Medicine Hat Police Service's new facility dog, Athena (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Teagan Rasche

DWW Athena

MHPS adds another four-legged friend to Facility Dog Program

Apr 7, 2022 | 3:23 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – There’s a new furry face at the Medicine Hat Police Service.

Athena, a 23-month-old golden Labrador retriever, is joining Mulder as MHPS’s second facility dog.

Athena comes from Dogs With Wings, a non-profit organization that is accredited by Assistance Dogs International (ADI), providing the highest training certification for facility dogs across the world.

Once fully trained, the dogs are valued at $40,000 but are gifted to organizations, like MHPS, for only $1.

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Athena has spent the last two years doing extensive training and is now ready to work. Her role is to offer support to members of the community and she’s also able to attend court with children who have to testify.

One of Athena’s handlers and Victims Assistance Navigations Specialist, Carrie Stober says they started the process of getting another facility dog three years ago.

“We have witnessed firsthand the difference that Mulder makes in the lives of the community that we deal with,” Stober says. “We expect so much from our facility dogs that poor old Mulder wasn’t able to quite keep up with the demand and we were having to decline a lot of requests from people. So we knew at that time it was time to bring in a second one.”

If you happen to come across Mulder or Athena in the community, the handlers request that you ask permission before petting them.