C.J. is currently in third place out of nearly 50 entries to become the new face of Bark Brew
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
C.J. (aka Canine C.J.), the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s (RCSD) crisis intervention K-9, is competing for publicity and to raise funds for Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services (PAALS) the K9 program from which C.J. was trained-from-birth and transitioned to RCSD last year.
C.J. is currently in the running to be the official face or “spokesdog” of Bark Brew Beer, a limited small-batch release from Columbia, S.C.-based Columbia Craft Brewing Company.
C.J. has got some stiff competition to become Bark Brew’s new spokesdog. But as of this writing (Monday, a.m.) C.J.’s doing pretty well at 1,150 votes to be Bark Brew’s new spokesdog. Currently, Gulliver, the dog in the lead is at 2,260 votes. Second place Ollie so far has generated 1,597 votes. So C.J. is in third place and closing fast. There are nearly 50 dogs in the running.
Why C.J.? I have a personal interest. C.J. became my “pal” (pun intended) months ago when I was at RCSD headquarters meeting with Chief Maria Yturria in her office. While meeting with Yturria, in ambles C.J., quietly and unobtrusively. He came straight up to me and rested his head on my thigh (I’m sitting in a chair). I rubbed his head. After a minute or so he walked away, but he soon returned and again rested his head on my leg as I talked to the chief. His presence and touch was an inexplicably unusual comfort. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t give it a lot of thought at the time.
I was busy that morning, so I wrapped up my work quickly with Chief Yturria and promptly left the building. But when I got to my car, I kept thinking about my interaction with C.J. – something akin to the energy and indescribable peace one experiences when holding a newborn baby, but different.
When I got on the road, I phoned Yturria and briefly described what I’d felt in her office with C.J. She laughed and said, “Well Tom, that’s what he’s trained to do.”
I had no idea.
Most everyone in law enforcement knows what K-9s do: They track and pursue suspects, locate missing persons, and sniff-out drugs, explosive devices, and electronics (computer hard-drives, cameras, etc.) among other responsibilities. We have about 25 such working dogs at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) here in central South Carolina. But I’d never considered a crisis intervention K-9. I’d heard of them, but I wasn’t really sure what a crisis intervention K-9 was, wrongly believing it was a simple therapy dog.
I knew we had “C.J.,” our crisis intervention dog. I’d met him before, but always in a crowd. The first time I met C.J. was when his handler Allison Farrell, RCSD’s director of wellness and resiliency, was ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of a Walmart in Columbia, S.C. I saw C.J., patted him on the head and that was it. That was of course December 2023.
Trained for two years from his birth in 2021, C.J. came to RCSD from PAALS, which provides various trained service and assistance dogs to agencies, organizations, and individuals.
C.J. joined RCSD in October 2023. Why? “We needed a K-9 who unlike the other dogs was strictly trained and conditioned to support our staff and deputies all the time, and to support the community during a critical incident,” said Farrell, who raised the requisite $5,000 needed to train and bring C.J. into the RCSD family. “He’s always present and he’s a calming presence during all mental health sessions with our deputies.”
How? C.J. senses the anxiety in others and he also responds to “cues” from Farrell, an experienced mental health professional who had to be trained for several weeks to specifically handle C.J.
Military and law-enforcement K-9s like the Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds, and German Shepherds currently working for RCSD are superb animals in their crime-fighting, lifesaving, person-finding roles. But few would have the presence or temperament for the kind of work C.J. does.
THAT and he’s a beautiful solid-black Labrador and Golden retriever mix, the perfect face to be the spokesdog for Bark Brew.
According to his page at PAALS, C.J. says: “I’m a sworn crisis intervention K9 with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Everybody says I’m handsome and kind, but I have a really important job! I spent two years training to help my fellow deputies and community members on their not-so-great days. My handler says my secret power is managing a crisis without relying on my good looks. I’m the total Bark Brew package!”
Sponsors of Bark Brew’s 2024 Spokesdog contest include Cvets, Cool Care, Rob Wilson Photography, Drip, The Baked Bear, Mill Creek Pet Food Center, Mast General Store, Groucho’s Deli, Sunrise Artisan Bath and Body, All Good Books, the Oops Store, Zoomin Groomin, the South Carolina State Museum, Happy Pets Salon and Spa, Soda City Bottle Rockets, and Columbia Craft.
Interesting in supporting PAALS and voting for C.J.? Please visit – gogophotocontest.com.
Voting ends August 31, 2024.
– Photograph by Joye King, RCSD.
