Greenfield Police Department Comfort Dogs

Officer Rosie & Officer Clarence work as "Comfort Dogs" for the Greenfield Police Department. We call them comfort dogs because it's a term recognized by the public but the correct term is Critical Incident Dogs. They're used for stress management in the immediate aftermath of a critical incident. Rosie and Clarence can be used to defuse an incident and provide comfort to those in need. They're ab

le to provide comfort to victims of traumatic events, child victims or witnesses. In 2010 Rosie started us on this journey when her handler was diagnose with PTSD. Rosie instinctively knew when her handler was having difficult times and was trained as his psychiatric service dog. She can alert to panic attacks, help alert to anger and anxiety, wake from nightmares, redirect flashbacks, or perform a variety of tasks specific to her handler’s needs. We quickly learned when Rosie attended the On-Site Academy with her handler she not only assisted him but other clients and staff as well. is a residential treatment and training center for critical incident stress management which specializes in first responders. Soon after Clarence joined the household and took naturally to working with Rosie in working as a service dog. In December 2012 their presence was requested by Father Bill Hamilton, Chaplin for the ATF, in response to the shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school. They worked directly with the first responders involved. Due to their work at Sandy Hook, Rosie and Clarence were requested by the Boston Athletic Association for their first 10K six months after the Boston marathon bombing. Rosie and Clarence visited survivors, first responders and greeted the athletes. In June 2013 Rosie and Clarence were officially made members of the Greenfield Police Department. On December 10, 2013, the NYC Animal Medical Center awarded Officers Rosie and Clarence as their 2013 Top Dogs, as the "Nations First Official Police Comfort Dogs." This event was held at Cipriani's at 42nd St in New York. The human honoree in attendance was Barbara Walters and the K-9 honoree's were Rosie and Clarence. Rosie and Clarence look forward to continuing their work with the Greenfield Police Department and surrounding communities.