The nose knows

Dogs Against Drugs offers support services for students

By Kaci Harris

At the Children’s Crisis Prevention Network of Athens, canines are more than just companions.

The center’s Dogs Against Drugs (DAD) program is a support service for students, their schools and communities.

“We are the best kept secret in town,” said Barbara Pettycrew, Executive Director of the Children’s Crisis Prevention Network.

Pettycrew is also a licensed drug counselor at East Texas Psychological and Neuro Behavioral Services in Athens.

Genie Hilton, one of CCPNs representatives and canine handlers, along with a DAD canine, makes unannounced visits to schools in Henderson County to help encourage kids to make positive choices by bringing the gentle, loving, nationally certified narcotic detection DAD dog.

“We visit each campus twice during the school year,” Hilton said. “We’re everywhere. Those kids know the DAD dog — what his harness looks like and the color of his leash.”

A canine handler walks through schools during a random visit to inspect all physical items on school property.

Those items may include: backpacks, unworn clothing, notebooks and other educational materials, halls and lockers, classrooms, buildings, the exterior of all cars parked on school property, restrooms, custodial and storage areas, locker rooms and any other physical property belonging to the school system.

During these inspections, specific guidelines and procedures must be followed according to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court.

Hilton said it helps to have the dog. Sometimes the kids feel comfortable enough to talk about things they may not normally talk about, she said.

“Sometimes bad things may happen at home or somewhere else,” Hilton said. “It may even be something their teacher was unaware of.”

In turn, Hilton or another representative will talk to teachers about how to discuss the matter with the child and the parents.

“We don’t normally deal with the parents, only if the school directs us to,” Pettycrew said. “The schools know we are there to try and protect the children.”

The network holds presentations for teachers and parents, informing them about paraphernalia and drugs to help them know what to look for, what to expect and reasons why students may be encountered with these types of situations.

They focus on teaching children personal safety, how to stand up for themselves, how to develop coping skills and refusal skills.

One specific goal that hits home for Pettycrew is knowing that the network saves lives, she said.

“We know we turn kids around — turn their futures around,” Pettycrew said.

What Pettycrew wants to make clear to the community is that the DAD canines are not police dogs. Police dogs have dual purposes to find drugs and do patrol work, unlike the DAD dogs that are not trained to be aggressive, according to Pettycrew.

One hard part of their job, Pettycrew said, is when adults don’t help or work against what needs to be done.

“When you don’t follow up on a child’s negative behavior, you’re supporting that negative behavior, which can lead to self-destruction,” Pettycrew added.

The non-profit corporation program was established in 1986 with a mission to prevent substance abuse and other self-defeating behaviors by children of all ages, especially those from families affected by substance abuse through education, intervention and other support services, according to the network.

From July 2005 to December 2006, Children’s Crisis Prevention Network has served over 5,000 students with prevention education while holding over 200 school-based drug prevention education sessions, according to CCPN information.

DAD is licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Commission for Private Security. Each detection team is certified annually by the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association and DAD has won the national detection competition the last six years.

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e-mail kharris@athensreview.com

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