Zebra Centre welcomes 2 new dogs to therapy program to help ‘bolster kids courage’

Therapy dogs Moose (left) and Zeppelin (right) join Captain (middle) at the Zebra Centre in Edmonton to help comfort kids experiencing abuse on Jan. 30, 2025. (Miriam Valdes-Carletti, CTV Edmonton).

Two furry new members are joining the Zebra Centre’s specialized multidisciplinary team to help provide kids with comfort and support.

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Each year, the Zebra Centre facility dogs help support hundreds of youth and children who experience abuse. Two-year-old golden retrievers Moose and Zeppelin will be joining resident dog, six-year-old Captain, to help with this mission.

The dogs are brought in to help support kids when they attend court and during interviews with police.

“We see a huge relief (from kids). Sometimes they’ll express it verbally or just their body language alone,” said Stephanie Franks, director of child and youth supports at the centre.

“These guys can provide a comfort and non-judgemental approach that us as humans just can’t do.”

Franks says having the dogs is essential as the centre supported over 600 kids with the furry friends last year. The centre says there’s often even a waitlist because of the high demand. Having three dogs in the roster will help ease some of that burden.

“Right now (Captain) is in high demand. He’s probably in court at least three times a week but soon enough all three will be going,” Franks said.

Moose and Zeppelin have been training since birth with Dogs with Wings and the Lions Foundation of Canada. Franks says while they can do meet and greets, they’re not quite ready to attend interviews yet as less distraction needs to happen.

“Once they’ve mastered that in the interviews, they’re able to sit for a long period of time, stay quiet, then they’ll move into the court house.”

Zebra Centre CEO Emmy Stuebing says the comfort these dogs give can even help get information to help solve cases.

“Sometimes having an animal in the room either helps bolster their courage or it might be the only creature the child wants to speak to,” Stuebing said on Thursday.

“Sometimes they don’t want to talk to anybody, but if there’s a dog there, they might disclose what happened to the dog and that has happened in the past.”

The work is also rewarding for the dogs.

“Zeppelin doesn’t want to leave here at the end of the day, so when his home handler comes, it’s like we need to use treats to get him to leave which is always a good thing,” Franks said.