By Mike Hazlip—
A new four-legged addition to the Citrus Heights Police Department is helping officers and staff deal with the stress of a profession that is inherently dangerous.
The department announced Ellie, a therapy dog, joined the force last October. The five-month-old Goldendoodle began obedience training in September, and her handler, Lt. Michael Wells, took Ellie home in October.
Although therapy dogs have been in use at fire departments and some police departments around the country, Ellie is believed to be the first law enforcement therapy dog in the region, Wells said. He also noted her name is pronounced the same as “L. E.,” which stands for Law Enforcement.
While Wells brings Ellie home each night, she spends her days at the Police Department as part of the agency’s peer support team, Wells said.
“The response from everyone at the department has been amazing,” Wells said in an email to The Sentinel. ”She has quickly become a favorite for employees at the police department. Many people stop by my office to visit her and she frequently walks around the police department stopping in different offices and cubicles to say hi to staff.”
Ellie also attends public events such as the recent Trunk or Treat and neighborhood area meetings, Wells said. She was present for the Veterans Day ceremony at Sylvan Cemetery.
Her role as a comfort K9 is part of the department’s efforts to address the stress associated with police work, the lieutenant said.
“In the police profession, our staff often has to respond to various critical incidents and unfortunate tragedies,” Wells said. “Our department has a peer support team where some of the staff have been trained to assist their peers having a difficult time following these event. Ellie is another layer to this peer support program.”
Wells said the nonprofit organization Hearts4Heroes provided Ellie to the department and pays for her grooming, food, vet bills, and ongoing training. The mission of Hearts4Heroes is to support the mental health of first responders across the police, fire, and paramedic professions, according to the organization’s website.
Shelly Martell, founder of Hearts4Heros, calls it “compassion fatigue,” saying rates of depression and PTSD among first responders are at their highest. Martell started the nonprofit in December of 2021, and said she’s seen interest in the program increase dramatically in the two years they have been operating.
“It’s extremely high,” she said. “It’s the highest it’s ever been in the last decade. And so that is why it needs to be for the first responders. They’re the ones that are going through all of the hard times and clinicians saving people’s lives running in when everybody is running out, and nobody’s stopping to care enough about them.”
Locally, Martell said around 10 therapy dogs have been placed with various organizations, including “Blaze” with the Roseville Fire Department, “Boots,” with the burn institute, and “Blitz” with the Folsom Fire Department. Her organization has also placed a comfort dog with Dignity Health.
“The thing that’s really unique about us is we’re the first to ever train them as a puppies, straight into the program,” Martell said. She said that helps improve the success rate, with the dogs also passing “therapy tests” before being deployed for service.
For Wells, he said Ellie has had a positive influence on police staff.
“It’s truly special to watch staff members who have had a traumatic day interact with Ellie, you can see how much a hug or a pat on her head can make them smile and make them feel normal again,” he said. “That little dog brings a lot of happiness to our department.”
