The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office is welcoming a brand-new member to its team – a five-month-old bernedoodle named Strider.
Led by his handler, Deputy Nathan Downey, Strider works as a therapy dog at Thunder Ridge High School in Idaho Falls. Downey has worked with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office for 16 years and currently works as the School Resource Officer, or SRO, at Thunder Ridge High School.
While Downey doesn’t describe himself as a dog lover, he realized that service dogs could help him build bridges with students and staff that he couldn’t do on his own.
“As I started calling SROs around the country and talking to them about their experience, I realized that these canines, these dogs were building bridges between the SRO and the students and also the faculty and staff,” Downey said.
At just 8 weeks old, Strider was put to work at the school. With almost no training at that time, Downey saw that Strider was already making a difference. Downey recalls one instance where Strider helped calm down one high school student who has autism.
“One day I was just here at my desk and his teacher calls me and says, ‘Is Strider available?’ This student was really struggling and having a rough day,” Downey said. “I said, ‘Okay, well, he’s got to go to the bathroom and we’re taking him out right now, but you guys are more welcome to come out with me.’ So, we took him outside and then the student just sat there and petted him for about five minutes. And after that, he stood up and said, ‘Okay, I’m good. I’m going to go back to class now.’”
Now, Strider is five months old and is picking up on training really fast. He’s been learning how to roll over, sit and follow Downey on verbal and hand commands.
Strider is training with ID Elite K9 to eventually receive American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen, as well as other certifications, which could take some time.
“We're going to try to get all those and then get into therapy,” Downey said. “Specific training is the goal and we're thinking it will probably take 12 to 18 months total to get them all certified as much as we want.”
For now, Strider and Downey are preparing to help as many Thunder Ridge High School students and staff as possible.