Helping
Victims of Crime, Therapy Dog Program a First for the Bureau
The FBI uses a variety of working dogs,
highly capable canines that can sniff out drugs and bombs, bolster security,
and alert their handlers when they pick up the scent of blood. But Dolce, with
his shimmering yellow coat and steel blue eyes, is the Bureau’s one and only
therapy dog.
The job of a victim specialist, or VS,
is to ensure that victims receive the rights they are entitled to under federal
law and the assistance they need to cope with crime. With his lovable
personality, Dolce excels at comforting crime victims and their families. The
story of how he became a VS—of the K9 variety—is a story in itself.
Pierce, a psychologist who worked for
the Department of Defense and law enforcement before joining the Bureau about
five years ago, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory
disease whose symptoms can be debilitating when they strike. In 2004, she went
to a local shelter looking for a puppy she could train to be a service dog.
That’s where she found Dolce.
“I thought it would be nice to have a
dog that did some things around the house for me when my symptoms flared up,”
she said. “There are days I can’t move or even lift a sheet.”
After extensive service dog training,
Dolce learned how to turn light switches on and off, load laundry in the washing
machine, and even retrieve drinks from the refrigerator. “He is a very good
service dog,” said Pierce, who is based in our Nashville Resident Agency. “But
service dogs are not supposed to interact with the public.”
That was a problem, because Dolce loves
people. Pierce soon realized that Dolce’s intelligence and temperament would
make him a terrific therapy dog. She knew from her military experience that the
Army has a successful therapy dog program, and she set out to introduce a
something similar at the FBI.
On her own, Pierce undertook an
extensive training regimen with Dolce, and he passed registration exams given
by Pet Partners and other organizations. In 2009, after spending many volunteer
hours taking Dolce to nursing homes, camps for grieving children, and other
places that use therapy dogs, Pierce’s proposal for the K9-Assisted Victim
Assistance Program was approved by the FBI and adopted as a pilot program.
Since then, she and Dolce have had a
very positive impact, comforting victims and their families in murder cases,
kidnappings, and bank robberies, where Dolce’s presence is a calming influence
on tellers who minutes before may have had a gun pointed in their faces.
Studies have shown that the presence of
an animal in a stressful situation can produce a calming effect, Pierce said.
“It can lower blood pressure and make you feel more relaxed.” In the immediate
aftermath of a bank robbery, for example, a calm witness can better relay
information about the crime to investigators.
“We have worked a lot of cases
together,” Pierce said, “helping victims of child pornography and even
white-collar crime, where senior citizens lost their life savings to investment
scam artists. Dolce has helped a lot of people,” she added. “I am so proud of
him for all the lives he has touched in a positive way.”
FBI
Director’s Award
Last year, Rachel Pierce and Dolce
received the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence for “distinguished service for
assisting victims of crime.” Pierce was recognized for creating and
implementing the therapy dog program—the first of its kind for the Bureau.
“It was an honor to get the award,” said
Pierce, who would like to see the therapy dog program expanded to other FBI
offices. “I know a lot of other victim specialists around the country who would
be interested in training and working with a therapy dog. I would love to see
that happen.”
Meanwhile, Pierce and Dolce work cases
together, and in her spare time Pierce is training her new puppy, Kevlar.
“Dolce has to retire someday,” she said. “I hope it works out that Kevlar will
take his place.”
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