Puppy Love: Cali, The Labradoodle, Joins Cranston Police

CRANSTON, RI — Cali, the puppy, has started meeting children and making new friends. That's pretty standard stuff for a pup, but in Cali's case, those little friendships will help her do an important job soon, according to the Cranston police. The Australian labradoodle is in training to become a comfort therapy dog. Her role will be helping children who have survived abuse, both physical and sexual.

Cali will become "the first comfort therapy dog to serve as a member of a Rhode Island police department, as well as the first resident canine in a local hospital," police said. Her police job is with the Cranston P.D., and her hospital assignment will be at Hasbro.

The Providence Police also have a comfort therapy dog, Justice. She started her training earlier this year, according to Lindsey League, spokeswoman for the Providence department.

Hasbro Children's Hospital is teaming up with Cranston police on the Canine Comfort Therapy Program. It's the first of its kind in Rhode Island and also believed to be the first in the U.S., according to Col. Michael J. Winquist, chief of the Cranston Police Department.

The idea is to give the children a buddy and a shoulder to lean on, while their case is being investigated and, if the facts warrant, ultimately prosecuted.

"As part of the program, child victims will be paired with the dog from the time of his or her initial contact with law enforcement and throughout the entire investigatory and judicial process, including medical examinations and preparation for court room testimony," the police said in a press release.

Cali will have two handlers, Cranston police detective Michael Iacone and Christine Barron, M.D., director of Hasbro’s Children’s Aubin Center. The dog will start with puppy obedience classes and move on to more training as she qualifies for a "Canine Good Citizen and Pet Partners evaluation and certification," police said.

Hiring a comfort therapy dog was the handlers' idea, the chief said. To turn the idea into reality, they worked with police in Greenfield, Mass., where Lt. William Gordon and Ofc. Laura Gordon founded "what is believed to be the first police therapy dog program in the country," according to the press release. Their two Saint Bernard dogs, Donut and Clarence, have helped people across the U.S. cope with events like the Newton school shooting and most recently the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Photo Courtesy Cranston Police