PROGRAMS
Healing Youth and Rescue Dogs — Together
Since 2011, UnChained has paired more than 540 justice-involved youth with over 230 shelter dogs across Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.
Together, they learn patience, empathy, and calm leadership — proving that healing moves in both directions
This is not a rescue program or a behavior class.
It’s a practice ground for trust. Here, young people learn that their quiet confidence can change a life.
Canines Teaching Compassion (CTC)
Legacy Program · Active since 2011 | Our cornerstone program since 2011, CTC teaches youth to train rescue dogs through positive reinforcement and empathy — lessons that strengthen both ends of the leash.
Through guided sessions, youth and dogs practice patience, consistency, and kindness — skills that extend far beyond the leash CTC connects youth with rescue dogs awaiting adoption through an 8-week program that teaches positive-reinforcement training and emotional regulation.
Together they practice patience, consistency, and kindness — skills that extend far beyond the leash.
CTC partners with organizations such as AFRP, POMDR, and South County Animal Rescue to prepare dogs for adoption and help youth rediscover empathy and responsibility.
Graduates often return as mentors, guiding new participants through the same journey they once walked.
Dogs In Residence (DIR)
Next Chapter · Beginning in 2026 | DIR builds on everything learned through CTC — bringing UnChained’s compassion-based training inside partner facilities, where youth care for program dogs each day.
DIR is the natural evolution of CTC — bringing UnChained’s compassion-based learning inside partner facilities such as the Monterey County Juvenile Hall.
Instead of weekly sessions, program dogs live on-site, cared for daily by youth participants.
This immersive model deepens responsibility, calm, and continuity: care routines, reflection time, and training woven into everyday life.
DIR doesn’t replace CTC — it extends its heartbeat further inward. Where CTC teaches through sessions, DIR teaches through daily care — weaving compassion into every routine.
Transformation in Action
These numbers are not statistics — they’re stories of connection.
540 youth have learned compassion-based training.
230 dogs have been prepared for adoption and placed in homes.
Partner rescues report calmer dogs and higher adoption success rates.
A young person who once felt unseen learns that calm changes behavior.
A dog once afraid of people now runs toward a gentle voice.
Together, they remind us that transformation is real and reciprocal.
Our Vision
By centering the human-animal bond, we create spaces where both can grow, belong, and heal.
We envision a Central Coast where every young person and every dog is seen not for their past — but for their potential.
Graduates who return as mentors show what compassion can build: not just healing in the moment, but the next generation of community leaders.
Looking Ahead
UnChained’s next chapter builds upon everything we’ve learned through CTC.
The upcoming Dogs In Residence model carries that same compassion-based education into new environments — making healing, trust, and responsibility part of everyday life.
DIR represents not a change in who we are, but a deeper expression of what we believe: that compassion, when practiced daily, transforms lives and communities from the inside out.
Walk With Us
Every person who volunteers, fosters, donates, or shares our story becomes part of this work in motion.
Your involvement expands what’s possible — more youth finding trust, more dogs finding homes, more futures reclaimed.
Meet the People Behind the Work
Compassion doesn’t happen in isolation — it’s carried forward by those who believe in second chances.
Meet the trainers, mentors, and volunteers who make this transformation possible.
