First courthouse facility dog for Circuit 6 offers comfort, support for children

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A new, and furry, face in the Circuit Six courthouse is helping make children feel a little more comfortable in the courtroom.

Polar is the first official courthouse facility dog for both the Circuit Six court and Hero To A Child, offering comfort and support in what can be an otherwise intimidating setting.

“My biggest job for him is, actually, I’m his chauffeur,” said Tammie McQueeney, program coordinator and dog handler for Hero To A Child. “I make sure he gets to where he needs to be and that he’s taken care of appropriately.”

Together, they make a pretty formidable team.

“He has these trading cards, which is the front side of the big picture that you just took,” says McQueeney. “But the kids get these when they meet him.”

Polar isn’t just any ordinary dog.

“His job is to provide emotional support to children who have to go through such things as medical examinations, forensic interviews and — God forbid — they have to sit in the courthouse across from maybe their abuser and testify,” said McQueeney. “He’s there to provide emotional support for those children and impact is immediate.”

The training both Polar and McQueeney went through is quite extensive. He was trained by a professional puppy raiser for the first year and a half of his life. Polar also took part in Duke University’s canine cognition program.

“They teach him the basics,” she said. “They give him exposure to pretty much as much as they can in the world around him because, obviously, these dogs have to be bombproof. So the more they do, the better they are. And then in a year and a half, they go back to an official Canine Companions campus where they have six months of formal, in-depth service dog training.”

McQueeney and Polar graduated from the program in November. Though still fresh to his new role, the impact Polar has had, McQueeney said, has been immediate.

“He knows who needs him most. Whoever in the room seems to be carrying the most stress at that point in time, he will go straight to them and just lay down and put his head on their lap, and hang out and let them pet him and make them feel better.”

Being the first of his kind, Polar may pave the way for other aspiring canines to join him in the future.

“We have so many requests and so much community support that one team can’t handle it all,” McQueeney said. “So we could, potentially, bring in another handler and dog and serve even more children because both Pinellas and Pasco counties are pretty big. And there’s a lot of kids that need his help.”

It’s all helping provide comfort with a wag of the tail and one big smile.

McQueeney said Polar works solely on donations and community partnerships. Learn more about supporting Polar and his work.