HANCOCK COUNTY — Tails were wagging and tongues were flapping as the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department officially put their two new therapy dogs, Fogo and Adin, into service this week.
Last week Sheriff Brad Burkhart and the group of county officials who will handle the two dogs worked with officials from Ultimate Canine Training to acclimate the official handlers before putting the dogs into service at the Hancock County Jail and the community.
“If he gets a little too kissy you can give him a command like ‘no lick,’” said Ultimate Canine trainer Beth Johnson about friendly Fogo.
Johnson spent several days at the county jail last week letting Burkhart and the other dog handlers work with and get to know the two therapy dogs. She also passed out handling tips such as how to approach a person for a visit, how to get the dog to rest, snuggle and release from meeting someone.
Adin and Fogo, the two newest addition to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, will be used as part of a new dog therapy venture. Unlike most K-9 dogs in law enforcement who are used for riding with officers, drug sniffs or taking part in arrests, Fogo and Adin will soothe people.
“These dogs, they’re going to be providing unconditional love to people who really need it,” Burkhart said. “It’s two fold what they will be doing.”
The dogs will be working with inmates in the county jail who are rehabilitating and outside will provide comfort and support during crisis situations.
Fogo, a nearly 1-year-old miniature Labradoodle, will stay at the county jail during the day visiting inmates who take classes or who need emotional assistance and support during intake or in a moment of crisis. Fogo will then go home each night with his handler, jail navigator Crystal Petty, and be a part of her family.
“I’m really looking forward to this,” Petty said. “I’ve never been a dog person, but I am a Fogo fan.”
She and Matt Graham, a licensed mental health counselor at the jail will handle Fogo when he interacts with inmates daily. Graham will serve as Fogo’s backup handler when Petty can not work with him.
“Getting Fogo involved with the program piece of what we’re doing here at the jail, it just adds another layer to what we’re trying to accomplish here which is rehabilitate inmates,” Burkhart said. “While Fogo will be going back into the jail, we’ll also get him out into the community like we will with Adin.”
Adin, 1-year-old Labrador, will venture mostly into the community, but only when emotional or mental health support is needed for specific situations where children are involved or when the county’s crisis management team is called into play. When Adin isn’t in the field supporting community members he’ll be a normal family dog living with his handler, deputy Eddie Whittington and his family.
“When we get those kinds of calls for people who are having issues, they’ll reach out to me and Adin and we’ll go on that call,” Whittington said. “Then when he’s not working, he’ll be a part of our family.”
When Whittington is unavailable for calls, deputy Ben Walker who was also trained will become Adin’s handler and make calls with the dog. Officials say the dogs will be able to help inmates and community members in crisis process their emotions a little better.
“When you have an individual who is processing trauma they are typically processing experiences that are the exact opposite of that so in the processing part if they can re-experience while processing and experiencing the unconditional love from the dog it will change their experience of the bad situation and it will help them realize they can take control of their actions and emotions,” Graham said. “When the dog is there, they will no longer be distressed because that dog is giving them support.”
For quite some time now Burkhart has been working towards getting a dog therapy program started at the jail. The department got the dogs when they were puppies and handed them over to Ultimate Canine Training, who put the dogs through a temperament test and then through months of specialized training.
“There are a few other agencies out there who do this type of work with dogs, but we’re really one of the first to have them in a county jail and we’re looking forward to implementing it and seeing how well it goes,” Burkhart said. “I think in the coming months we will really see how useful the dogs are going to be, to be able to change the dynamics of a situation.”
The dogs will be dressed in Sheriff’s vest, complete with their names Deputy Fogo and Deputy Adin.
“That will be nice and we’re looking forward to getting them out there in the public and letting everyone meet them,” Burkhart said.
For anyone worried about dog safety, Johnson, who has trained both pups from the start noted the Fogo and Adin will always have a handler with them and those people will not put the dogs in harms way.
“They’ll be able to manage things and will never put the dogs in an unsafe situation,” Johnson said. “This is a whole different program than the dogs who are utility dogs.”
Even then Burkhart noted for their K-9 dogs, they never send the day-to-day working K-9 officers into situations where they could get hurt.
“We just don’t do that,” Burkhart said.
While the Sheriff noted he doesn’t go to every class being offered at the county jail, he’s been to enough of them to know sometimes people struggle in those types of settings and he feels certain a hug from Fogo will help.
“Sometimes people are either upset or mad about something and we think this, the dogs, will help release whatever issue is going on there and help them,” Burkhart said. “I mean everybody loves dogs.”
