By: Megan Roche

When Denville Police Chief Scott Welsch and his department first began discussing the idea of a station house dog, the vision was simple: Find a dog who could live alongside the officers at police headquarters, provide companionship and offer comfort during some of the more difficult moments of the job.

They didn’t know just how much impact that dog would have.

Mac arrived at the Denville Police Department after a difficult start to life. His previous owner had died, leaving behind several dogs that needed new homes. Mac, the male of the group, was eventually adopted by a family but suffered a devastating accident when he jumped from a back deck and shattered his leg.

Unable to care for his extensive medical needs, the family turned Mac over to Denville Animal Control’s Meredith Petrillo, who took responsibility for his surgery and recovery.

Mac’s road to recovery was anything but easy.

He suffered repeated setbacks, including infections and complications involving the steel plate and screws in his injured leg. Despite those challenges, Meredith continued working with him and gradually introduced him to the Denville Police Department to determine whether he could become the station’s therapy dog.

It turned out Mac was exactly the kind of dog the department had been hoping to find.

“He became one of us,” the chief said.

Mac eventually spent roughly six to eight months living around the clock at police headquarters. Officers and dispatchers helped care for him, creating a shared responsibility that quickly turned into something more.

The dog became part of the department’s family.

Mac was not a traditional police K9. He wasn’t trained to detect narcotics or explosives or track suspects. Instead, his job was to provide comfort, companionship and an opportunity for connection.

That could mean greeting officers when they returned from a difficult call. It could mean giving a child something to focus on while waiting at police headquarters during an investigation. It could mean simply sitting beside someone who needed a little comfort.

The department also had plans to use Mac as an outreach tool, bringing him into schools and community events.

Those plans were already beginning to pay off.

Mac was certified as a therapy dog and began visiting local schools. His visits were particularly popular with young children. The chief recalled bringing Mac into a kindergarten classroom and watching the students immediately gravitate toward him.

Mac’s temperament made those interactions possible. Even with a classroom full of excited kindergarteners surrounding him, he remained calm and tolerant.

That same personality made him valuable inside the police department.

His signature move was extending his paw whenever someone approached him.

“He would put out his paw for you to shake,” the chief recalled.

For a department increasingly aware of the importance of mental health among first responders, Mac offered something that couldn’t always be provided through words.

His presence gave officers a reason to stop, interact and decompress.

The department never had the opportunity to see Mac reach his full potential. Just as the therapy program was beginning to take shape, his health began to decline. An infection led to the discovery that Mac had cancer, and eventually, the difficult decision was made to put him down.

His time with the department was relatively short.

His impact was not.

Mac demonstrated that a therapy dog could serve as both a source of support for officers and a bridge between police and the community. He could help a nervous child feel comfortable. He could bring officers together. And sometimes, simply seeing him was enough to make someone smile.

“He proved that this is a great program,” the chief said.

The department hopes to eventually continue the station dog program, but there are no immediate plans to replace Mac.

Finding the right dog takes time. So does healing from the loss of one.

Mac’s legacy may ultimately be that he proved the idea was worth pursuing.

He showed Denville police officers what a dog could bring to their workplace—and showed the community just how powerful the bond between a police department and its four-legged friend could be.

Mac may have only had a short time with the Denville Police Department.

But, as the chief put it, that time was “very impactful.”