Judi’s Place for Kids has added a new member to its staff, in the shape of a four-legged friend, in hopes of better tackling child abuse in the mountains. Leslie, the facility dog, was recently acquired after officials attended a conference that helped provide information on the benefits of having the new member on staff.

“One of his main goals is to help kids and families engage better with our staff,” said Judi’s Place for Kids Executive Director Laura Kretzer. “Leslie has special training where he can pass all the tests of a service dog, but he’s not a service dog because he’s not serving an individual with a disability with a certain task. So he is a Facility Dog.”

According to Kretzer, Leslie can open doors to an interview room, a medical room, as well as shake hands, high five and a variety of other tasks designed to provide comfort to children. Kretzer said the hope is that by providing this service to the children, they will feel safer about opening-up to officials, and that could result in more prosecutions. Officials hope that Leslie will be able to attend court hearings to provide comfort to children as they testify.  Leslie is currently in his second week “on the job” and Kretzer said the children are very comfortable with him so far.

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