The comfort K9 unit of Notre Dame Police Department (NDPD) is made up of Órla, a red fox Lab, and Finn, a golden blonde Lab. Their job entails walking around campus, attending events and responding to calls from students in need.
Órla’s handler is Paul Foley, the outreach, engagement and social media manager for NDPD. Foley shared that Órla spends almost all of her time with him, working alongside him while also living with him.
Finn splits his time between working and living with officers Evan Drinkall and Stephanie Palmer.
Both dogs are two years old and were bred and trained by Top Notch Service Dogs in Elkhart, Indiana.
Describing how the dogs’ training was catered to the work they would be doing, Foley said, “They need to be able to not be distracted by noises, being with the police department, there are sirens and things like that … A lot of their training is making sure they know how to be a good comfort dog, and knowing when someone may need that comfort, because they have that instinct of ‘You look sad,’ or ‘I can tell or sense that you are not feeling well.’”
Foley said that while it’s easy to think of Órla and Finn as Notre Dame campus pets, “Our main goal is actually to answer any calls of distress, maybe some sort of mental distress.”
Explaining the dogs’ role in responding to students in crisis, Drinkall said, “At least in the few anxiety or mental health calls that I have been on with, Finn is almost an outlet for the students … If I have difficult questions to ask or a conversation that needs to happen, but is not exactly a fun one, they are more open to speaking with Finn than they are to me, and it aids them, but also helps us out in our job to make sure that we check all of our boxes.”
Foley estimates that the dogs spend 50% of their time walking around campus, 40% of their time at scheduled events and 10% of their time responding to calls.
Foley said he thinks the University brought on the comfort K9s in an effort to reduce the number of people trying to pet the working Vapor Wake dogs, whose job is to detect explosives.
“Both dogs have been well received, [but] I do not think the campus really knows about them still,” Foley said, noting that each dog can be scheduled by emailing NDPD to visit residence halls, organizations and community members.
Freshman Clara Lawrence reflected upon seeing the dogs around campus. “I think it is good to have more than just the bomb sniffing dogs … I know for my dad, he ran into the bomb sniffing dogs, and he was very sad that he could not say hi to them because he loves dogs, so it might almost be harder for students to see them and not be able to give them attention. It is good that Órla and Finn are there to take that place,” Lawrence said.
Katie Finn, a senior at Notre Dame, expressed appreciation for the dogs’ presence on campus. “I mean, every time I see them, I stop to pet them, even if I’m in a rush to get somewhere, it’s like, automatically I have time to pet them, and I think I see that in a lot of other students as well,” Finn said.
She shared that during her first two years of college, she struggled being away from her dogs, grieving the loss of a dog and then having to leave a new dog behind when she came back to school. She now books the dogs to come visit her dorm, Pasquerilla East Hall, and enjoys seeing them in the dining hall.
In terms of upcoming events, Órla will be at Puppy Yoga today on South Quad and at the substance free tailgate on Saturday.
