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- Marietta Police Patrolman Rob Sury, School Resource Officer for Marietta schools, held his new companion, a Bernedoodle named River who is learning to be the city’s first police therapy dog. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
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- River is a 3-month-old Bernedoodle puppy who eventually will weigh in at about 75 pounds. She’ll be starting obedience school soon. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
Marietta Police Patrolman Rob Sury, School Resource Officer for Marietta schools, held his new companion, a Bernedoodle named River who is learning to be the city’s first police therapy dog. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
MARIETTA — When a Marietta school student is having a really rough day, there’s a new friend in town who might be able to help.
The Marietta Police Department has purchased a working companion for School Resource Officer Patrolman Rob Sury, a Bernedoodle puppy who is literally going to grow into the role of being the city’s first police therapy dog.
A police therapy dog only goes into schools. It doesn’t do other canine police work. The idea is that if a child is struggling with something, introducing them to River can be a big help. Sury, who visits all the Marietta city schools, said River is already replacing him as the first to be greeted on any school visit.
“I’m basically non-existent now,” he joked. “Even with adults, the first thing you hear is ‘Hey, River!’”
River lives with Sury and his family in Waterford. The policeman and his wife have just one daughter still at home, a high school sophomore. That may explain one of his wife’s first comments: “We’ve already raised our family!” Then there’s the two cats. The younger one doesn’t care much for River.
River is a 3-month-old Bernedoodle puppy who eventually will weigh in at about 75 pounds. She’ll be starting obedience school soon. (Photo by Nancy Taylor)
But the puppy is scoring some major points with the humans, at least, as she just completed her 12th day of potty training accident-free. She also gets along well when playing with the Surys’ 3-year-old grandson.
“It’s just like raising a child,” Sury said. “It takes a lot of work. But she is a very, very smart dog.”
River comes from a New Lexington breeder who is also a policeman. She’s from a litter of eight, and all of them are going to be therapy dogs.
Right now, River tends to get a little bit over-excited, Sury said. She’s starting to learn to calm down and quit pulling at her leash. It will be a gradual process. Once she completes obedience school, her training will be complete.
As a School Resource Officer, Sury said, he deals with criminal issues, juvenile charges and behavior problems at all different levels of city schools. Although this is the first therapy dog for Marietta, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has therapy dogs at Fort Frye and Warren schools. Sury thinks they eventually will be a fixture in all school districts because they are of such value in reaching and helping children deal with their issues.
Nancy Taylor can be reached at [email protected]
