A program born from one 9-year-old’s battle with a brain tumor has now matched 191 dogs with Colorado children facing serious medical and behavioral conditions, and on Saturday, families gathered in Northglenn to celebrate the milestone together. Allison Winn was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor in 2009 when she started what became the Stink Bug Project, a program she named after her own way of picturing cancer and chemotherapy as a stink bug to be squashed.
Winn, now 26, launched the idea as a child, and it has since grown into a structured initiative run by the Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, which folded the project into its program portfolio in 2012, according to the foundation’s own history. As reported by the Denver Gazette, the project matches families with children ages 5 to 18, with eligibility extending to age 21 for kids still living with their parents, so long as they have a diagnosed long-term or chronic medical or behavioral condition.
Where the Dogs Come From
The dogs themselves arrive by way of Colorado’s Prison-Trained K-9 Companion Program, a Colorado Correctional Industries initiative that has expanded to six state correctional facilities, per Colorado Correctional Industries. Inmate trainers work with the dogs around the clock for roughly two months, teaching them command response, leash skills, and how to interact with other dogs, per the Denver Gazette’s reporting. Handlers who complete the program can carry their master dog trainer certification into jobs outside prison once released, the same report notes.
To even qualify as a handler, incarcerated applicants must hold a GED, keep a clean behavioral record for at least six months, and finish 14 months of coursework and practical exams to earn that master trainer certification, according to a Prison Insider page citing News 5 Cleveland. Between the program’s 2002 founding and 2019, it trained nearly 13,000 dogs. Many came from private families paying for boarding and training, and the program did not rely on state taxpayer funds, News 5 Cleveland reported. The dogs matched through Stink Bug come from local rescues and breeders and are specifically trained to accommodate children who use wheelchairs or medical tubes, the Denver Gazette’s report states.
Families Share What the Dogs Have Meant
Christina Ridgeway and her 8-year-old son, Caleb, who was diagnosed with leukemia, were matched with a 70-pound poodle named Winston, who the family says has helped Caleb socialize. Jessica Mittelstaedt, who has battled pancreatic cancer and lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, was matched with a dog named Princess Peach, who visits her in the hospital. Mittelstaedt had her pancreas, spleen, gallbladder and duodenum removed in 2022, according to the Denver Gazette’s account…