Aroostook Community Matters: Courtroom Therapy Dog coming to the County - First in the State
HOULTON, Maine (WAGM) -Therapy Dogs in courtrooms have been helping comfort victims across the country for decades...And now, one will be available in Aroostook County. In this week’s Aroostook Community Matters, Corey Bouchard spoke to the people who are working to provide this service.
Tyler Jones - Owner, Purpose Pups LLC “Todd Collins and I partnered with this program 30 to 45 days ago as far as the negotiations and we decided that a therapy dog will be good for children impact victims”
Tyler Jones is the Owner of Purpose Pups LLC, a specialty service dog training organization in Houlton. He has partned with District Attorney Todd Collins to bring what they believe to be the first Therapy service dog to work in a courtroom throughout the state.
Todd Collins - District Attorney, Aroostook County “We have had this idea for a few years and trying to make a way to make this process work, having Tyler come into the community at the right time when we were putting the budget together is serendipity and some would say devine intervention”
Jones has personal experience in stressful courtroom enviroments, so he understands the impact that a therapy dog would have.
Jones” Being in a similar situation myself when I was younger, I know that having a dog there would melt away some of that stress and anxiety of having to talk to someone you dont know and also being betrayed by someone that you trusted to begin with”
Collins agrees and adds the benefits that he hopes they see with this program.
Collins”Our service dog will be a valuable asset to people going through traumatic events, who are reliving the most difficult days of their lives and if we can bring them some small measure of solice and peace then we will have done our job with that”
Dogs, Jones says, can provide comfort to people in stressful situations, and there is a reason behind that.
Jones” Dogs are selfless, they are endless love creatures and I think that children in general when they see Holiday, thats her name, Holly for short, they’re going to just completely melt and not only give accurate testemony but it will also be very beneficial emotionally for them.”
Holly will begin her training within the next few weeks, and Jones hopes she will be ready to serve victims at County Courthouses by June of Next Year
Jones and Purpose Pups LLC would like to thank Karley Allen, and Northern Woods Labs for playing an integral part of the project and donating Holly ... Corey Bouchard, Newssource 8
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