Tail wags and sloppy kisses have been valuable tools for first responders and victims alike over the years thanks to the Puppies Behind Bars program.
The newest PBB member in the state is Meriden police Officer Stephanie Masella and her 1-year and 8-month-old, 74-pound golden lab, John. Masella and her four-legged-partner have wasted no time spreading love throughout Meriden in the past few weeks.
Masella said she went through a life-changing experience during his 16-day training in the Puppies Behind Bars program. She and John graduated from the program on July 29 at maximum security prison, Green Haven, in Stormville, New York.
John was the first-ever PBB dog trained in the maximum security prison of Green Haven correctional facility and the 15th PBB dog in the state. He was trained behind bars for a year and a half. Masella said his main trainer was an inmate named Jason. Masella was one of five graduates late last month and the only duo from Connecticut in this class.
"I was in prison every day and it was a wild experience," Masella said. "I have to say. We were together for a long time, and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. By the end of our training, we all looked at each other and cried. It was hard for us to leave these people. They wanted to do better things with their lives and a lot of tears were shed."
Masella and John are now hard at working trying to make a difference.
"It bridges the gap in the community," Masella said. "He's approachable - just an amazing dog. He does amazing things. He loves everyone. Many in the community may think of police as just people who arrest people. Our job is so much more than that. This helps in that conversation. We are here to help you. This is a way to show us in a different light. We are more than people that just make arrests."
The duo has already visited two funerals in the city to provide emotional support to those in need.
"As a health and wellness service dog, John's role is to offer emotional support and stress relief to those in need," Masella said. "When this opportunity came up, I jumped at it because it's something I'm passionate about. I love dogs and to have a dog come into the department to bridge the gap between the officers and the community is great."
Masella said Puppies Behind Bars has an in-depth process for getting approved.
"Incarcerated individuals train the dogs, then they train us and then give us the dogs," Masella said. "It's their way of giving back and it's a humanizing experience and a comfort for them. Many of them have been in prison for a long time and haven't seen a dog in 20-plus years. This program has inspired them to be their best to train the dog and then they give the dogs to us."
"It's a win-win in both ways," she added. "They train the dogs for us and then they train us. They go into it with not the best outlook of law enforcement, and we are learning that they are human too.This breaks down walls. They are inside prison where they are so guarded, and they let their guard down for us. We let our guard down for them."
The incarcerated individuals have the dog at eight weeks old and had John for a year and a half. The dogs learn 60 commands.
"They put a lot of time into these dogs," Masella said. "They bond with them, and they love them then they have to let them go to us...This facility had some of the most dangerous men and many were in for murder. After all of this time, they want to be better and want to do better and, in this program, they have done an amazing job."
John lives with Masella and is at the Police Department every day and she said his goal is to make everyone smile and give officers love.
"He can facilitate tragedies and traumatic incidents and also offers emotional support to us," Masella said. "He helps in so many ways."
Masella said one of the funerals she and John have already attended involved homicide death.
"He's there to help with wellness and emotional support of the officers as well," Masella said. "He acts as a service dog. He's there to help anyone. He can sense who needs him. He will gravitate towards the officer that needs the most. The next think you know they are rolling on the ground together. It's amazing. There's a lot of trauma and tragedy in this job and John is a great way to cope with that."
Out of the July 29 graduating class, three went to New York and one went to Michigan.
"This is a huge step for us in Meriden," Masella said. "We never had anything like this and it's a pretty huge breakthrough for us."
Masella, 35, has been serving in Meriden for four years and prior to that was a police dispatcher in Orange and her hometown of Cheshire.
Naugatuck Sgt. Danielle Durette has been with his department for seven years and the last four years has had his police dog Indy.
She graduated from Puppies Behind Bars remotely in 2020 amid the COVID pandemic.
"We applied as a department because we were interested in the mental health and wellness that the dog could provide to our officers and the community. We did two weeks of training, and we hit the ground running," Durette said.
Durette and Indy were the third PBB duo in the state at the time.
"That first year we were going all over the state," Durette said. "It was such a new program, and we wanted to help as many first responders as we could as they responded to traumatic calls."
Durette said having Indy around gives officers and everyone around him a chance to mellow out. She said they have attended many of the funerals of fallen officers in recent years.
"Indy is the favorite thing I do - coming into work every day," Durette said. "He comes in and puts a smile on everyone's face. He knows when its time to go to work. He wants to be there. His tail is wagging."
Durette said Indy, a five-year-old black lab, also senses which person needs the most attention.
"There is a stigma of being tough and being OK," she added. "We see everyone's worst day and you are filling up with 20 years of everyone's worst day over your career and it affects you. Officer suicide is one of the highest among all professions. Having the digs is a symbol of trying to change that narrative. We want to do better for our officers."
"After a tough call it's good to get that extra ray of sunshine and that is Indy."
"Dogs are smart," she said. "They are in tune to our stress levels and gravitate to us for a reason.
Durette said the community can follow Indy's travels at K9Indy_ on Instagram.
Middletown Officer Jay Bodell has been working with his PBB dog Bear, a black lab, for more than three years.
Bodell is the community and media relations officer for the department at the time Ind, was one of the first PBB dogs in the state.
"This is so helpful for officer wellness and peer support and that has been the bulk of Bear's job over the last three years," Bodell said. "I'm in the building a lot and when I'm here he's off the leash and roaming around the three floors of the building. You take five minutes to play fetch or tug-of-war with the dog and its certainly a distraction and its scientifically proven to have lower anxiety when you have an animal around. He lowers stress."
Bodell has traveled throughout the state and out of state for training and peer support and stress management programs.
Bodell said Bear really shines when people need him the most and is an aid to comfort mourning families, friends and colleagues.
"We go wherever we are asked to go," Bodell said.
Like the Naugatuck duo, Bodell's PBB training was virtual, due to the COVID pandemic.
"I didn't go into the prison in person, but we had a large screen in the training center, and I interacted with the trainers and learned every command," Bodell said. "The dogs have been thought 18 months of rigorous training before we met them. They are told when to go to the bathroom and we work them out one hour a day."
Bodell has been a police officer for 16 years. His first 11 years were with Cheshire, and he has been in Middletown since 2018.
Bodell said he can't have any direct contact with the incarcerated trainers in the PBB program but are allowed to send photos and other material to Puppies Behind Bars. Bodell said Bear has an Instagram page and the inmates can be shown pictures from the social media platform.
"I have been on the force for 16 years and 14 years in the military and I went into this program with a mentality that I was going into the program with a bunch of prisoners," Bodell said. "But after my experience I realized a lot of individuals in this program made one bad choice and I don't think they are bad people...Now they are giving back to police officers and veterans. They are with the dogs every second of their day and put in a lot effort and eventually give the dogs to us. They are saving lives from behind bars, and I think that's pretty amazing."