La. FD welcomes therapy dog to support mental health

By Bob Warren
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

SLIDELL, La. — At just a few feet tall, the Slidell area fire department’s newest recruit won’t be behind the wheel of a ladder truck. And at a trim 70 pounds, he won’t be at the end of a hose trained on a burning roof.

But the role “Chief Mooney” will play might be just as important in the long run, the department says.

St. Tammany Fire Protection District No. 1, which covers Slidell and much of eastern St. Tammany Parish, introduced Mooney to the public last week. A 2 1/2-year-old golden retriever, it will be the dog’s task to help ease the stress of the department’s first responders, whose routine shifts can include any number of horrors.

Mooney’s interactions with the firefighters and other first responders will provide them with a stress release they may not even realize is happening, said Tim Dudenhefer, a fire department training officer who will be Mooney’s handler, aka his “human.”

As firefighters and first responders are debriefed following fires or bad automobile crashes, Mooney is trained to move among the group, nudging hands with his nose. That simple act, the dog’s nudge and the human responding by petting him, can have a therapeutic effect, Dudenhefer said.

“He’s trained to find stress in people,” Dudenhefer said of the dog. “It’s his job — he can sense it in people.”

Dudenhefer said the department has made an effort to improve the mental health services it provides to its workers. Mooney was donated to the fire district by Thin Line Service Dogs, a West Virginia-based nonprofit that trains and provides service dogs at no cost to veterans and first responders.

The nonprofit focuses its training on golden retrievers because of their intelligence, temperament and ability to form close bonds with humans, Dudenhefer said.

“It’s like he’s designed to go out and actively find people who are stressed,” he said. “Somehow, they know stress. They can somehow sense it.”

First responders are often at risk of suffering from post-traumatic stress issues.

“We’re supposed to be tough guys. We take all that stress,” Dudenhefer said. “But over time, that can be a real weight to carry.”

Research has shown that dogs can help. For instance, the National Institutes of Health reported in 2018 that a study had concluded that “therapy dog intervention” had shown a reduction in the stress and anxiety of first responders after a traumatic event.

Thin Line named Chief Mooney after Deputy Sheriff Jason Mooney, who died in the line of duty in Stafford County, Virginia. He was killed in a car crash while responding to an auto accident in 2007. He was 24.

Fire District No. 1 is the first area fire department to have a stress management dog, district officials said.

On a recent day at the district’s training facility in Slidell, Mooney had the run of the place, sniffing around offices and hallways. It was only his third day in Slidell, and he was content to stick close to Dudenhefer, spending a good bit of his time in a comfy bed stationed near his human’s desk.

The bond between Dudenhefer and Mooney was apparent already, after only a few days.

“He’s with me all day,” Dudenhefer said. “And he comes home with me. I can tell you this: He’s a bed hog.”

For its part of the deal, the fire department had to agree to provide a stable home and environment for Mooney, maintain the dog’s health and only use him in the manner with which he’s been trained.

And because Mooney has been trained to work with first responders, that means he won’t be the type of dog the fire department trots out to public events.

“His training is really specialized,” Dudenhefer said.

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