ABOUT UNCHAINED
UnChained is a Central Coast nonprofit transforming lives through the healing power of the human-animal bond.
We bring together two groups too often left behind — youth navigating incarceration, foster care, and instability, and dogs rescued from overcrowded shelters.
Both have been misunderstood. Both deserve safety, trust, and a chance to heal.
Through connection and compassion, we help them find that chance — together.
When a young person learns to guide a dog with patience, both discover that change is possible.
Each leash held is a reminder that healing doesn’t come from control, but from love practiced through care.
THE CRISIS WE FACE
Across California’s Central Coast, too many young people grow up in cycles of poverty, violence, and incarceration.
Many carry trauma from broken homes, foster placements, or early justice involvement. They’re labeled “troubled” before they ever get a chance to grow.
At the same time, hundreds of shelter dogs each year face uncertain futures — surrendered because of housing barriers, stigma, or fear.
Both youth and dogs are casualties of systems that fail to nurture them.
Both deserve dignity, patience, and second chances.
Our Canines Teaching Compassion (CTC) and Dogs In Residence (DIR) programs were built to change that story — one pairing at a time.
OUR APPROACH AND IMPACT
Through CTC and DIR, UnChained pairs youth and dogs as equals in a trauma-informed, relationship-based model of learning.
Youth practice empathy and structure while training dogs for adoption; dogs regain confidence and trust through steady care.
The transformation is mutual: dogs learn safety and stability; youth learn they are capable of creating it.
Every training session becomes proof that love can be learned.
Every adoption becomes proof that hope can be restored.
Since 2011, UnChained has worked with over 540 youth and prepared more than 230 shelter dogs for adoption — maintaining a 92 percent success rate within 30 days of graduation.
These numbers are not statistics; they are lives rewritten. A young person who once felt hopeless learns they matter. A dog who once cowered in a kennel now runs toward connection.
Together, they remind us that transformation is real.
OUR VISION
By centering the human-animal bond, we create spaces where both can grow, belong, and heal.
Our vision is a Central Coast where every young person and every dog is seen not for their past, but for their potential.
Graduates of our programs often return as mentors, guiding new participants and their dogs through the same journey they once walked.
This cycle of mentorship shows what compassion can build — not just healing in the moment, but the next generation of community leaders.
We invite you to walk alongside us.
Your involvement expands what’s possible — more youth finding trust, more dogs finding homes, more futures reclaimed.
Whether you volunteer, foster, donate, or simply share our story, you become part of building a more compassionate world for all.
