[nagdu] Leader Dog works in courtroom for kids

[Linda Gwizdak]

Hi All,
Thought you'd all like to see this - a friend sent it.

Lyn and Landon
Using training and lovability, Amos the dog calms kids in court

BY L.L. BRASIER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Amos, or Famous Amos as they're calling him around the Novi district
court, is not your typical participant in the criminal justice system.
He's got enormous brown eyes and routinely dispenses sloppy kisses. And he
has four legs and regularly wags his tail.



A 2-year-old lab mix, Amos is Michigan's first court therapy dog, a pooch
trained to comfort traumatized and anxious children who are victims or
witnesses in cases of domestic and sexual assault. In the weeks ahead, he
will be called upon when kids are summoned to court, befriend them, and
perhaps sit with them when they testify.

. Other therapy dogs

Judge Brian MacKenzie of Novi 52-1 District Court is helping to sponsor
the new Canine Advocacy Program, or CAP, by volunteering his courtroom for
the first cases. The program, is a nonprofit victims advocacy foundation,
and is funded by private donations, including a large check from the
Waterford Optimist Club. Volunteers work as handlers and house Amos.

MacKenzie hopes therapy dogs will be a common sight in Michigan courtrooms
someday. Amos will be on call, and referrals will come from social service
agencies such as HAVEN and CARE House that treat distressed children.

"Amos is the first of what we hope will be many dogs," MacKenzie said as
Amos roamed about his chambers. "Some of my colleagues were cautious when
they heard about it, but it's a new idea, so that's to be expected."

The idea of using dogs to ease courtroom tensions is not new and is
gaining popularity across the country. Courthousedogs.com began in Seattle
when an assistant prosecutor in King County, took her disabled son's
service dog to work one day a week and discovered that the dog had a
profoundly calming effect on young witnesses. Now that county, and others
in Texas, Georgia, Montana, Florida and Maryland have dogs working
courtrooms.

There is little case law about allowing dogs into courtrooms. Defense
attorneys have challenged the presence of dogs, saying they would generate
sympathy from jurors for a complaining witness. But courts, for the most
part, have lumped dogs into the category of "comfort objects" children are
often allowed to bring into court, like dolls.

One recent January afternoon, Amos was wandering the hallways in Novi,
kissing up to judicial staff and wagging his tail at visiting attorneys.
He stopped to greet the Oakland County Sheriffs deputies assigned to
security -- they were eating lunch so he was attentive.



"I think it's a great idea if you can find a dog like him," said David
Biel, a Wolverine Lake resident who was at the court to file papers and
stopped to give Amos a pat. The irresistible pooch was sprawled in the
hallway outside the courtroom, watching people walk by and readying for a
nap. "He would probably let you lay on him."

Amos, who still has the loping gait of a puppy but the placid gaze of a
wise old dog, was trained at Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester. He
had a "career change," his handlers like to say, because they could not
break him from pulling on the leash.

With $20,000 worth of training, and more than a year of one-on-one time
with trainers, he was the perfect choice for a courtroom therapist. Leader
Dogs donated him to the program. In December, he started learning manners.

The dog appears to calm the staff, too -- workers who have to deal with
members of the public who are stressed or angry. "I'm not even a dog
person, and I want to take him home," said clerk Paula Hummel. "Everybody
stops what they're doing to pet him."

For information, call CAP at 248-701-6611.

Contact L.L. BRASIER: 248-858-2262 or brasier at freepress.com