[NAGDU] FW: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9 officer(Canine Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975)

Wed Jul 24 03:06:41 UTC 2019

I know this is somewhat off topic, but I just want to provide some clarification. Facility dogs are neither service dogs or emotional support dogs. They are actually very similar to therapy dogs. Both therapy dogs and facility dogs are typically handled by able-bodied people and are for the benefit of other people who are disabled, ill, or  have suffered trauma. Therapy dogs are typically just pet owners with well behaved dogs who want to give back to their community. The dogs must be certified through one of a number of therapy dog organizations, and are a sensually very well behaved pets that are invited to places like hospitals, schools, or nursing homes maybe once a month or so.
Facility dogs however are often trained by service dog programs and placed with a handler who works in a place like a police department, A specialized school for children with severe disabilities, a physical therapist, or who works as a mental health professional. Facility dogs are often dogs who didn’t quite have what it takes to be a service dog, but still have a stable temperament and willingness to work . That handler brings the dog with them to work each day for the purpose of interacting with their patients. Some facility dogs purely provide psychological benefits just threw their presence, but other facility dogs are actually taught mobility related tasks. A facility dog working with a physical  therapist for example will be taught to retrieve dropped items or brace to help a person change position, to assist patients with their rehabilitation during appointments. So facility dogs aren’t actually completely off-topic, because they often sort of act as a temporary service dog for a disabled person.
Assuming that the facility dog is actually from a reputable program (which should be the case with Canine Companions for Independence mentioned in this article), The dogs handler specifically brings the dog to their place of employment, but they do not have any legal right to bring the dog out into public places that are not pet friendly. It’s unfortunate that that article refers to facility dogs as service dogs because they really are not,  but the article does only talk about the dog in that specific place of employment not being taken out into public .
If anyone is familiar with the most recent Today Show puppy Sunny, his final appearance on the Today Show discusses facility dogs briefly as this is the career path that best suited him.
Danielle 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 23, 2019, at 10:29 PM, Cindy Ray via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Good evening List Members,
> When you are sending messages to this list, please indicate why you are
> sending them. Though this is a very sweet story about K9 Cop dogs who do
> emotional support work (and in these cases it is certainly valuable), these
> are not service dogs. I think the story is interesting, but it is off topic.
> However, this story does point out an interesting issue. Service dogs have
> more privileges and are more able to do things than emotional support dogs.
> The dogs discussed here are basically K9 companions or emotional support
> dogs; I am not sure they are considered as service animals, though this
> article constantly refers to them as such. This continues the muddy waters
> faced by blind guide dog users, and other actual service animal users as
> well. I suspect the public reads such an article as that and it helps hatch
> ideas as to how they can have their precious Fighto be with them at all
> times because he can do these things as well.
> 
> Cindy Lou Ray, List Moderator
> cindyray at gmail.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Madison Martin via NAGDU
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2019 6:39 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Madison Martin <maddymartin at mymts.net>
> Subject: [NAGDU] FW: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort.
> Departments in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9
> officer(Canine Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit
> founded in 1975)
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lillian Scaife [mailto:lmscaife at charter.net] 
> Sent: July-23-19 12:41 AM
> To: chat at guidedogusersinc.org
> Subject: [GDUI Chat] A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments
> in the state are embracing a different breed of K-9 officer(Canine
> Companions for Independence , a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975)
> 
> from Los Angeles Times Metro Section 2019 07 22
> 
> A new type of police dog, offering comfort. Departments in the state are
> embracing a different breed of K-9 officer By Colleen Shalby.. 
> 
> The most recognizable police dogs are those that can sniff out drugs and
> bombs, or the tough K-9s that can take down a suspect with their teeth.
> Scottie, Raider and Meredith are not that kind of dog. Their mission is far
> different, and their duty lies with survivors of trauma, witnesses of
> tragedy or anyone in need of comfort. 
> 
> "Dogs help people in a way that humans may never be able to," said Erin
> Lennox, a public safety dispatcher with the Corona Police Department and one
> of Raider's handlers. Service animals trained to provide emotional support
> have been popping up at hospitals, nursing homes and college campuses
> throughout the country. In law enforcement, they're still an uncommon breed,
> but their numbers are growing. 
> 
> Many of these so-called facility dogs come from Canine Companions for
> Independence, a California-based nonprofit founded in 1975. 
> 
> The group has placed 19 dogs in criminal justice jobs across the Southwest.
> Three are attached to police stations in Southern California. The first in
> the state -- and one of the first police facility dogs in the country -- was
> Scottie, a golden retriever who began working with the Hawthorne Police
> Department in 2012. The 9-year-old K-9 was called into duty in April after a
> horrific shooting. During a child-custody exchange outside the station, a
> mother was killed in front of her 17-month-old son. That night, Scottie
> slept alongside the boy in a Police Department room filled with books and
> stuffed animals. "He's there to be a comfort. It's wonderful to see him
> work," said Scottie's handler, Officer Lameka Bell. 
> 
> When Bell got Scottie seven years ago, many officers initially dismissed the
> idea of bringing on a dog tasked solely with trauma support. "You don't
> bring lovely, happy animals into a police department. It's always the big
> guns," Bell said. But Scottie has since become a valuable member of the
> force. Every morning, he and Bell visit each office, from the records
> department to the mailroom, with stops at the gang unit and the jail, where
> Scottie is greeted with hugs and smiles and the occasional treat. Some days
> are light. The partners might attend community outreach events, such as
> coffee with a cop, a trip to a school or a hospital tour. Others are more
> difficult. 
> 
> Scottie sometimes will sit with children of abuse who've been brought in to
> take photos of their bruises. Occasionally, he'll accompany a woman into a
> room as a rape kit is performed. "We work the hotline at YWCA. If a person
> calls in who's been raped, we meet them at the rape center," Bell said.
> "Scottie goes into the room and sits with the victim. The woman is given
> control over Scottie's leash while a doctor examines her. 
> 
> The dogs are free through Canine Companions, but the application process
> often takes more than a year. 
> 
> Extensive training ensures each dog has the right temperament. Once on the
> job, facility dogs are regularly checked to ensure that the stress of their
> work doesn't affect them. "We've been together long enough where I know when
> he's had enough," Bell said of Scottie. "You don't want to tire or agitate a
> dog. When they're off the clock, the dogs live with their handlers as pets,
> playing fetch or lounging with the rest of their humans. They also get
> plenty of attention and rest throughout their workday. 
> 
> Initially there wasn't a blueprint for how these kinds of dogs should be
> used at a police station, but by the time Raider and Meredith came around,
> Bell was able to consult. Raider joined the Corona Police Department in 2018
> and has assisted on some tough cases. 
> 
> For more than a year, as prosecutors laid out the horrifying abuse of 13
> children at the hands of their parents, the 3-year-old yellow Labrador
> retriever was a steadfast presence, both in and out of the courtroom. Amid
> the weighty conversations of neglect by David and Louise Turpin, who pleaded
> guilty to more than a dozen felony counts involving the torture and
> imprisonment of their children, the siblings came to rely on Raider's
> companionship. At the request of the children, who at the time of their
> parents' arrest ranged in age from 2 to 29, the dog bore silent witness as
> their mother and father were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in
> April. Adam Roulston, a Corona police patrol sergeant and one of Raider's
> handlers, said that while it's up to the trainers to decide where to take
> their dogs, he's learned the dogs usually decide which person to approach.
> When everyone else is focused on the primary victim, Raider often heads in
> the direction of someone experiencing secondary trauma. "He'll lay on their
> feet or sit on them. Then they'll break down," said Roulston, who learned of
> police facility dogs after reading about Scottie. 
> 
> Meredith, a 3-year-old yellow Lab who joined the Redondo Beach Police
> Department in 2017, spends most of her time with teenagers who have faced
> their own traumas. The dog has been a steady presence inside a Redondo Beach
> high school. She and her handler, Sharon Rose, a community services K-9
> specialist, are typically stationed inside an office at the school. Rose
> said that once students realized Meredith's job wasn't to monitor their
> activity, trust was established. Visitors now frequently stop by the office
> to sit with Meredith, taking a momentary reprieve from their daily stresses.
> The Lab has also been a source of comfort to the grieving. 
> 
> In November, Rose took Meredith to a memorial service in Thousand Oaks after
> the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill that killed a dozen
> people. "It's nice to provide people with that mental break you need in the
> middle of tragedy," she said. 
> 
> At a recent funeral for a Montebello police officer, mourners were met by
> two particular guests. Outside the church, those in attendance made their
> way to Scottie and Meredith. Some bent down, nose-to-nose with the dogs in a
> moment of laughter. Others mindlessly patted the tops of their heads, wiping
> their eyes behind sunglasses. The dogs didn't know the sound of bagpipes
> indicated the start of the service, the finality of goodbye. They didn't
> know the dark clothes of their new friends signaled the somber occasion. As
> the crowd filed inside, the two sat patiently, as good dogs do, ready to
> ease the burden of their fellow officers and loved ones. 
> 
> 
> 
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