by Lauren Cavagnolo
Photographs courtesy of the Owasso Fire Department
He doesn’t have the spots of a traditional Dalmatian firehouse dog, but he can stop, drop, and roll.
Fahren (short for Fahrenheit) is a Goldendoodle that Anthem Service Dogs donated to the Owasso Fire Department. He accompanies Assistant Chief Arami Goldstein to work each day, serving as a therapy dog to community members and firefighters.
Goldstein, who has been with the Owasso Fire Department since 2011, previously worked at Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) with Kate Friedl, cofounder and executive director of Anthem Service Dogs. They stayed in touch through social media, and that is how Friedl ended up bringing dogs to the station for training to help acclimate them to loud noises and flashing lights.
“I saw her walking around with the dogs and how much joy they brought everybody,” Goldstein shared. “We go through a lot of stressful times. Some of it is very obvious, whether it is a traumatic call that we run or a small child that is in severe distress. There are a lot of things that go on in people’s personal lives that nobody knows anything about. You really never know what struggles people are having.” Knowing the positive impact a therapy dog could have in her line of work, Goldstein approached Friedl about getting a dog for the fire department.
Anthem’s focus has been on placing service dogs with individuals, and the partnership with Goldstein and the Owasso Fire Department is a test case.
“Arami has introduced an opportunity to add therapy to our types of working dogs we can provide. We are partnered with her as a test phase of assisting businesses in training their own facility therapy dogs,” Friedl explained. “We have had dozens of requests the past few years for office dogs at different types of facilities to provide a calm, happy presence to a workforce of employees.”
After multiple litters and almost 20 dogs were tested, Fahren was the lucky one selected by the breeder to be donated to Anthem.
“The fire department doesn’t technically own him, Anthem does, and Anthem donates all of the training for Fahren — or mainly for me. I’m the one that gets trained,” laughed Goldstein.
At just over six months old, Fahren is
still in the early stages of his training. It will take about two years to get him fully trained, according to Friedl.
“Fahren is going through basic obedience right now, learning things like walking on a loose leash, not barking, basic commands like sit, down, stay, recall, and socializing in public spaces. He will work his way up the ladder, and the goal will be to pass a Canine Good Citizen exam, public access exam, and Alliance of Therapy Dogs exam,” Friedl explained. “It is a tedious training process that takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months to master. A maturing puppy is probably the hardest phase!”
Goldstein said trying to get Fahren acclimated to the fire department has been a lot of work but is critical because of the dangers posed by fire trucks.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster; I’m not going to lie. The first month, it was superfun (because he is a puppy) for everyone but me. I’m the one running after the pees and poos. I’m trying to focus on my work but also, ‘Where’s he going?,’ ‘What’s he doing?,’ ‘What’s he eating?,’” Goldstein explained. “He has to obey. If he doesn’t, he could run in front of a truck, he could run into traffic. We have to make sure he is good with people because we have visitors all the time.”
Goldstein said the support from Anthem throughout the training process has been invaluable.
“It’s been a lot more work than I initially expected, but Anthem has been awesome,” Goldstein continued. “Every single time I
say, ‘This is the problem I’m having; what can I do?,’ they always have a fix for it.… There is so much that goes into it that you wouldn’t even think about.”
Fahren joins Goldstein at the fire station five days a week and interacts with 15 to 20 people a day. In addition to his presence at the station, Fahren will make public appearances such as school visits and city hall meetings. But it is not just members of the public who are benefiting from his presence. Goldstein said Fahren recently joined a group of firefighters during a test to potentially promote some firefighters to lieutenants.
“There were 16 of them in the room, and it is obviously nerve-racking. They were about to take a 100-question test, and he was in there with them. Everyone was like, ‘Is he in here to comfort us and calm us down?’ and I was like ‘Yes, definitely, that’s what he is here for!’” Goldstein exclaimed.
“He walked around between all 16 of them, and he would curl up at their feet for a little while before the test started. Everyone was kind of loving on him, and you could see the stress of the room calm down. It was neat to see the project actually doing what it is supposed to do.”
Friedl explained, “We live in an age of people feeling extremely anxious in social situations that may be related to mental or physical trauma. Dogs can bring both mental and physical assistance. For most people, interacting with a therapy dog releases serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine, which are our brain’s ‘feel-good’ hormones. This has a significant calming effect for humans before, during, or after a stressful event.”
Since the Owasso Fire Department has added Fahren, Jenks Fire Department has inquired if it can do the same, which is “pretty exciting,” Goldstein said. “I hope it catches on.”
