A friendly furry face under the witness stand stood between sexual assault survivor Susan Jones and extreme panic while she rehashed possibly the worst moment of her life before a courtroom of strangers during cross-examination.
“When I was being questioned by the defense, I just had to make myself strong in that moment,” said Jones, who requested that her name be changed to protect her identity. “I was able to put my hand down and pet Edgar if I needed to take a breath and clear my mind. … I think it would have been worse for me emotionally if he hadn’t been there.”
Jones is one of the many crime victims who San Luis Obispo Superior Court’s certified courthouse facility dog has helped sooth since he started working with the Victim/Witness Assistance Center in 2020.
Thanks to California Penal Code Section 868.4, a significant part of Edgar’s job is to stay poised under the witness stand with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, child molestation, elder abuse, and dependent adult abuse. His gentle presence, accentuated by nuzzles, licks, and simply being a fluffy comforting weight by the victims’ feet, creates a relatively easier time for those navigating legal labyrinths.
Jones has worked as a dog groomer and boarder in the past. She told New Times that Edgar is mellower than the average pet dog.
“A lot of dogs look to their owners for emotional strength, and Edgar is able to provide that for himself,” she said. “When I found myself getting really stressed out, or my leg would start tapping, or my breathing would get short, Edgar would poke me in the leg or my knee with his nose just to say, ‘Hi, I’m here!'”
Santa Rosa-based service dog provider Canine Companions trained the now 71-pound Edgar for the first two years of his life. Since then, he’s been trained and handled by Victim/Witness Supervisor Jennifer Love and Senior Investigator Tim Murphy of the District Attorney’s Office.
But it took close to a decade for a facility dog to walk through courthouse doors. While the concept of facility dogs is popular in many California counties, Canada, South America, and Europe, according to Murphy, it took a while for the SLO County DA’s Office to set up the program.
“You don’t just go get this dog,” he said. “We had to apply to meet their [Canine Companions’] standards to see if they would allow us to get a dog from them to be placed in this setting here to work with crime victims.”
Edgar hails from Canine Companions’ site in Oceanside. When a Canine Companions litter is born, the nonprofit names all the puppies in that group with the same letter. Edgar—formally Edgar III— is part of litter “E.”
When Murphy and Love received Edgar, their certification was for six months. Once they became more seasoned handlers, their next certification increased to three years. Successfully obtaining handler certification isn’t for the fainthearted. It involves a five-page written final, a multiple-choice test, and instructing the facility dog to perform routines and commands in a room packed with distractions.
“You’ve got a classroom full of other people and other dogs,” Love said. “They tell us to have him sit, stay, take him off leash, and yell, ‘Here!’ and he has to successfully come to you.”
The two handlers are always training Edgar. He currently lives with Love and her husband, and his daily activities are continuous learning lessons. Once Edgar clocks out of work at 5 p.m., he still must maintain facility dog standards.
“He’s not eating off my dinner table at the house,” Love said. “There are no treats, there’s no socializing with other dogs we don’t know or dogs with an aggressive temperament because he has no defense mechanism. That’s been bred out of him. He’s docile 24/7.”
According to the DA’s Office website, a highly trained facility dog like Edgar is valued at $50,000. But thanks to donors and volunteers at Canine Companions, Edgar came to SLO at no cost. Further, the SLO County Sheriff’s Advisory Foundation donated $5,000 to help set up the courthouse facility dog program.
Seven-year-old Edgar cuts a curious figure in the courthouse. He’s leashed and monitored by Love or Murphy when he has to report to a courtroom to accompany a witness. He almost always wears a bright blue Canine Companions vest bearing the label of “facility dog,” complete with an official DA’s Office badge.
Edgar is a familiar animal to several businesses and pedestrians outside the courthouse too when he goes on walks around downtown SLO.
“We don’t get ADA access with him, he’s a facility dog as opposed to a service dog,” Murphy said. “Service dogs can go anywhere the person with the disability goes. He can only go into places that allow him to be there with us.”
A full day’s work for Edgar means he doubles as a sponge for people’s emotions. By the time he’s home, the Labrador is wiped out. He gets a release through sleeping, going on walks, and playing with squeaky toys.
Beyond assuming the witness stand, Edgar comforts survivors of trauma in other ways too. When tragedy strikes in a section of the county, Edgar and his handlers have gone to support the affected community after reaching out first. They’ve partnered with law enforcement and behavioral health teams to bring relief to victims of traumatic events in spaces like schools and police departments.
“There are other folks who are super nervous to testify. … He has a cover command where he can lay across someone’s lap, so he acts like a weighted blanket,” Love said. “I’ve had people look at their Apple Watch and say that his presence has made their heart rate drop over 50 beats per minute the minute he walked into the room. That came from a medical professional.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Pet Issue 2024.