By Heidi Dahms Foster

Prescott Valley Police officers and community crime victims now have a comforter. She comes in a warm, energetic body with big brown eyes and a big personality.

Mali is a Belgian Malinois who came to Prescott Valley Animal Control as a stray. She was not microchipped and for months, no one claimed her. Prescott Valley has a holding kennel for strays, and while Mali was in residence, she quickly began to win the hearts of officers and staff alike.

“I was responding to a barking complaint, and Mali just ran up,” said Animal Services Supervisor Tim Yogerst. “She interrupted the complaint. She wanted to go along with me. It was kind of strange, that’s the first time a dog has come up like, ‘Hey, I’m loose!’ She jumped in the front seat of my truck – that’s where she decided she needed to be. We posted her but no one came to get her.”

Prescott Valley Police Administrative Specialist Amy Stone said the department had begun looking into a therapy dog two years ago, and will join Prescott and Chino PDs as area agencies reaping the benefits of these animals. Mali has already started to make an impact at the Prescott Valley PD. “We researched and found how beneficial the dogs are for officers to have breaks from the mental state they go through coming from a bad scene. The dog can help them work through those emotions, so they don’t them home,” Stone said.

The approximately one-and-a-half-year-old Mali worked her therapy magic even before she officially joined the police department. During one police incident in which an officer spent an entire day at a particularly harrowing scene, he returned to the station and saw Mali in the kennels. He entered and spent nearly a half hour with her, and she was more than willing to offer her calm personality to soothe him.

Mali has shown she has an uncanny ability to single out the person in a room that is dealing with stress or emotions and will go right to that person. At one time, four officers were in the report writing area, Lemons said, and it was known one of them was going through a tough time. “Mali went right to him and would not leave his side. She sat there and was glued to him. She knows your personality and she gets the vibes from each person and just melts into them. She’s such a good girl.”

“It seems like she knows when people are not having good day,” Yogerst said. “She’ll go through a crowd just to that person. When I come in and I’m having a hard day, she comes over and puts her head on my lap, or nudges my elbow. She makes you stop working, like she’s saying, ‘It’s time to stop,” Yogerst said.

Several officers were interested in adopting Mali, but she found her home with Animal Services Officer Sarah Lemons, who is now in training with Debbie Lipely at Pawsitively Awesome Dog Training, who also works with Chino Valley PD’s therapy dog.

“Sarah’s doing a good job with Mali,” Yogerst said. “She takes her to training, and you can tell Sarah is Mali’s human. Wherever Sarah goes Mali goes.”

In fact, it was Lemons’ five-year-old who named the dog because he couldn’t pronounce “Malinois.”

Malinois are known for their high play drive and usually are not recommended as household pets. Lemons said Mali definitely has over-the-top energy, loving to play ball with her kids, but in the station, she is calm, laying on her bed in Lemons’ office. The officer who interacted with Mali in the kennels, familiar with the department’s K9s, later called Lemons and told her this dog was special, and spending time with her was the best way to decompress after the difficult call.

Because Lemons often responds to animal services calls, Mali has an assistant handler in the department in Police Specialist Kaycee Graber, who is more than thrilled to spend time with her. “If I’m on calls and I don’t know how long it will be, Mali hangs out with ‘Aunt Kaycee’ in her office,” Lemons said.

The young Mali has a lot of training ahead of her, so for now she spends a lot of time at the police department and with Lemons’ family and at places where she meets people and gains new experiences. “She’s in her element at home around my kids, and she absolutely loves my husband. She curls on the couch with him until he gets up and then she follows him around,” Lemons said.

The Prescott Valley Police Department is grateful to Olsen’s Grain, which is donating Mali’s food. The department appreciates any donations that will help with her training and any equipment she needs. Donations may be sent or brought to the Prescott Valley Police Department, 7601 E. Skoog Blvd., Prescott Valley, AZ 86314. Please designate your donation for “Mali.”