Q: My town’s police department has adopted a comfort dog. It is not a typical German shepherd K-9 dog that helps apprehend suspects and sniffs out drugs. Instead, it is a mixed breed that looks sort of like a beagle and travels around with one of the police officers to provide comfort when needed during a stressful or traumatic situation, for instance, when a child has been abused and has been taken from his or her home. It also makes visits to institutionalized settings including schools and nursing homes. When the dog is not “on duty,” she lives with the officer and his family.
Does the term “comfort dog” have a legal definition?
Bob Lawrence
Hingham, Massachusetts
Dear Mr. Lawrence,
A: There is no legal definition for “comfort dog,” even if the dog is in fact very comforting. Perhaps the dog is a therapy dog or a crisis response dog.
A therapy dog is generally registered or certified as such after she and her person have gone through required training and passed an exam. There are a number of national organizations and also state organizations that either register or certify a dog as a therapy animal once the pet and her owner have gone through the paces (walking calmly through a crowd, letting the dog be petted by someone who strokes the fur against rather than with the hair pattern, and so on). There’s also an international organization called Pet Partners. (See page 7.)
For a social animal who enjoys being around people and has an easygoing temperament, therapy work can prove to be terrific environ-
mental enrichment.
There are also trained crisis response dogs, who provide strength, comfort, and emotional support to individuals, families, communities, and first responders experiencing intense traumatic emotions in the aftermath of critical incidents. They might be deployed to help comfort people in the wake of an event such as a weather-related catastrophe or a mass shooting. But from your description, your town’s dog sounds more like a therapy dog than a crisis response dog.
