At first, Bristol PD sought to recruit a bomb-sniffing or a narcotics canine, but the school resource officer, Officer Medeiros, had another idea in mind. Medeiros, who’s now Brody’s handler, pointed out that what the people really need right now, is a comforting therapy dog.
Brody joined the force on mid-March which posed a few challenges to his acclimation. Medeiros wanted to expose the pooch to as many people as possible and accustom him to being around them, but social distancing was already applied. With that being said, there wasn’t a time when a therapy dog was needed more than now.
Bristol, R.I. Police Department,Facebook
Being sworn into the police force is an exciting event for most servicemen and k-9’s. That is unless you are Bristol police’s latest addition, Brody, the comfort dog. The adorable 12-week-old puppy does everything full-heartedly – he loves to play hard, and then sleep hard.
Bristol, R.I. Police Department,Facebook
The therapy dog doesn’t only comfort distressed citizens. When Officer Medeiros walks the hallways of the police department, Brody immediately puts a much-needed smile on the faces of stressed policemen and women.
Bristol, R.I. Police Department,Facebook
But the true extent to which being comfortable comes naturally to the pooch really showed on his swearing-in ceremony. In a video that was uploaded to Facebook, and since went viral with over 260K views, the pooch is seen comfortably resting on the desk and sleeping through the entire ceremony. To the dog’s defense, we will mention that he was awakened especially early, and at the end of the day, his job is to cheer people up – which is precisely what he’s done.
Bristol, R.I. Police Department,Facebook
Even so, officers have high hopes for their town’s first comfort dog, who will also help console witnesses during police investigations. In addition to helping stem stress and anxiety in traumatic situations, studies suggest therapy dogs can even help witnesses’ recall improve.
Does your town have a comfort K-9? Tell us about them in the comments!
Source: goanimals