Our Mission
Magic City K9 works with Everglades Re Entry and Everglades Correctional Institute to provide our Miami and Florida community with trained dogs.
Dogs graduating from our program will fill many roles, from wonderfully trained family pets to sophisticated assistance dogs. Our program is versatile and unmatched!
The most unique aspect of our program is that we save dogs, both pure bred and mixed breed, from shelters across South Florida. We target bully breeds over 50lbs who have been stuck in the shelter without any interest.
Each dog is hand selected and temperament tested. Our program is truly the last chance for many of the dogs that gain admission.
Saving Dogs
We believe that everyone deserves a second chance. From the inmates who are selected to work with our dogs to the dogs themselves, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish when we put our time, energy and resources into TRYING.
Most of our dogs are selected from South Florida open in-take, municipal shelters. Despite a the shelters “no kill” designation (which means that they have a save rate over 90% annually), there are still many dogs who will never make it out of our Florida shelters simply because there are not enough homes for all of them.
We have a serious over-pet population program in Miami Dade County, and our program feels strongly about doing its little part in being a part of the solution. Each dog we select from the shelter is evaluated by a certified dog behavior consultant. Magic City K9 is the last chance for many of the dogs who come into our program.
Due to the nature of our program and contract with Florida Department of Corrections we can only accept healthy animals with no known behavior issues. We target dogs who are 3 years and under, with the ultimate goal of selecting only the best to-be family companions from the shelter population. We do not take in owner surrendered animals.
Training
The training each dog receives covers a wide range of behaviors. First, the program is an intensive socialization program. The dogs learn to be around and greet many different types of people and dogs. As you can imagine, since the dogs “home” is a men’s correctional institute, the dogs get a lot of exposure to men!
Our first goal with all our dogs is to ensure they can all pass the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen exam for things like sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, come when called, heeling on lead, waiting at doorways, not jumping on people and going to their kennel or bed on command.
Dogs that excel at their foundations program go on to earn their advanced CGC training, trick dog training, and often times competition level obedience. Our guys and dogs also work on handling and husbandry behaviors to help dogs learn how to behave for routine grooming or veterinary care.
Our primary goal is to produce wonderful family pets, but when we find a dog who has that special quality for service dog work we’re ready to help that dog go all the way. Please note that MCK9 does NOT privately train service dogs for the public. You cannot adopt a dog from us to be your service dog. We do however partner with other 501c3 service dog organizations who can continue our dogs’ training as a service dog.
At a minimum, all dogs will spend 12 weeks in training. If we put a dollar amount on how much training each dog receives, it would be somewhere in the ball park of $8,000-$10,000. It’s a labor of love, and you have a the inmates to thank for their hard work day in, and out. The dog training instructor resopnsible for teaching the inmates how to train dogs has 20 years of experience in canine behavior and training. This program is truly unmatched the quality of dogs we produce.
Service Dogs
With the versatility of training our inmate trainers and handlers can accomplish, we’re able to produce the following types of working dogs for our 501c3 partners:
- Autism dogs for children with autism
- PTSD dogs for combat veterans
- Mobility assistance dogs for those who are in a wheelchair
- Working dogs for detection, like narcotics
Plesae note that we DO NOT adopt out “service dogs” to the general public. We partner with other registered 501c3 organizations who would like to help place one of our highly trained and temperment tested service dog prospects into their organization to continue its public access and task training.
If you the end user looking for a service dog you should look into Assitance Dogs Internatioal to find a reputable service dog provider in your area. It is NOT advisable to train your own dog, which you already own, as a service dog.
Housing and Care
All of our canines live with their inmate trainers and handlers inside of the prison. We have 25 dogs in our program at any given time. The inmates who have been selected by the institution to participate in our program have shown exemplary behavior during their own rehabilitation programs while incarcerated.
You have never seen a more dedicated, compassionate and motivated group of men!
All of our dogs get to spend 24/7 time with their trainers and handlers and even have one housing unit designed just for them. This way, all of the canine training teams can be together under one roof as their own canine community within the prison.
The dogs are allowed to accompany their inmate handlers all over the prison compound once they have completed their basic training.
Prior to entering the prison, every dog receives all of it’s vaccinations and is heart worm tested to ensure the dog is negative for any parasites, including heart worms. The dogs are on monthly heart guard, and receive veterinary care as needed.
Should a dog become injured or ill we remove that animal so that our veterinarian at Sunset Animal Clinic can treat our Magic City K9. Each dog has their own crate, bowls, leash & collar while serving time at Everglades Re Entry Center.
Donate
Magic City K9 is not tax supported. Our support comes strictly from private donations and our dog adoption fees. Our adoption fee includes the costs we incur in selecting, vetting and caring for our dogs. This is a minimum required fee. The adoption fee also covers a DNA test for some of our “mystery mutts.”
We also encourage our adopters to create or promote additional fundraising to help save more dogs, and support more people when they adopt a Magic City K9.
We hope that people will see the value of what we’re trying to accomplish, so we certainly appreciate those who make larger donations to support our ongoing efforts of saving shelter dogs and helping people.
These men WILL re-enter society, so it’s duty to make sure that we give them the best possible chance to have a positive outcome as members of our community. Just like the dogs!
Family Pets
We understand the hesitation that people feel when adopting a shelter dog with little no background behavioral history on that animal.
- What if the dog isn’t friendly towards children?
- Other dogs?
- Cats?
- Men?
- And so on
When you apply for a family pet through Magic City K9, we’ll do our best to ensure a perfect match based on your lifestyle, family and needs.
We really encourage people to be open minded and to adopt a dog based on that dog’s temperament, not its size, shape, color or sex.
What’s most important in adopting a rescue dog is that the dog will fit into your family and your lifestyle, seamlessly. Before coming into our program all of our dogs have been tested around children, cats, and dogs. All of our dogs have been tested for food aggression, touch sensitivity, reactivity, impulse control, sound sensitivity and temperament.
Adoption Process
Step 1: Fill out an application
Step 2: You’ll hear from one of our adoption coordinators (volunteer)
Step 3: Attend a prospective adopter zoom call us. This is how we really get to know you, and how you’ll really get to know our dogs (via videos, photos and 121 interaction with our head trainer)
Step 4: Get Matched! Please keep in mind that depending on where we are in a adoption cycle it could be 1-2 months before the dog you’re matched with is able to be picked up and go home.
Step 5: You’ll have the opportunity to visit the prison and our guys (inmate trainers) when you pick up your dog at graduation day.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
A generous thank you, from the bottom of our heart, to the key players who help us do what we do! Without you, we couldn’t make the impact we do.
A special thanks to several of our anonymous donors (you know who you are!), who sponsored a year’s worth of dog food and all fees needed to get our organization up and running in 2017.
You guys are, paws down, the best!
Our Contact Info
All of our dogs live at the prison! We do not have a physical office. We are a network of volunteers.
Text us: 305-842-3974. We do not have a live phone line that gets answered.
Ready to feel the Magic?
You can help save a shelter dog’s life while at the same time feel great knowing you’re helping another person, a human, on their journey towards a positive life change and likely a career in the animal industry. You can help by supporting our program! No donation is too small. Every cent makes a difference.