Health and Wellness K9 Welcomed to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office

The Orange County Sheriff's Office is welcoming a new member to their staff who will provide unique services to the staff.

Meet K9 Yoda, The New Health And Wellness K9 at the Orange County Sheriff's Office

The Orange County Sheriff's Office shared some good news in a press release earlier this week. Usually, a press release from a Sheriff's Office has news about arrests, crime, and murder.

This time, we learned of a new Orange County Sheriff's Office team member. K9 Yoda has been added as the new Health and Wellness Service Dog for the organization.

K9 Yoda and his handler First Sergeant Yela are "uniquely equipped to provide comfort and support to emergency services personnel throughout Orange County."

As we mentioned earlier we usually hear about crime, arrests, and murder in local press releases, which as you can imagine can be very stressful for the personnel working the cases.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office adds that by "simply interacting with Yoda, these dedicated professionals can reduce stress following critical incidents."

K9 Yoda Graduates from Popular Organization

The press release goes on to share that K9 Yoda is a certified Health and Wellness Service Dog who got his start from the "esteemed organization" called Puppies Behind Bars.

K9 Yoda spent 2 years "behind bars" so to speak, being raised and trained by incarcerated individuals who taught Yoda over 50 commands.

First Sergeant Jeremy Yela, who is the K9 Unite Supervisor at the Orange County Sheriff's Office, completed a 2-week training course at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Poughquag, NY.

There, Sergent Yela was "expertly matched by the Puppies Behind Bars staff" with Yoda.

What Is The Puppies Behind Bars Organization?

According to the Puppies Behind Bars website, they are an organization that "trains incarcerated people to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans, first responders, and police departments."

The website goes on to explain that the goal of Puppies Behind Bars is to "rehabilitate people, give them a chance to contribute to society, and build positive relationships."\

READ MORE: Puppies Behind Bars Pairs Dogs with Inmates at Napanoch, NY Prison

So how does it work? At 8 weeks old puppies will enter prison and live with their "puppy-raisers" for about 2 years. While in prison the puppy-raisers learn how to train the dogs with commands and routines as well as day-to-day tasks like feeding them, bringing them out to exercise, and using the bathroom.

On the weekends the puppies take socialization trips with volunteers.

Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon and Napanoch Correctional Facility in Ulster County are both participating Puppies Behind Bars prisons.