It’s time for our furry friends to shine as The Nugget is celebrating our four-legged companions. Whether they’re wagging their tails or purring with happiness, our favorite animals are the focus of the special section inside this week’s paper. The following is one of the feature artifices from “Dog Days of Dahlonega.”
UNG’s new K-9 is here to help victims heal
By Keith Murden / The Nugget
Mavis is a beautiful, year-and-a-half old female lab mix with jet black fur and a soul-searching gaze. But she is much more than that.
Like many household pets, Mavis was rescued from a north Georgia animal shelter.
However, unbeknownst to her, Mavis would rise from her humble beginnings as a pound puppy to take a prominent role in the local community.
That’s because Mavis is now one of only two full-time K-9s working for the University of North Georgia Police Department.
While the first dog, Rex, is trained for use in a traditional law enforcement capacity, Mavis is exclusively a therapy dog.
“Basically, if someone has been a victim of a crime or is a perceived victim of a crime, someone who is worried about anything, Mavis is one of those dogs that just wants to lay in your lap and let you pet her. She just brings comfort to you in a time of discomfort,” explained UNG Chief of Police Greg Williams.
That means Mavis and her handler, Courtney Hause (pronounced “haas”) collaborate to assist university students, faculty or staff who may have been victims of dating violence, sexual assault or stalking.
With a simple verbal command of “Visit!” Mavis springs into supportive action, settling in at a victim’s feet to accept and return unconditional affection.
Mavis’ floppy ears and expressive face invite openness in visitors, while the gentle pressure of her frame as she leans in for love has a calming and grounding effect.
“Being able to reassure and help people through something like that is particularly fulfilling for me,” Hause told The Nugget during a recent interview.
PASSION FOR ADVOCACY
Hause graduated from UNG with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. She said victim services has always been her passion.
“As I was getting my Criminal Justice degree, I actually interned here at the UNG Police Department, and I fell in love with UNG and the UNG Police Department as a whole,” she said. “So I really was trying to find a way to stay up here in this community, because I really liked it.”
That opportunity came knocking when UNG’s Campus Victim Advocate role opened just as Hause was wrapping up her academic studies.
“I took a shot and applied for it. So this is my first job out of college, and it really aligned well with what I wanted,” she said.
PUP WITH A PURPOSE
Hause said she began inquiring about the possibility of acquiring a therapy dog around September of last year.
Around the same time, Mavis had become a candidate in the Pups With Purpose program, a component of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office jail program.
“Pups With Purpose is a really beneficial program for the entire community, so I’m really glad we work with them. They typically recruit dogs from shelters or people who bring dogs in, and they put them in the program, which is housed out of the jail. They train the inmates how to work with and train animals. The inmates actually get to graduate from the program, too; it gives them a task and a skill to learn. At the same time, the dogs are given a great home and some training,” Hause explained.
After a few weeks, Mavis graduated her basic obedience and moved on to the next level of the program at Rucker Dog Training, a facility in Cumming.
In November, Mavis got to go to her new home with Hause, where she has an indoor kennel.
“At home she goes by the same standards she does here: she follows her commands. She is a working animal,” Hause said.
Hause indicated that she does reinforcement training with Mavis every single night. Although Mavis trains with both food and toys, she is more food-motivated than toy-motivated.
“Basically during a training session we would go down a list of her commands and we practice all of her tricks and techniques that she can do here at home,” she said.
Each year, starting this December, Mavis must pass a Canine Good Citizen Test, a 10-exercise evaluation of her basic manners and obedience.
“We’ll go back to Rucker Dog Training to do that … but now she is learning things that are not in that test as far as more advanced, fun tricks: things that make people happy. For example, this past week we were working on a command called ‘Selfie,’ where she can prop her paws up on your shoulder and pose next to your head, and technically take a selfie with you,” Hause said.
TAG TEAM EFFORT
Mavis officially joined the UNG Public Safety team in January, and in that short time has already directly supported 42 individuals, either at the Public Safety offices or elsewhere on campus.
Hause said sometimes she interviews victims one-on-one, and other times another officer is present. Either way, subjects are frequently recounting traumatic experiences. That’s where Mavis steps in.
“Mavis kind of gets to partner up with me in that, and she will comfort the person while we’re in our meeting. We can do tricks together to kind of lighten the mood and bring positivity into it. And also, just having a dog in the room is very grounding for a lot of folks: to be able to bring their focus back to the dog, rather than what’s going on,” Hause said.
One of the main goals of advocacy is helping victims connect with community organizations that can help them heal, such as Bridging Hope, a sexual assault center based out of Gainesville.
Hause also communicates with other resource agencies throughout the state to try to find the most convenient assistance for students returning to their hometowns in between semesters.
“No One Alone, located here in Dahlonega, is another great one that we call on quite a bit to help out our students. Places like that, community agencies, are big resource referrals for us,” Hause said.
In addition to direct support, Mavis also attends a number of scheduled events and presentations on campus like Orientation, RA [Resident Assistant] training, and Campus Safety Awareness Month in September, to educate new students on the Public Safety resources available to them in an emergency situation.
“There’s a lot of community engagement we do: that’s another big part of our role,” Hause said
Providing empathy and guidance for young people dealing with perhaps the most difficult experiences of their lives has been personally rewarding for Hause.
“Being able to reassure and help people through something like that is particularly fulfilling for me,” she said. “One of the most important things is the positivity that Mavis brings to folks, and that was the whole purpose. She really does make people smile when she walks in some place.”