Two-year-old black Lab Cajun helps Alberta children navigate justice system

From police interviews to testifying in court, Alberta children needing to navigate the justice system have one more wagging tail to help them through their journey.

Cajun, a two-year-old black Labrador, is the latest accredited facility dog to take up residency at the Zebra Child Protection Centre in downtown Edmonton.

Since 2002, the centre brings together police, social workers, mental health supports and crown prosecutors in one colourful and child-friendly environment.

“It’s not so scary,” said CEO Emmy Stuebing, noting how it keeps children from needing to go into a police station.

“As you can imagine, the children who come to the Zebra Centre have been through something pretty awful.”

But when one of their facility dogs enter the room, Stuebing says most children relax. Though she notes not every child wants to have a dog present.

Last year the Zebra Centre saw a 35 per cent increase in the number of children needing their services, from 2,844 to 3,844.

Stuebing is optimistic this may be because more people are reporting child abuse and breaking a culture of silence. However she says they are also seeing more complex investigations with internet exploitation.

“There was a case last year, there was just one bad guy, but 100 children were tied to it,” said Stuebing, noting how each of the children had to come in to discuss a suspect asking for photos online.

Cajun, along with the other facility dogs Fletcher and Captain, are all trained by Dogs With Wings (DWW). While they breed and train guide dogs and autism service dogs, CEO Miranda Jordan-Smith says it takes a special calm temperament to be with children at the Zebra Centre.

“I think it’s astonishing what the power of the human-animal bond will do,” said Jordan-Smith.

Cajun knows more than 250 skills and 60 commands. Jordan-Smith says he’s also the first of their dogs born during the pandemic. That means he went through all of his training online through Zoom – with his at-home handler helping.

“Training was navigated online, so it’s interesting to see how the dogs born two years ago placed.”

Jordan-Smith says Cajun is proof that although it was different, they made it work.

In the last seven years the Zebra Centre has had facility dogs, they’ve noticed the impact on the children coming through their doors. The group says sometimes a child may choose to disclose to the dog, rather than an investigator or social worker, what happened to them.

“Our number one goal is that they can carry on through life in a good way,” said Stuebing. “Hopefully heal some of that trauma, so they aren’t carrying their trauma in a major way through their lifetime.”