Service dog helps them over the ‘ruff’ spots

Marley’s life looked grim when he was three weeks old, left cowering in a box with his mother and four siblings in the middle of the street on Eufaula’s Dorm Hill.

But fate was kind to the male Chocolate Lab mix.

An unidentified lady found the box and rescued the dogs.

She took one of them to the sheriff ’s office, intending to file a complaint against whomever abandoned the dogs.

Eufaula Police Officer Timothy Bryant, who had only recently been appointed School Resource Officer at the middle/ elementary school complex, was at the sheriff ’s office filling out some paperwork when the lady walked in with the puppy.

She couldn’t identify the owner, so she had to decide what to do with the pup.

“I had just gotten done, probably a week earlier, with my schooling for School Resource Officer, and in class they told me about therapy dogs and about kids with disabilities and under stress and having the dogs available at school,” Bryant said.

He thought about it for a moment, then said to the stranger, “Let me take him home for a day or so, if you don’t mind, and if he’s not going to be something I can work with I will bring him back or find a home for him.”

Marley and Bryant never looked back.

He joined a household that had two older dogs, a Siberian Husky about a year and a half old and a 7-year-old Pyredor – a cross between a Pyrenees and a Labrador.

Bryant and his wife, Dianna Fairchilds, brainstormed about a name for Marley.

“I’m from West Monroe, La., so I thought we would name him Monroe,” he said.

But the name didn’t stick.

Instead, they chose Marley, from the 2008 film Marley & Me.

In the movie, Marley was an active, kind hearted dog that was always getting into mischief.

That name stuck.

“We liked the movie, and that dog was just as wild as Marley,” Bryant said.

But, Marley soon became acclimated to his new family and has become a joy.

“I asked (Police Chief David Bryning) about me using Marley as a therapy dog, and the chief said fine,” Bryant said.

Marley, whose name may be used for males or females, is a fast learner.

Trainer Jim Caraway has worked with Bryant, turning Marley into a service dog.

“He’s a really good trainer. He told me in all of years of training he has never seen a dog this young catch on to so much so fast. He has learned really well. He has really caught on,” Bryant said.

The school and students have helped raise funds to offset some of the expenses of training and working with a service dog.

“Elementary kids here put out a bowl and when their parents would come through, they would give their kids money to put in the bowl for donations for him,” Bryant said.

They raised over $700 to help pay vet bills, shots and other expenses.

Plus, Lake Dog pet store helps a lot.

“They provide food, and his pen that I keep him in at school. They gave me that,” he said. “So, I’m getting financial help from the school and Lake Dog.”

Bryant and Marley are rarely apart as he goes through training, which already has reached the advanced level.

“He’s been with me since he was about six weeks old. Ever since then I spend every day with him. He’s a good dog,” Bryant said. “He has really caught on.

“When I put my vest on at home, he knows it’s time to go to work.”

When they arrive at the school, Marley heads straight for Bryant’s office until the door is opened and then he heads for his pen where he waits for his breakfast.

Marley loves the kids, and the kids love him. He’s a sensation when he visits classrooms and when students visit him in Bryan’s office.

There already have been a few instances when Marley has helped calm a student down who was feeling anxious or distraught or having some other emotional crisis.

“They may come into my office, and I’ll let Marley out of his pen and usually after 10 or 15 minutes, everything is OK,” he said.

“Marley has a moose stuffed animal he really loves. The kids will grab it and play with him. It takes their mind off things. He does his job really well.”

Bryant hopes to eventually turn Marley into a dual-purpose dog, to be used for therapy and to sniff lockers for contraband.

“Other than that, I guess he is sort of the school mascot,” he said.

This is Bryant’s first time to train a dog.

“It’s been an experience,” he said. “At first, he tried my patience. You have to really stay consistent. He had to learn who was boss.”

As a school resource officer, Bryant is still a member of the Eufaula Police Department and sometimes works at the department when there is no school.

“I’ve been on the street maybe twice since I started this assignment. When I’m on the street, Marley stays home.”

He isn’t yet trained for police work.

“We’re just trying to get the obedience part down with him,” he said. “Hopefully someday he will be a K9 officer, but I’m not going to try to do anything other than make him a sniff dog and, mostly, a comfort dog for the kids here. That was my ultimate goal.”