BOISE, Idaho — This year we introduced you to Clover, the Boise Police Wellness K9. Clover was the first wellness K9 for BPD, and was loved department-wide. Life can be tough though, even for perfect little pups like Clover.
“Clover retired out. She had some lingering anxiety issues from her past abuses, absolutely no fault of her own," said BPD Office Harry Maalouf. "And she did a great job while she was here, but we felt like the facility dog portion of what we were looking to do was just a little bit overwhelming for her, a little more stress than we wanted her to have to live with. So, we retired her out and she's now very happy at home.”
Clover’s handler, BPD officer Harry Maalouf, had the perfect replacement for Clover.
“This is Mr. Cruz. Cruz is our new wellness canine,” Maalouf said, introducing the bright and energetic yellow lab mix, Cruz.
Cruz will work with officers who, sometimes, just need some love or a distraction. He is much different than Clover, a more high-energy dog for sure, Maalouf says.
“So Cruz, basically, he's with me 24 hours a day when we wake up in the morning," Maalouf said. "One thing I say about Cruz is no matter what we did the day before, it's like you hit the reset button right away. The second we get him out of his control, he's running outside. He's ready to eat. He's ready to play. We come in here typically night shift officers are in here typing reports and wrapping up their night. And he comes running down the hall to greet them, usually sliding into a chair and super excited. So they get to show some love and be around him quite a bit.”
Cruz loves love, while we spoke with officer Maalouf, he was cuddling and getting love from superstar photographer, Theresa Palmgren, who multitasked during the interview.
“Everybody loves him because he's just a big goofball. So we knew right away that Cruise was going to stick around with a little bit of training and Clover just transition to home,” Maalouf said.
Cruz on the squad is exciting, but Clover’s retirement comes with an important reminder for us all.
“It played into what we were trying to get out to officers and civilians alike in that you have to be able to help yourself to help other people. And so we felt like for Clover, if the best thing for her was to step down from the full-time position, then that's what we were going to do. And now she's thriving. And a lot less stressed out. Still a great, happy dog. So it worked out,” Maalouf said.
Cruz is about a year and a half now, and he is still learning and training. His older sister Clover gives him some tips at home, and his reception in the field has been great so far.
“And it's a really good tool for us to be able to try to bridge the gap between us and the community and really just humanize officers. It seems to be a perfect icebreaker for us out in the community. So he really serves a couple of different functions,” Maalouf said.
Even during his big interview, Cruz is working…in his special way.
“And what he's doing right now, getting pet is pretty much what he does all day. So it's a cool job for a dog,” Maalouf said.
And Cruz, like his sister Clover, has a real nose for the job.
“When you're going around to very stressful events that are compounding on each other. Sometimes you just need something to break that stress cycle, right? So when you come in here and you see this big goofball barreling down the hall at 85, 90 pounds, almost running into the wall to catch a ball, it kind of breaks you out of that cycle immediately. And even just 5 minutes of interacting with him, there's very rarely that somebody doesn't smile within a few seconds of seeing Cruz. So that's kind of the purpose. It definitely helps lift morale, and it's been a very positive thing.” Maalouf said.
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