DOGS TEACH COMPASSION; TROUBLED TEENS, ABUSED CANINES JOINED IN PROGRAM.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

At first glance, it seems the dogs are the ones being trained during the weekly obedience classes at Camp Joseph Scott, a facility for teen-age girls run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

But volunteers from Pets In The Hood hope the youths, who have been sent to the military-style boot camp for a wide range of offenses excluding only murder, will absorb some lessons of their own - like kindness, responsibility and discipline.

Volunteers from the nonprofit Pets In The Hood, an offshoot of Villalobos Rescue Center in Agua Dulce, visit the county probation camp every Friday to conduct the dog obedience classes with 17 girls who were picked for the program.

Villalobos Rescue Center is a remote, 10-acre compound where abused and neglected dogs are cared for and nursed back to health. Organization spokeswoman Sheri Richardson said often the rescued canines have been used in dog fights, which often passes for sport and street wagering among gang members.

Many residents of the county's juvenile probation camps are gang members who know this sort of animal cruelty firsthand, and Pets In The Hood aims to reverse that mind-set while these teens are under court orders to reform their lives.

The premise behind the program is that the rescued dogs and probation-camp teens have troubled backgrounds in common, and each has something to offer the other on the road to rehabilitation, Richardson said.

Animal abuse, she contended, often is a forerunner to serious crimes against people. Prison death rows are full of serial killers who got their start torturing pets, she said.

``Ted Bundy mutilated his animals when he was young, and we all know what happened when he got older,'' Richardson said. ``Jeffrey Dahmer mutilated animals, and he grew up to do the same thing (to humans).''

Last week, the teen-age girls visited the county animal shelter in Castaic as one of Pets In The Hood's lessons covering various pet issues, ranging from abandoned animals to pets on the job.

A firm that supplies drug-sniffing dogs to Santa Clarita Valley high schools and junior highs gave a demonstration one week to show how animals can be trained for the workplace. Another Pets in the Hood lesson featured a visit from a group that brings dogs to hospitals and nursing homes as a sort of therapy for the patients.

``We're showing how dogs can work for man,'' Richardson said. ``What we're trying to stress with these kids is that dogs are used for other things than fighting.''

Each Camp Scott girl was assigned a dog at the beginning of the eight-week program, and the pair remain together for the duration as they train the canines to sit, heel, lie down, stay and go for leashed walks in a controlled manner, rather than tugging their handler down the street, Richardson said.

The girls also learn the responsibilities of pet ownership, from providing a proper diet for their dog and seeing to their veterinary care to basic pet grooming and bathing. The teens are asked to keep a journal about the things they've taught their dog during the training, and the type of care they dispensed.

``Then, when it's adopted out, we'll present (the journal) to the owner,'' Richardson said.

Some of the canines from the rescue center are what Richardson calls ``special needs'' dogs because their previous owners maltreated them. The girls' role with those is more one of nurturing and teaching trust, rather than obedience training, she said.

``A lot of these dogs have come from abuse situations,'' Richardson said. ``We're finding that these dogs are teaching the kids compassion. We want it to sink in with the gangsters mainly, because they're the ones who are fighting the dogs.''

Most of the 60 to 70 dogs at Villalobos Rescue Center, established in 1994, are pit bull terriers, mastiffs, and wolf hybrids. ``The hybrids, we don't place in homes, because you have to be licensed,'' she said.

Meanwhile, Camp Scott is home to an average of 115 girls ages 13 to 18 on any given day. Their time is very regimented, from school five days a week to assorted work details and recreational activities, said Margarita Rodriguez, supervising deputy probation officer at the 40-year-old camp.

Villalobos Rescue Center and Pets In The Hood is seeking volunteers to help them carry out their activities at the shelter and with the probation camp teens. ``We're mainly looking for compassionate people who love animals,'' Richardson said.

Prospective volunteers must be at least 18 years old, have reliable transportation and complete an application listing any special skills they could bring to the organization. For information, call the center at [phone].

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) (Ran in SAC Edition only) A teen-age resident of Camp Joseph Scott tells her dog to sit as part of a program to teach troubled kids about caring.

(2-3--Color in SAC Edition only) (Photo 3 ran in SAC Edition only) Snoopy, left, gets some loving attention Saturday from his teen-age companion during the program teaching kindness, responsibility and discipline. Above, pit bulls L.A., Rhino and Fezzik wait for their companions.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News