Hawk : Trauma dog in a Calgary court a Canadian first

A trauma dog helped an alleged sexual assault victim as the young girl testified in a criminal trial — a Canadian first seen in a Calgary courtroom Tuesday.

The seven-year-old’s father is charged with sexual assault with a weapon and forcible confinement involving the child and his wife.

He is a gentle and calming companion and his handler says he has a sixth sense when it comes to nosing out those who need him.

“I haven’t figured that out yet, he does it differently with different people,” said Sgt. Brent Hutt. “He snuggles in when people are really emotional, it’s almost like he knows, like he moves in.”

Hutt says Hawk is steady as a rock and not much rattles him.
“He is extremely low energy. He loves people and nothing fazes him,” said Hutt. “There can be noises and bangs, people can be crying and screaming, some kids getting aggressive when they’re petting him, doesn’t faze him.”

Hawk has helped out in all kinds of cases and situations.

“We’ve been in schools where they’ve lost parents or lost students. Done lockdowns, which has been scary for the kids, to homicides, to traffic fatalities and natural cause deaths,” said Hutt. “There’s been situations that I’ve been in where we’ve entered rooms with people he knows and in that room are people that have been impacted by an event and he goes straight to that person which is really interesting.”

Hutt says Hawk is a natural and his temperament makes him the right dog for the job.

Agencies/Canadajournal