July 13, 2024 • 9 mins
Many dogs work for the Boston Police Department each and every day, but the department has never had a comfort dog - until now! Copper the dog is BPD's first ever comfort dog, and she's in training with her handler, Officer Tim Wilson. Nichole talks with Officer Wilson, BPD Chief of Communications Mariellen Burns, and Copper about their training journey and her role in the community.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend where each and
every week we come together right herewe talk about all the topics important to
you and the place where you live. It's so good to be back with
you again this week. I'm NicoleDavis. You know, sometimes when you're
having a really bad day, allyou want is just some love from a
dog. You just want to givethem a pet, maybe a hug,
(00:29):
Watch the tail wag a bit,see the smile. I mean, they
provide comfort and peace in ways thatanother human just can't. Police departments all
over the state have noticed that,and they have been adopting their own pups
to bring out into the streets toconnect with residents. For the first time
ever, the Boston Police Department isdoing the same. They have now adopted
a little pup named Copper, whohas been learning the ropes and she's still
(00:50):
in her training, but let's learna bit more about her. Officer Tim
Wilson is her handler. Mary EllenBurns works and communications for the Boston Police.
Thank you both so much for yourtime, and Officer Wilson will start
with you. Why did BPD takethis step to take on a comfort dog?
I think that it's something that we'veseen in other departments, and it's
just we do a lot of communityservice, to have a lot of community
(01:12):
outreach, and I think that thenext right step was obviously to get a
comfort dog. You know, Yeah, how did Copper come into your lives
over there at Boston Police? So, as far as I know, some
of the supervisors were they were lookingfor a dog and there was a woman
with Game Labradors down on Rhode Islandwho donated the dog to us. Oh
(01:34):
wow, that's where we got Copper. How old was Copper when you got
her? Fourteen weeks? Oh?Shoot, so she was a baby baby.
He's a puppy puppy yep. Yeah, he just turned seven months on
July fifth. So still a puppypuppy. I would certainly say so.
But she's come a long way andthat time. So yeah. Joplin Dame
(01:56):
Nicole then Jacquelin Dame owns Game Dog, which is where the dog came from,
where Copper came from, and shehas donated some other comfort dogs to
other departments. And one of oursupervisors was at, you know, at
an event that was dog related andthey started talking and she made this tremendous
(02:19):
offer to us, and then wejust had to go back and get all
the necessary approvals. And so she'sbeen an incredible partner in this journey,
on this journey with us. Soit's really really exciting. That's wonderful.
And obviously Copper is super cute,that's not in question. But Copper is
still learning a lot about her jobs. So what's the process like of trying
to train a comfort dog? Sure? Sure, I think I could try
(02:43):
and handle that one. So whenshe was a little puppy puppy and she
still is, like you said,we did basic obedience training with her,
you know, the here, thesis, the downs, the plotty training,
things like that, and then wemoved on to some comfort dog training,
which has been going on for aboutalmost two months now. I meet
bi weekly with a gentleman named JeffCruz from Boston Canine Dog Training, and
(03:07):
from there we're repping out, we'relearning, we're doing all sorts of stuff.
Just really it's just getting her tolisten to commands, you know,
say hi, not be so excited, which is very very difficult for a
little puppy age. I'm sure youknow. Yeah, So a lot of
the impulse control and just just reallygetting some more of the basics locked in
and ready to go, because wedo need to get her certified through the
(03:28):
AKAC Good Puppy, Good Citizen andeventually the AKAC Comfort Dog Test. How
do you handle the zumies with her, because she's a lab and she's a
puppy, and I had a lab, you know, many years ago in
my life, and that dog wouldnot stop being zoomie. How do you
handle that and make sure that she'sable to kind of stay calm enough for
her training. So she's a highenergy dog. On days we train,
(03:50):
I generally don't I take her touse the bathroom in the morning, but
we normally go for a walk everymorning. We don't do that, and
so when she comes in she's fullof energy. You'd be surprised that once
training starts she locks in. She'svery food motivated, and she walked into
the training and she she really exertsall of her training, all of her
energy on the training, which ispretty wonderful for us. So the her
(04:13):
being so food driven is really justas a great tool that we use.
You know. Yeah, I canhear her in the background like, oh
wait, food. You mentioned food, Yeah, she does. She I
mean, she's laying down right now, she's she probably just wants to say
some stuff. I'm sure she'd loveto meet you, I know absolutely,
I'd love to give her plenty ofpets and probably some Papperoni or something like
that too. So you know,how long is the training do you think
(04:38):
going to last before she can finallystart to get out in the community and
meet people. So I just Iwould like to get her out as soon
as possible. I think that's everybody'sgoal here at the department, Like we
want her to be out in thepublic, like that is where we want
her. We want her at everyevent we can get her out. We
want her at the schools, we'reat the summer camps. It's just a
matter of getting through, I think, And I don't want to. I
(04:58):
don't want to. I really don'tknow the answered this question. So I'd
hope hopefully within the month, okay, we can get her least out to
the public and controlled setting. She'sstill going to be in training to at
least a year and a month,I believe, but as soon as we
can, we want her out there. That makes sense. And you know,
what kind of situations would she begoing to? What sort of events
would you like to bring Copper toour department? I think does a great
(05:20):
job with the community policing. Wehave community service office in every district,
we have a centralized brewer of communityengagement and the city, and I think
Boston's really done a great job asfar as the community policing goes. But
I'd like to bring her for herand her being the first comfort dog,
I really want to focus on thekids, the community, the community meetings,
(05:42):
the schools, working with nonprofits,and that's a big thing too,
the fact that she's the first Andwhat does that mean to you to be
able to train the first comfort dogever on the Boston Police Department. I'm
very grateful for the opportunity. Thedepartment has been very good to me.
I've had a very very good I'veenjoyed working for the department. But it
(06:03):
really is just a it's an honor, and she's making it really easy.
Well that helps you know when you'vegot a good dog. Yeah, well,
a good dog and a good supportcommand staff and everybody who's had any
hand in helping with Copper, Likeit's really more of a team effort.
You know, I'm just the guywho gets to take her home and bring
her around. She's very popular whenevershe comes to visit. Everyone from the
(06:25):
commissioner on down comes out to seeher and check in and has loved watching
her grow because when she came,she wasn't you know, tiny, but
she was certainly a lot smaller thanshe is right now here as she's you
know, she's trying to eat thechair. Well, she's growing into her
vest. I'm sure that you knowshe was a lot smaller at first,
(06:46):
and you know, labs tend togrow pretty quickly, and you know she'll
be a good sized dog when she'sdone. But she sounds like a teddy
bear. They couldn't find a vest. I think at first, right,
Kim subsider, that was fall enoughfor her, And let me tell you
she is. She is buffed outof it right now, the best that
she's in. So we're just fittingher for her VPD patch so that she
can get her uniform ready to gofor when she's ready to get out there.
(07:11):
But you know, the Fishers reallytry to get everyone to understand.
As Tim said, there's a Burekcommunity engagement and there's community service officers and
all of our you know, twelvepolice districts across the city. But it's
every police officer's job to be,you know, part of community policing.
And so you know, we havean ice cream truck and now we have
a comfort dog. When we tryto do things in different ways because we
(07:36):
want to be out there. Youknow, if you're going to have people
trust you and feel like you area partner to them when things are tough,
you want to be out there inthe good times and get to know
them in more positive ways. Andhopefully Copper will help us do that.
And also when there's tough things thathappen, and there may be you know,
(07:56):
kids or else are people that arehaving a tough time sometimes, you
know, spend a little time witha pup can make those things, you
know, a little bit better.It always makes things better. Always,
always. Dog love helps. Ifound Copper by looking at your Instagram.
So where can people learn about Copper? Watch some videos, see some pictures.
(08:16):
Where is she right now? Onsocial media and online? She's on
all of the Boston Police social media. We try to get a weekly updates.
Sometimes we miss that depending on what'sgoing on with her schedule because as
we said, she is very muchin demand. But we are on Twitter,
we are on Facebook, and weare on Instagram, and we also
vpdnews dot Com is our website,and she is a frequent guest on our
(08:41):
VPD news feed. All of thoseupdates are also on there, so folks
want to see pictures and videos andchronicle of her beginnings. They're on there
also for Damed Dogs Labrador for Jocelyn, who actually donated Copper to the city
and so the residence of this throughthe police department. We actually did a
(09:03):
piece with her a couple of monthsback, so folks want to learn more
about her. She's you know,she's a pretty wonderful person and we really
appreciate her great gift to the policedepartment and to the city. Thank you
both so much for the time.I really appreciate it. And good luck
with Copper and the training. Allright, well, thank you so much,
Nicole. It's going to pleasure andthat is the end of the show.
Thanks again so much for joining methis week, and hey, please
(09:26):
have a safe and healthy weekend andjoin me again next week for another edition
of the show. I'm Nicole Davisfrom WBZ news Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend where each and
every week we come together right herewe talk about all the topics important to
you and the place where you live. It's so good to be back with
you again this week. I'm NicoleDavis. You know, sometimes when you're
having a really bad day, allyou want is just some love from a
dog. You just want to givethem a pet, maybe a hug,
(00:29):
Watch the tail wag a bit,see the smile. I mean, they
provide comfort and peace in ways thatanother human just can't. Police departments all
over the state have noticed that,and they have been adopting their own pups
to bring out into the streets toconnect with residents. For the first time
ever, the Boston Police Department isdoing the same. They have now adopted
a little pup named Copper, whohas been learning the ropes and she's still
(00:50):
in her training, but let's learna bit more about her. Officer Tim
Wilson is her handler. Mary EllenBurns works and communications for the Boston Police.
Thank you both so much for yourtime, and Officer Wilson will start
with you. Why did BPD takethis step to take on a comfort dog?
I think that it's something that we'veseen in other departments, and it's
just we do a lot of communityservice, to have a lot of community
(01:12):
outreach, and I think that thenext right step was obviously to get a
comfort dog. You know, Yeah, how did Copper come into your lives
over there at Boston Police? So, as far as I know, some
of the supervisors were they were lookingfor a dog and there was a woman
with Game Labradors down on Rhode Islandwho donated the dog to us. Oh
(01:34):
wow, that's where we got Copper. How old was Copper when you got
her? Fourteen weeks? Oh?Shoot, so she was a baby baby.
He's a puppy puppy yep. Yeah, he just turned seven months on
July fifth. So still a puppypuppy. I would certainly say so.
But she's come a long way andthat time. So yeah. Joplin Dame
(01:56):
Nicole then Jacquelin Dame owns Game Dog, which is where the dog came from,
where Copper came from, and shehas donated some other comfort dogs to
other departments. And one of oursupervisors was at, you know, at
an event that was dog related andthey started talking and she made this tremendous
(02:19):
offer to us, and then wejust had to go back and get all
the necessary approvals. And so she'sbeen an incredible partner in this journey,
on this journey with us. Soit's really really exciting. That's wonderful.
And obviously Copper is super cute,that's not in question. But Copper is
still learning a lot about her jobs. So what's the process like of trying
to train a comfort dog? Sure? Sure, I think I could try
(02:43):
and handle that one. So whenshe was a little puppy puppy and she
still is, like you said,we did basic obedience training with her,
you know, the here, thesis, the downs, the plotty training,
things like that, and then wemoved on to some comfort dog training,
which has been going on for aboutalmost two months now. I meet
bi weekly with a gentleman named JeffCruz from Boston Canine Dog Training, and
(03:07):
from there we're repping out, we'relearning, we're doing all sorts of stuff.
Just really it's just getting her tolisten to commands, you know,
say hi, not be so excited, which is very very difficult for a
little puppy age. I'm sure youknow. Yeah, So a lot of
the impulse control and just just reallygetting some more of the basics locked in
and ready to go, because wedo need to get her certified through the
(03:28):
AKAC Good Puppy, Good Citizen andeventually the AKAC Comfort Dog Test. How
do you handle the zumies with her, because she's a lab and she's a
puppy, and I had a lab, you know, many years ago in
my life, and that dog wouldnot stop being zoomie. How do you
handle that and make sure that she'sable to kind of stay calm enough for
her training. So she's a highenergy dog. On days we train,
(03:50):
I generally don't I take her touse the bathroom in the morning, but
we normally go for a walk everymorning. We don't do that, and
so when she comes in she's fullof energy. You'd be surprised that once
training starts she locks in. She'svery food motivated, and she walked into
the training and she she really exertsall of her training, all of her
energy on the training, which ispretty wonderful for us. So the her
(04:13):
being so food driven is really justas a great tool that we use.
You know. Yeah, I canhear her in the background like, oh
wait, food. You mentioned food, Yeah, she does. She I
mean, she's laying down right now, she's she probably just wants to say
some stuff. I'm sure she'd loveto meet you, I know absolutely,
I'd love to give her plenty ofpets and probably some Papperoni or something like
that too. So you know,how long is the training do you think
(04:38):
going to last before she can finallystart to get out in the community and
meet people. So I just Iwould like to get her out as soon
as possible. I think that's everybody'sgoal here at the department, Like we
want her to be out in thepublic, like that is where we want
her. We want her at everyevent we can get her out. We
want her at the schools, we'reat the summer camps. It's just a
matter of getting through, I think, And I don't want to. I
(04:58):
don't want to. I really don'tknow the answered this question. So I'd
hope hopefully within the month, okay, we can get her least out to
the public and controlled setting. She'sstill going to be in training to at
least a year and a month,I believe, but as soon as we
can, we want her out there. That makes sense. And you know,
what kind of situations would she begoing to? What sort of events
would you like to bring Copper toour department? I think does a great
(05:20):
job with the community policing. Wehave community service office in every district,
we have a centralized brewer of communityengagement and the city, and I think
Boston's really done a great job asfar as the community policing goes. But
I'd like to bring her for herand her being the first comfort dog,
I really want to focus on thekids, the community, the community meetings,
(05:42):
the schools, working with nonprofits,and that's a big thing too,
the fact that she's the first Andwhat does that mean to you to be
able to train the first comfort dogever on the Boston Police Department. I'm
very grateful for the opportunity. Thedepartment has been very good to me.
I've had a very very good I'veenjoyed working for the department. But it
(06:03):
really is just a it's an honor, and she's making it really easy.
Well that helps you know when you'vegot a good dog. Yeah, well,
a good dog and a good supportcommand staff and everybody who's had any
hand in helping with Copper, Likeit's really more of a team effort.
You know, I'm just the guywho gets to take her home and bring
her around. She's very popular whenevershe comes to visit. Everyone from the
(06:25):
commissioner on down comes out to seeher and check in and has loved watching
her grow because when she came,she wasn't you know, tiny, but
she was certainly a lot smaller thanshe is right now here as she's you
know, she's trying to eat thechair. Well, she's growing into her
vest. I'm sure that you knowshe was a lot smaller at first,
(06:46):
and you know, labs tend togrow pretty quickly, and you know she'll
be a good sized dog when she'sdone. But she sounds like a teddy
bear. They couldn't find a vest. I think at first, right,
Kim subsider, that was fall enoughfor her, And let me tell you
she is. She is buffed outof it right now, the best that
she's in. So we're just fittingher for her VPD patch so that she
can get her uniform ready to gofor when she's ready to get out there.
(07:11):
But you know, the Fishers reallytry to get everyone to understand.
As Tim said, there's a Burekcommunity engagement and there's community service officers and
all of our you know, twelvepolice districts across the city. But it's
every police officer's job to be,you know, part of community policing.
And so you know, we havean ice cream truck and now we have
a comfort dog. When we tryto do things in different ways because we
(07:36):
want to be out there. Youknow, if you're going to have people
trust you and feel like you area partner to them when things are tough,
you want to be out there inthe good times and get to know
them in more positive ways. Andhopefully Copper will help us do that.
And also when there's tough things thathappen, and there may be you know,
(07:56):
kids or else are people that arehaving a tough time sometimes, you
know, spend a little time witha pup can make those things, you
know, a little bit better.It always makes things better. Always,
always. Dog love helps. Ifound Copper by looking at your Instagram.
So where can people learn about Copper? Watch some videos, see some pictures.
(08:16):
Where is she right now? Onsocial media and online? She's on
all of the Boston Police social media. We try to get a weekly updates.
Sometimes we miss that depending on what'sgoing on with her schedule because as
we said, she is very muchin demand. But we are on Twitter,
we are on Facebook, and weare on Instagram, and we also
vpdnews dot Com is our website,and she is a frequent guest on our
(08:41):
VPD news feed. All of thoseupdates are also on there, so folks
want to see pictures and videos andchronicle of her beginnings. They're on there
also for Damed Dogs Labrador for Jocelyn, who actually donated Copper to the city
and so the residence of this throughthe police department. We actually did a
(09:03):
piece with her a couple of monthsback, so folks want to learn more
about her. She's you know,she's a pretty wonderful person and we really
appreciate her great gift to the policedepartment and to the city. Thank you
both so much for the time.I really appreciate it. And good luck
with Copper and the training. Allright, well, thank you so much,
Nicole. It's going to pleasure andthat is the end of the show.
Thanks again so much for joining methis week, and hey, please
(09:26):
have a safe and healthy weekend andjoin me again next week for another edition
of the show. I'm Nicole Davisfrom WBZ news Radio on iHeartRadio
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