WATCH: Melbourne Fire Department Introduces Therapy Dog to Support Firefighter Mental Health

Rigs the Therapy Dog Brings Comfort and Calm to Melbourne Fire Stations

ABOVE VIDEO: The Melbourne Fire Department’s first therapy dog, Rigs, was officially welcomed to the team.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – During the December 12 Service and Achievement Ceremony, the Melbourne Fire Department’s first therapy dog, Rigs, was officially welcomed to the team and was celebrated along with firefighters who received promotions and awards.

Rigs is the newest member of the Melbourne Fire Department’s Peer Support Team, a group of trained firefighters who provide peer-to-peer counseling and support to help their colleagues cope with the many complex and tragic incidents they respond to regularly.

Over the past few years, Melbourne Fire’s Peer Support Team has been working hard to grow and expand the ways it can help its fellow firefighters.

The addition of a therapy dog is part of the effort to ease stress and increase comfort with the peer-support process, especially for those who find it difficult to admit when they are having trouble and need help.

“A dog helps lighten the mood and also helps break the ice after a bad call,” said Lieutenant Kayla Burri, one of the leaders of Melbourne Fire’s Peer Support Team, who was instrumental in bringing Rigs to the department.

Therapy dogs also have a unique ability to sense elevated levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, which may indicate that someone is silently struggling.

“Rigs will walk around to everyone in the group and naturally spend more time with some people,” Lieutenant Burri said.

“Doing so allows everyone to have the opportunity to pet him or reach out. This reduces people’s stress hormone and increases their feel-good hormone, oxytocin. This can help the Peer Support Team recognize behaviors and stress levels, beyond what someone might say out loud. “He makes our job easier while also helping us do our jobs better,” she said.

Lieutenant Burri researched the benefits therapy dogs have brought to the fire service and sought the right dog to complement the Melbourne team best.

She found Rigs through a Tampa rescue organization, TheDoodPack, last spring. Since then, they have invested hundreds of hours in training over the previous six months and completed several training sessions to prepare for the role as a fire K9.

Rigs is now a nationally recognized therapy dog with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and a member of the Melbourne Fire Department’s Peer Support team.

Rigs will continue his training, which includes going to and from work with his handler, Lieutenant Burri, attending peer support deployments, and soaking up all the love from his brothers and sisters. Being a station dog will also allow him to make an impact every day, boosting morale, fostering a calm atmosphere, and lowering stress in day-to-day situations.

Plans include becoming Animal Crisis Response Certified, which will consist of a six-week class that will not only allow the pair to be deployed to statewide incidents but will also refine their training and support in processing traumatic events for their families right here in Melbourne.

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