Stark County Dog Warden partners with Ridgeside K9 Ohio to train shelter dogs

JACKSON TWP. – A 3½-year-old pit bull mix named McKinley wagged his tail as his new family gave him commands.

"Stay."

"Sit."

"Place."

Each time the energetic pup obeyed a command, he was rewarded with pets and — most importantly — treats.

McKinley is the first dog to be trained and adopted as part of a new partnership between the Stark County Sheriff's Office's Dog Warden Division and Ridgeside K9 Ohio, a dog training facility located in Jackson Township.

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Starting Jan. 1, Ridgeside K9 plans to pick up a new dog from the pound every two weeks and teach it commands like come, sit, heel, down and place, plus get the dog acquainted with walking on a leash and wearing a collar. The purpose of this project is to help families get more comfortable with shelter dogs, as well as get more of these dogs adopted.

"A lot of people are sometimes intimidated by dogs in the kennel, because they don't know what their histories are or they don't know if they've had behavioral problems," Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier said. "This is just a way that we can reassure families that with a little bit of training, you can have a fantastic pet in your home."

Ridgeside K9 owner Eric Stanbro said Maier approached him with the idea, and he and the other trainers at the facility were thrilled to help. Ridgeside K9 picked up McKinley from the dog warden a couple of weeks ago to begin his training.

McKinley, who was named after the Stark County road where he was found, spent more than 140 days at the pound before Ridgeside K9 came to get him.

Ridgeside K9 started making Facebook posts about McKinley's progress, noting that he would soon be available for adoption. The posts garnered attention on social media from many Stark County families, including the Gibbs family of Massillon.

The family of four consists of parents Josh and Heather, 15-year-old Aden and 9-year-old Aubrey. The Gibbs family had been looking at dogs at the Stark County facility and Stark County Humane Society for some time when they learned about McKinley.

"As soon as they posted the videos (of McKinley), we knew 'Oh, yeah. That's the dog,'" Josh said.

McKinley became available again for adoption last Thursday. Knowing there was lots of interest in the dog on social media, Heather, drove to the dog warden facility well before it opened to make sure the family could get him.

The family said McKinley listens well to commands.

"He's been a great dog (so far)," Josh said.

Maier said he hopes to see the program continue in the long term.

"Our goal is certainly to get our kennel dogs adopted out to families," he said. "We have reduced the number of dogs over the last couple years that have been euthanized by nearly 50%, and we're very hopeful that we can continue doing that."

The Stark County Dog Warden Division is located at 1801 Mahoning Road NE and is open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The adoption fee is $99 and includes a dog license. The dogs have been neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.

Reach Paige at 330-580-8577, pmbennett@gannett.com or on Twitter at @paigembenn.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark Dog Warden, Ridgeside K9 partner to train shelter dogs