Yukon is York Police Dept.'s new comfort dog, 'trained to really understand people'

YORK, Maine — The silence was broken by a soft howl as Yukon the husky sauntered into the dispatch center wagging his tail, greeted with petting and praises.

“It’s crazy the power that little guy will have,” said Jamie Robie, York police detective and the handler for the department’s new comfort dog.

Yukon was brought to the department in late September not to sniff out narcotics or take down suspects perceived as dangerous. This dog is specially trained to comfort people under stress, from victims and witnesses to the police officers who investigate the crimes that traumatize them.

“These dogs are trained to really understand people who are struggling emotionally,” said York Police Chief Owen Davis.

The chief, a York native who was appointed in May by the Selectboard, is working on an initiative to improve mental health resources for both officers and the community. Earlier this year, he collaborated with Eliot and Kittery police to hire a regional social worker to assist with investigations that involve mental health crises.

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Yukon, he said, is another step in that ongoing effort. He said Yukon was trained in Florida to identify individuals that are feeling stress, then approach them with affection.

He said departments elsewhere have begun acquiring comfort dogs to help first responders as they cope with traumatic experiences on the job.

“We’ve come a long way in law enforcement where we’ve started to recognize that we needed to take care of ourselves and other people,” Davis said.

Why a police comfort dog?

Davis said he first became aware of comfort dogs after the police department in Greenland, New Hampshire, brought on Willow the golden retriever in 2019. Willow was also acquired to assist officers in coping with stress, according to Willow’s handler, Greenland police administrative assistant Elizabeth Tretter.

Greenland police suffered a traumatic loss when Chief Michael Maloney was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2012. Tretter said the current chief, Tara Laurent, took over abruptly at the time and has put a focus on mental health in their department.

Tretter said Willow’s impact has grown beyond the officers and into the community where the department uses it for outreach as well.

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“It really kind of started out as something for the guys,” Tretter said. “It’s really morphed.”

Other departments to add comfort dogs include Maine’s Department of Public Safety, as well as Exeter police and the Strafford County Sheriff’s Office in New Hampshire.

Davis said he has been moved by the effect of comfort dogs on officers. As he got to know Tretter while researching comfort dogs, he learned of a stress debriefing in Greenland that followed a traumatic incident. The comfort dog was given freedom to walk among the 30 first responders there. The dog, he said, went straight for the police officer who was having a particularly difficult time.

“The dog intuitively knew who was struggling the most,” Davis said. “It was a pretty, shall we say, stoic officer that literally went down and laid on the floor with the dog. He was able to kind of process some of the awful things that we see.”

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Yukon is coming aboard as the department sees new faces rise through the command ranks and officer vacancies filled by incoming police academy graduates. Steve Spofford, who first joined the department full-time in 1996, was promoted from lieutenant to deputy chief last month. Meanwhile, Luke Ernenwein was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, having been with the department since 1998.

Comforting first responders

Next week Yukon will be officially introduced to the community, joining Robie and other officers as they visit schools, nursing homes and other places the department hopes to connect positively with the public. Davis said Yukon will also be useful for engaging children who are victims of crimes at the Child Advocacy Center, where helping kids be open about their trauma can be a challenge.

Yukon’s main job will always be comforting the first responders inside the department, according to Robie. She runs two miles with Yukon every day to ensure he is not high-strung at work and can focus on the task at hand of spreading joy.

“To have Yukon here to brighten their day and maybe turn it around, it’s just incredible,’ Robie said. “It’s a no-brainer.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York ME Police Department's new dog Yukon comforts people under stress