HAYS COUNTY, Texas — The Hays County Sheriff's Office officially has a new team member. He's furry, with four legs, and helps out in ruff situations.
Mirko is the sheriff's office's first therapy dog and is part of the Mental Health Unit.
“He's not a drug dog. He's not a bite dog. He doesn't catch bad guys. He's simply here to provide you a little comfort and support,” Deputy Mohammad Zaqzouq, Mirko's handler, said.
Zaqzouq is also part of the Mental Health Unit and said Mirko has been on the job for more than two months. The 5-year-old German Shepherd goes out wherever the community needs support, whether that’s at a hospital, schools or even law enforcement calls for service.
These days, Zaqzouq said the majority of the calls the sheriff's office gets need some kind of assistance from the Mental Health Unit. He said the calls range from dealing with people experiencing drug psychosis, suicide attempts, meltdowns or someone just having a hard time communicating.
“Sometimes they don’t trust talking to us, they don’t feel comfortable talking to us,” Zaqzouq said. “This is a situation where Mirko can come in and be able to, first, interact with them and then break the ice and de-escalate the situation.”
According to Zaqzouq, San Marcos police and Texas State University have their own therapy canines and studies show the presence of a dog can lower blood pressure, cortisol levels, stress and anxiety.
“Dogs have been found to be extremely effective in all these other fields that fairly relate to mental health," Zaqzouq said. “It has been more common that therapy canines are being involved in law enforcement. It has a different approach and it doesn’t hurt to try.”
Zaqzouq said he pitched the idea of Mirko, who he’s had since he was a puppy, to the sheriff's office as the perfect candidate because of his gentle personality.
To become a certified therapy dog, Mirko attended training at the Paws and Stripes College in Florida. Over a week, he learned to obey orders in increasingly distracting scenarios, to make sure he could stay cool in stressful environments.
Zaqzouq said Mirko can look scary at first, but he said people quickly warm up to him. He said that's how he wants people to see law enforcement too.
“This definitely slowly changes people's perspective on what we do on a daily basis,” Zaqzouq said. “It de-escalates a situation so much that there's no reason for someone to get so angry that they start fighting us. There's no reason for us to restrain anybody or do anything of that nature."
Zaqzouq said resources like Mirko can help save lives, and it's already working. The sheriff's office also said they don't bring Mirko into dangerous situations and that he's only brought out when deputies determine the scene to be safe for both the Mental Health Unit and Mirko.