Bibb County Sheriff’s Office gives pups a second chance at a forever home

A whirlwind blur of fur, Fergie is a 1-year-old pit bull and basset hound mix who can hardly contain her energy and is no stranger to an ice bath on a hot summer day. 

She’s a “bull in a china shop,” said Corporal Brandi Smith with the Macon-Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Fergie is one of three to four dogs currently in the Bondable Pups program, where every tail-wagging pooch is “wanted for excessive cuteness,” according to a poster in Smith’s office. 

Since the program’s inception in 2017, inmates serving time in the county lockup walk, feed and train the Bondable Pups until they’re adopted by their forever families. 

There are four dogs for every inmate that participates in the program, Smith said. At one point she had 20 four-legged members of the program and a few two-legged inmates to care for them. 

Each pup learns basic commands, such as sit or lay, and is leash trained. 

“The dogs run the place,” Smith said, noting that the only correctional tool used on the pups is a water gun. 

The hardest part of her job is choosing which dogs from the shelter are brought into the program, Smith said. It’s like playing God. 

A dog becomes county property seven days after it enters custody of animal enforcement. There is then a 28-day adoption period before the dog is euthanized. 

Smith considers demeanor and how the dogs will interact with inmates. The pups must adjust to the sounds of nearby trains, helicopters and fire trucks, as well as interactions with other inmates and officers.

“We call them weirdos around here, they all have different personalities,” Smith said of the feral, skittish and shy dogs she described working with. 

She also partners with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice’s Rescue 2 Restore program in the fall and spring. Smith takes the Bondable Pups to the Macon Youth Development Center where juveniles train the dogs while also learning patience.

The main goal is to find a forever home for each Bondable Pup, but sometimes an inmate will forge a close “bond” with one of the dogs and end up taking them home. 

Smith recalled one inmate who spent time in and out of incarceration, but connected with a dog in the program involved in a severe animal cruelty case. The pup contracted parvovirus and was recovering from a broken back and paws. After being released, the inmate returned to visit the dog and eventually adopted it. Smith has not seen the inmate back in jail since. 

 “I’m hoping he stayed out for her,” she said.

‘They don’t have a voice’

Smith has helped more dogs than she can count over the years, but she still remembers many of their names and tries to keep up with their lives after they leave her care. 

“It’s all about the animals,” she said. “Helping dogs was my world.”

She developed a soft spot for wet noses and furry paws at a young age. Her aunt took in any dog that showed up on her doorstep, once caring for 20 different canines at the same time. 

As an adult, Smith recounted how her ex-husband abandoned their family dogs on a dirt road. Despite going back to search for them, she was never able to find the dogs again. 

Since then, she works to ensure dogs have a safe place to stay and has spent the last 20 years doing animal rescue work. 

“Any dog I come into contact with will always have a home,” she said.

A dog owner incarcerated in Houston County wrote several letters pleading for her dog, Princess, not to be put down. When Smith got word of the owner’s situation, she made it her mission to bring the dog into the Bondable Pups program.

“At some point, there’s got to be some compassion,” she said.

Smith carries the folded piece of paper with a hand-written note from Princess’ owner in her purse. 

“We don’t have people in jail wanting to save their dogs,” she said. “You got people in jail wanting to save their own butt.” 

Smith used to run her own animal rescue nonprofit in Jones County, where she worked as an animal control officer. 

The Jones County shelter has a high euthanasia rate, according to Smith. She ran the rescue out of her home and put the pups up for adoption without additional fees beyond vet bills. 

She worked for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office from 2007-2012 and later returned to run the Bondable Pups program. 

Seeing the dogs’ transformations and knowing she helped make them happen is what keeps Smith going. 

“She was skinny and shy. And now she’s fat and happy,” Smith said of one of the dogs in her program. “She went from hoodrat to bougie dog.”

People come from all over to adopt her Bondable Pups, including from other parts of Georgia, Delaware and Florida. 

But saying goodbye to her four-legged “weirdos” isn’t a sad experience for Smith because she knows they’re going to their forever homes.  

Fergie was abandoned in a house and underfed for two and a half weeks, but this weekend she goes home to her new adoptive family. 

“I don’t cry,” Smith said. It just means it’s time to head to the shelter and choose another dog, whose life she can change for the better.