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“ Danni was my first therapy dog,” she says.“ I’ d been on the beach and seen this beautiful, giant, bear-like dog and joked to my husband that I wanted one. Not long afterwards, we saw a television programme about Newfoundlands being used in therapeutic work with children as part of a reading programme.”
For her, the children who come to Jelly Beanz need so much. And though she is a skilled therapist with the tools to help them, at the end of the day, she is still an adult … and in many of these cases it is an adult – someone they were told to trust – who has hurt them.“ I was looking for ways to help build trust, and you couldn’ t ask for better than a dog.”
Danni was with Jelly Beanz for eight and a half years.“ I swore I’ d never get another dog after her because she was my‘ soul’ dog. Then, about two and a half years later, we got Toffee. She’ s three-and-a-half now, and has been with us ever since.”
Toffee in court
So how did a pup find its way into a court proceeding? It’ s not all that unusual. In the US, 41 states allow therapy dogs to comfort witnesses during courtroom testimony. Canada heavily utilises facility dogs in several provinces, Australia is expanding quickly and the United Kingdom employs“ Justice Facility Dogs” to assist vulnerable victims in the criminal justice system, while other countries – including Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain – have also established programmes and pilot projects.
Edith explains that they had initially tried to have Toffee Beanz accompany one of the children
Jelly Beanz was working with to a consultation with a prosecutor, but the prosecutor denied their request. Undeterred, Edith tried again, on a different case.
“ This prosecutor had met Toffee before and was open to the idea. We put an application before the court, and it was granted.” The witness was already familiar with Toffee, but there was no guarantee of how Toffee would react in court. The pressure was really on Toffee, explains Edith.“ If she messed up, it would jeopardise future opportunities.”
While researching courtroom support dogs in other countries, Edith noticed that the standard practice was for the dogs to lie at the child’ s feet, but this posed a problem.“ If a child has to constantly bend down to touch the dog, it might be distracting. Children often testify in a separate room with CCTV and microphones, so we wanted Toffee at the child’ s level.”
With a little bit of creative thinking, they were able to come up with a solution.“ We used two
ottomans pushed together and placed mats on top, then trained Toffee to jump up and lie there so she could be right beside the child.”
The training had to happen at Jelly Beanz, as they aren’ t really allowed the opportunity to train in a courtroom.“ The first time we went, she just sniffed around the room. The next time it was time to get on with the job.”
We’ re happy to report that it was a success. But what was important was waiting for the judgment.“ It wasn’ t enough that Toffee performed well; we needed the judge to comment on her role so we could establish legal precedent.”
When judgment came down, the accused was found guilty on all charges. The judge specifically noted that Toffee had assisted the child witness and had not disrupted proceedings. www. petpals. co. za 17