By Camila Bello Castro
Capital News Service
The holiday season at the Department of Corrections is the time of the year when staff, inmates and the public get excited to see the newest edition of the Dogs of the MDOC Calendar.
“It features all dogs that have been raised in prison. I think it’s pretty cool,” said Heidi Washington, the director of the department.
“I look forward to it every year,” said Kathy Warner, the administrator of the department’s Office of Executive Affairs.
The calendar was first sold in 2019 and “was an idea that was born from director Washington, a vision that she wanted to do a calendar with the dogs of the department,” Warner said.
“We’ve been doing it every year, including during COVID. And we have our new one coming out. We just sent it over to the printer,” said Warner.
Since 2009, the department has partnered with Paws with a Cause, Leader Dogs for the Blind, ability centers and local animal shelters to provide basic obedience training for more than 3,000 dogs. To date, 25 dog training programs are active in 20 prisons.
Washington said, “A lot of our staff, myself included, ended up adopting dogs out of the program. So I think it’s just been really nothing but very, very positive.”
Washington adopted Lamar, a German shepherd, in 2017 from a prison where he was sheltered. He was featured in the 2023 calendar; he has since died.
This year’s calendar stars include Debbie, a little chihuahua. You can spot her in the month of June.
Before she was ready for adoption, Debbie was cared for by an inmate. She now has a forever home. Warner and her engagement team handpicked Debbie’s feature photo.
Jenni Riehle, the department’s public information and communications officer, said Warner and her team go through photos to see which images will be best.
“Some of that is, are they high-resolution? Are they going to be able to be printed well? And, obviously, are they super cute?” she said.
The new September stars for National Suicide Prevention Month include Franklin and Handel, the department’s wellness dogs.
Warner said that her team usually sends out a notice to all prison wardens in October and accepts submissions until early November. The team receives at least 100 pictures every year.
“Sometimes they’ll send me multiple pictures of the same dog,” Warner said.
The calendar is priced at $10, as it has been before, and any profit goes to the employee engagement fund that helps Department of Corrections employees who suffer a tragedy or crisis, Warren said.
Warner said that prisoners previously were not allowed to have the calendar inside their cells because “we don’t allow staples inside facilities or anything that can create a weapon.”
For the first time, the new calendars won’t have staples, and prisoners will be allowed to purchase them, she said.
Riehle said the project not only helps the department and raises funds for those in crisis but also helps the dogs and local animal shelters by providing care for the dogs and getting them ready to be re-homed.
“It’s also helping our prisoners have pride in their work and a sense of purpose in their lives, as they’re on their journey to reintegrate into our communities,” Riehle said.
The 2026 Dogs of the MDOC Calendar is available through the department’s social media.
