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NORFOLK -- Jewel, an 8-month-old

Shiloh shepherd puppy, has spent most of her life behind bars, though this silver-haired beauty is anything but bad to the bone.

She and two other dogs are members of the current class of the National Education for Assistance Dog Service, and are going through an assistance training program at the Pondville Correctional Center.

Her inmate trainer, Paul, has been tending to Jewel's every whim, living alongside her 24 hours a day, five days a week since March.

"The dogs look to you for everything," Paul said, as an obedient Jewel lay silently by his feet. "You give them everything good in the world." Aside from living with Paul in his room at the prison, Jewel follows him everywhere: Sitting by him while he eats his meals in the dining hall, watching him complete his various jobs around the center throughout the day and even playing in a fenced area outside while he's walking the grounds.

"She was extremely shy and timid when I first got her," said Paul, whose last name was withheld by prison officials. "I had to gain her trust."

Paul is an all-star when it comes to raising pups for the NEADS prison program at Pondville.

His first dog, Waldo, graduated last year and was sent to live with a handicapped man named Bob, who uses the canine for everything from turning on light switches to bracing himself when he transfers from his wheelchair to bed at night.

"It's taught me something I really enjoy doing," Paul said. "I've been reading books and watching videos about it. I learned to do something that I love, and at the same time I get to help somebody else."

Paul is one of three Pondville inmates raising dogs to help the deaf and disabled.

A bonus is that having the puppies around on a consistent basis changes the culture of the prison, Superintendent Lisa Jackson said.

"It's united the institution," she said.

"It puts a smile on everybody's face," agreed Diane Wiffin, director of public affairs for the Massachusetts Department of Correction. "You see (the dogs) grow and learn new things."

"It's a little disarming to see these big men saying, 'Be a good boy, give me a kiss, I love you,' in these (cute) voices to their dogs," added Christina Taddei, the NEADS trainer for Pondville. Prisoners at Pondville, however, are "pre-release," or minimum security. Few are serving long sentences and there are rarely behavioral problems, officials said.

While the program does offer the same puppy raising program at other higher security prisons in Massachusetts, the selection process for inmate trainers is extremely selective.

"We'd have a waiting list a mile long if everyone who wanted to be in the program could be," said Mike Enos, the prison's liaison to NEADS whose office is stuffed with chew toys and kibble. "There's plenty of interest, but when you really break it down, it's hard to get in."

Along with screenings by the director of classification at the prison and the NEADS trainers, inmates interested in participating must have at least one year left in their sentence so they can devote sufficient time to the dogs.

They also have to write a letter explaining why they want to be a part of the program.

While many prisoners may see the opportunity as a great way to "pass the time" serving a sentence, Pondville wants to ensure the inmates are getting something more out of it.

"As a pre-release center, we're preparing the inmates for their return back into the community," Jackson said. "We need to make sure we're offering the right kinds of programs so they have the skills, attitude and belief they need to succeed."

If Paul's experience is any gauge, it is clear Pondville is enjoying success with the Prison Pup program.

Having the option to move out of minimum security into pre-release - meaning he would be able to work within the local community and earn at least minimum wage - Paul chose to extend his prison stay, not wanting to leave Jewel behind in the middle of training.

"I really love doing this, and it was more important to me to stay," he said.

Paul came to Pondville after spending the first half of his sentence at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Plymouth, another Level 3, minimum security prison.

After being transferred, Pondville immediately decided to place Paul in the Prison Pup program, but even Paul was a little apprehensive at first.

"I wasn't sure. I had to ask myself, 'Do I really want to do this?' It's a big responsibility," he said.

In the four months since Paul first took Jewel under his wing, she has already been trained to turn on light switches, open and close refrigerator doors, along with basic commands like sit and roll over.

"Right now we're working on fetch," Paul said. "But she's not a retriever, so it's not exactly easy."

Paul said he likes to teach the dogs fun tricks like roll over because many of them end up going to children, and having a special dog that can do such tricks can help the child make friends and boost confidence.

NEADS staff hope Jewel can go to a wounded veteran from Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Shiloh shepherd breed, Taddei explained, has never really been used in the assistance program before. But because of their great stabilizing abilities, NEADS hopes the breed will be the future of care for injured soldiers needing help walking and balancing.

And while the training for these jail dogs generally goes twice as fast as a home trainer because of the time prisoners can devote to teaching, the dogs still get the chance to get out from behind the prison walls and socialize.

Every weekend they go to volunteer families who take them everywhere - the mall, the movies, the doctor's office - to make sure the dogs don't become too accustomed to the cold concrete floors and bare walls of a prison.

"If left in prison too long, they get institutionalized," Taddei said. "They're not used to ceiling fans, pots, doorbells - things in every home - so we solicit volunteers from the communities to help take the dogs out."

Last year, Taddei said, a large number of the prison pups got a chance to see the Boston Marathon. This year, alone, Jewel has jetted off to Georgia for a wedding, attended a "black-tie" dog dinner, and most recently returned from a vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

But back at school in Pondville, Jewel is working hard so she can grow up to help others, just like other Pondville prison pups that came before her.

Last year, a dog from the program entered work in a ministry to help priests comfort people. Another was sent to Westboro Hospital to calm emotionally unstable children. And a third, a prison staff favorite named Harmony, went to a 22-year-old with cerebral palsy.

And of course there was Paul's first dog, Waldo, who returned to Pondville for a visit in May.

"Waldo went nuts," Paul said, recalling their reunion. "I wanted to grab him and play with him, but I couldn't because he's with Bob now. He needs to be where he's supposed to be."

JENNIFER ROACH is a student at Boston College who interned at The Sun Chronicle this summer. She can be contacted regarding this story at roachjc@bc.edu.