 2002 at the Colorado Women’s Correctional Facility in Cañon City and has since expanded to six facilities. The Colorado Correctional Industries program offers two key services: the Boarding-In Training initiative for privately owned dogs and the adoption of trained rescue dogs.
Michele Wayland, the Program Supervisor of the Prison-Trained K9 Companion Program since February 2019, said there was a particular documentary scene that stood out to her.
“I found the interview with Denise Presson especially powerful because it demonstrated how someone who had essentially given up on herself and lost hope has experienced such a dramatic and positive turnaround through her participation in the K9 program,” Wayland, who participated in the documentary herself, said. “She expressed the value and purpose it gave her, inspiring her to be a better mother to her child. In a much broader sense, it has instilled in her a sense of self-worth and a desire to help others through sharing her experience.”
In the documentary, which was filmed in January 2024, Wayland described how the initiative came to be. She also shared more details about the program with the Daily Record.
“Many years ago, Debi Stevens, the founder of the program, visited the animal shelter I was running to select a dog for the program,” she said. “She invited me to visit a nearby correctional facility, where inmates were training dogs to give me an overview of the program. When the position became available after she retired, I applied because it was a rare opportunity to utilize my animal shelter management experience in a more meaningful way.”
She said the documentary experience was deeply moving and is grateful that more people now know how beneficial the program is.
“The filmmakers were terrific to work with and made the process very natural and fluid,” she said. “They did a fantastic job of capturing the various aspects of our program and illustrating how they all interconnected and positively impacted many lives.”
The documentary received praise at the second annual Pueblo Film Festival, which screened 55 films this year. During the weekend of April 26, the film received the Best Heritage Short award, according to a press release from Colorado Lt. Governor Primavera’s office.
The film has also been selected for screening at the 2025 Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in Elk Grove Village, Ill., the festival’s website states.
To view the documentary, which was first aired on Rocky Mountain PBS in March, visit https://www.pbs.org/video/nothing-safer-rmcmcq/
To learn more about the Prison-Trained K-9 Companion Program, visit cci.colorado.gov/k9
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