JAIL PROGRAM GROOMS INMATES TO CARE FOR SHELTER ANIMALS.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

It's a dog's life serving time in jail.

But if you gotta do it, you might as well improve lives, inmates in the dog grooming program at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center maintain.

Five inmates currently in the volunteer dog grooming program at the Saugus jail facility spend five days a week showering, scrubbing and prettying up matted mutts, scruffy cats and ragged rabbits, that come mostly from the Castaic Animal Shelter. The hope is that these animals will be adopted.

``I feel like I'm helping them out. Maybe one day they'll get placed,'' said inmate Daniel Fry of Long Beach, who persuaded his wife to take in a German shepherd that he had groomed.

He looks forward to caring for the dog after his release this month.

``I liked the dog. It was real obedient and friendly, and I have a soft heart for things getting killed,'' said Fry, a three-time convicted drunk driver. As he speaks, he combs snags from a large dog that's wagging its tail appreciatively.

Fry calls his wife each week to have her place ads at pet stores ``on the streets'' to save the animals, he said.

In the pet grooming office, inmates learn proper bathing techniques, how to blow-dry animals, clip their nails, clean their ears and trim their coats.

About 50 percent of the animals get placed into homes, said Debbie Pieropan, who oversees the 4-year-old program.

The program is offered through the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, which contracts with the Sheriff's Department to provide education at Los Angeles County jails, said Alice Johnson, the site administrator.

Inmates who take part are generally those in low-security facilities. They must undergo thorough background checks to ensure they aren't security risks as they roam freely around the office, Johnson said.

The inmates earn certificates that qualify them as dog grooming pet assistant at clinics, pet stores or boarding facilities, Pieropan said. She has seen some of her students go to work at pet stores after their release.

They can also complete their high school equivalency exams while in the program, she said. And they earn days toward time served.

Yet some inmates have a bone to pick with the groomers. They label the program ``soft work'' compared to laying brick or pulling weeds. Some tease the dog grooming trainees, but Fry lets it slide.

``They say, `Why don't you do a man's job?' I digged ditches all my life,'' he said.

While teaching the inmates skills, the program also heightens their self-confidence, Pieropan said. After cleaning up the canines, they spend time walking them.

``They're wonderful with the dogs. I've never seen anybody hurt an animal,'' she said.

``A lot of (the inmates) have not had a pat on the back. You can tell that the self-esteem is on the low side. You bring puppies in here, and they just melt,'' she said, as another inmate meticulously clipped a labrador pup's front claws.

Los Angeles County sheriff's employees are also allowed to have their pets groomed at the site - for $10, which pays for supplies.

But the shelter animals are first in line for treatments. The inmates also care for guinea pigs and birds, whose wings sometimes need a trim.

``See, he's ready,'' said one inmate, who cuddled a prepped puppy that peeked out from his embracing arm.

``You get these gangbangers in here and they think they're all big and bad, and then they get the puppy in their arms and say, `Ahhh,' '' Pieropan said.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) John Duell blow dries a puppy after bath at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, where inmates are enrolled in a pet grooming program.

(2-3) Daniel Fry, top, holds a long-haired dog while grooming instructor Debbie Pieropan brushes its tail. John Duell, right, scrubs down a little guy.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News