Paw and Order: Therapy dogs at Ottawa courthouse provide calm in stressful moments

CTV’s Leah Larocque introduces us to the therapy dogs supporting those at the Ottawa courthouse.

If you enter the Ottawa courthouse, it isn’t uncommon to see a therapy dog there to support those facing some of life’s most challenging moments.

BJ Tycoles runs 161 Elgin dogs, part of Canadian Therapy Dogs Support Services (CTDSS).

“If there is a need and we can help, we’re going to send you in the power of dog,” she says.

There are about a dozen dogs who are often called to help in the Ottawa courthouse. Their roles ranging from visiting with courthouse staff, and attending specialty courts like mental health court, drug treatment court and youth mental health court. Some dogs are present in the courtroom to provide comfort when needed.

Tycoles owns Kaboom, a retired greyhound racing dog, who is now a therapy dog.

“He is very soft, very gentle. But the most important thing is he wants to visit. He’s not visiting because he’s making his mom or his handler happy. He’s visiting because he wants to. And he has the uncanny ability to find somebody in this building that may be a little bit down, a little bit sad, anxious, not happy that they want to be in the courtroom or even in the courthouse.”

Kaboom spends a few days a week in the courthouse, Tycoles says.

“He’s worked with human trafficking. He’s worked with sexual assault victims. So almost any case that comes through here ... He’s seen people at their worst.”

Courthouse CTDSS started with a request from Justice Perkins McVey and now retired defence lawyer Carole-Lynne Saad in 2015 for dogs to assist the participants sitting outside of drug treatment court. The program grew from there and is now active in all areas of the courthouse.

Defence Lawyer Kate Irwin knows how powerful a dog’s presence can be. In a recent trial, she petitioned the court to have a dog as a testimonial aide.

She says dogs can help the witnesses or accused provide better evidence to the court because they are feeling less stressed.

“The anxiety of having to talk about a period of your life, that was probably some of the worst moments of your life, that can be hard on a good day,” Irwin says.

“Because Kaboom is such a big dog and just sort of takes the focus off and it gives (my client) something else to focus on. And that’s something that a dog like he could touch, he could pet, he could hold on to the leash.”

The program is completely run by a group of volunteers that have been vetted by the attorneys general.

Vivianne Byrne takes her golden retriever to visit with court staff. “She comes to the court once a month and she helps with staff,” she says. “She makes people laugh at people coming out of the court. She just makes them smile. She’s known here as the ‘director of happiness.’”

“There’s a lot of stressed people here, obviously…some people don’t come out of the courthouse and people are crying, upset, and she just stays with them,” Byrne says.

“I’ve seen her stay an hour with someone crying. Just doesn’t move, doesn’t talk, no judgment, just there to help exactly what they need.”

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