Compassion dog Rosie joins New Bedford police
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WJAR) — Rosie is a four-month-old berne-doodle that just joined the New Bedford police department.
Chief Paul Oliveria held a swearing in ceremony Friday morning to officially make Rosie part of the team.
"Let's give Rosie a round of applause and welcome her as a member of the New Bedford Police Department," Oliveria said at the ceremony.
Rosie got her name because she will be stationed at the Roosevelt Middle School helping students that might need a little more emotional support.
"Might have a kid who's having an anxiety attack or some sort of panicky type situation, she can definitely be used for that to calm them down," Rosie's handler, Jeremy DeMello told NBC 10 News.
Rosie's breeders attended the swearing in ceremony today and they reflected on the work they put in to make her qualified for the job.
"It's really important to have that early intervention, that early training. They need to learn at a very young age before they even leave the breeder to be respectful, meaning no jumping, no nipping, no biting," said Kerry Buckley.
Even though she's only been on the job for a week now, she's already everyone's favorite co-worker.
New Bedford isn't the only community to bring a compassion dog onto its police force -- South Kingstown just did the same.
Both pups were donated to the departments by the same breeder as a way to give back to the community.