Working day-in-day-out patrolling Richmond’s streets can take a heavy emotional toll on a police officer, no matter how hard-nosed they may be, says Alyssa Alvarado, a Richmond police officer for the past seven years.
Given they’re responding to often-dire emergencies and catastrophes — shootings, fatal car accidents, robberies and assaults — it’s not unusual for officers to feel shaken by the traumatic and disheartening events they encounter in their daily work.
Alvarado trains new recruits and is often asked what it’s like to serve as a police officer.
“I always try to explain that you don’t call the police because you are having such a good day. You are calling them because it may be one of the worst days of your life,” she said.
“We go back to our family and try not to bring it home,” she continued. “But sometimes we take it back with us.”
But these days a bright-eyed, furry being is bringing the Richmond Police Department some joy and respite from those bleak moments.
Meet Rosie: a 7-month-old warm, loving, black Labrador retriever named after Richmond’s most famous trailblazer, Rosie the Riveter. Rosie is RPD’s official wellness dog, tasked with helping the city’s police officers cope with their stressful jobs.
Richmond is one of a number of law enforcement agencies nationwide that are adding wellness dogs to their health and wellness programs. Contra Costa District Attorney’s office also has a wellness dog, Bear, that provides comfort to witnesses and victims anxious about testifying. And the Richmond firefighters recently posted a picture on social media of “Babo,” a pup visiting from First Responder Therapy Dogs, a San Rafael-based nonprofit that says its dogs offer a new mental health tool.
Rosie is a “facility dog in training,” which means she is being trained to be a wellness dog, which is similar to a therapy dog except it has been trained specifically to support professionals working in places such as police departments, courthouses, schools, counseling centers, and hospitals, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Because ready-trained wellness dogs are scarce, the police department decided to speed up the process by adopting its own puppy and training her to be their facility dog, said Karin Khalil, Richmond police department’s patrol secretary.
Khalil is one of Rosie’s two handlers, who take care of her after hours in their homes. The other is patrol Capt. Matt Stonebraker who, in addition to being the department’s third in command, is also its wellness program coordinator.
The department contacted Next Step Service Dogs in San Diego County, a nonprofit that specializes in training service dogs for first-responders, and was advised to adopt a dog they knew was healthy and had a family history of longevity. They found Rosie at an American Kennel Club certified breeder in Santa Rosa who helped them choose the most calm and affectionate puppy in the bunch, Khalil said.
Rosie will have to go through months of obedience training before going to Next Steps, where she and her handlers will complete at least six months of advanced training on how to best serve the Richmond police department and the community, said Gina Esoldi, program director at Next Step Service Dogs.
Unlike service dogs, who are trained to help one individual, facility dogs are expected to be calm and well-mannered in all situations and environments and with a variety of people, according to Khalil.
“We’re really focused on facility dogs being ‘bomb-proofed,’ if their environment changes, and with exposure to different sights and sounds, we want to make sure they stay stable and calm in all situations,” she said.
Facility dogs learn how to provide comfort by placing their head on people’s laps, laying their bodies across people’s legs or even putting a paw in someone’s hand.
“”
Police work is a high-stress job, and wellness dogs provide comfort, emotional support and a calming presence.
— Richmond patrol Capt. Matt Stonebraker
Funded by the Officer Wellness and Mental Health state grant program for first-responders, Rosie’s training is expected to be complete within two years, Khalil said
The police department’s wellness program provides a peer support team and mental health counselors within 48 hours of a crisis, as well as access to other health and wellness offerings such as twice-a-week walks during lunchtime with Rosie, onsite sleep trailers at the department for officers workingl double shifts, an onsite gym, and a zero-gravity massage chair to help officers decompress.
“Police work is a high-stress job, and wellness dogs provide comfort, emotional support, and a calming presence,” Stonebraker said. “According to research, these dogs can also help build camaraderie among staff, improve morale, and promote a positive work environment, contributing to the overall well-being and resilience of officers.”
Studies have shown that Interactions with dogs can lower an individual’s heart rate and blood pressure levels, and help alleviate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and anxiety. They do so by providing distraction and calm support with no judgment, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Rosie has certainly developed a loyal and beloved following among the Richmond police force. She skitters up and down the stairs and into the daily briefing room to greet incoming officers at the line-up before each shift. When she makes her daily rounds around the station, the unmistakable clinking of her dog tags has people’s heads popping up above their cubicle walls, all smiles, just to catch a glimpse of her. They call her to their side, give her treats, a pat on the head, and a belly rub, and say, “Good, girl.”
Police chief is happy to have Rosie support her team
Richmond Police Chief Bisa French got the idea to get a wellness dog for her department after she attended a Women Leaders in Law Enforcement Conference last year and learned about the positive impact these programs had on other police agencies.
Bisa’s research showed that wellness dogs can “reduce stress, boost morale and provide emotional support,” and, she said, Rosie has “exceeded those expectations” since joining the department when she was just 8 weeks old.
“Rosie has brought great joy and a sense of calm to our department,” she said. “I’m so happy we have Rosie on our team; she loves connecting with everyone and making a difference.”
Khalil said Rosie seems to love the attention and her job, too.
“The captain has said that she gets happy when he puts on his uniform, because she knows she is going to work,” Khalil said. “The same thing happens at my house. She is happy to head in to work and seems to know where we’re going.”
Alvarado said having Rosie at the department has improved morale for many officers.
“Day one, everyone was excited to see a new little creature around the department,” she recalled. “Everyone, like, took turns holding her and, like, throwing her toys. And now, when we get little visits from her before our shifts, she’ll come into the lineup room and then just run and say ‘h’i to everybody, and it’s just a great way to start the day.”
Officers are guaranteed a session with a clinician or a counselor for grief and support counseling within 48 hours of experiencing a traumatic event, but Rosie offers support of a more immediate kind.
Alvarado recalls, for instance, when a new trainee had just spent one of their first nights responding to a tragic event.
“We had the trainee just hold the puppy because he’d had a pretty bad night,” she said. “He was just standing there, petting the dog, and he wasn’t wearing it on his face at all. But you could tell like he went from being super serious to smiling and just petting the dog.”
“I’m a captain, and I have Rosie a good portion of the time,” said Stonebraker, “but even the newer officers, they have no problem coming up to me and wanting to hang out with Rosie and pet and rub her belly.”
“It’s just a way for them to decompress because even having that brief moment with Rosie, and feeling that kind of happiness, helps them get through their days,” he added. “They can just kind of relax for a second and have a little bit of Zen in their life between the calls for service or when they’ve had a long day.”
