Court support dogs foundation receives big donation | Local News | rdrnews.com – Roswell Daily Record

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Richard Yeager Photo
Pictured outside the Chaves County Courthouse Thursday are members of the 5th DA Court Facility Dogs Foundation and representatives of Leprino Foods. The business donated $10,000 to the foundation. Left to right are foundation members Shawn Naranjo, Maryann Saenz, Jessica Williams, Laine Martin; Sean Nicholson and Angela Martinez, both of Leprino Foods; and Gina Yeager, Erica Beard and Ramona McDaniels, also with the foundation.

Richard Yeager Photo
Pictured outside the Chaves County Courthouse Thursday are members of the 5th DA Court Facility Dogs Foundation and representatives of Leprino Foods. The business donated $10,000 to the foundation. Left to right are foundation members Shawn Naranjo, Maryann Saenz, Jessica Williams, Laine Martin; Sean Nicholson and Angela Martinez, both of Leprino Foods; and Gina Yeager, Erica Beard and Ramona McDaniels, also with the foundation.
The 5th DA Court Facility Dogs Foundation received a substantial donation from Leprino Foods this week.
The Denver-based producer of cheese and dairy nutrition products, which has a plant in Roswell employing about 600 people, presented the foundation with $10,000. 
The Leprino donation is the biggest single donation the non-profit 501(c)(3) has received. It frequently fundraises to help pay for the needs of the support dogs.
The donation will be used to purchase and help train a puppy to fully assume duties for Beaumont, a black Labrador retriever that will begin reducing his busy work schedule after five years as a support dog for crime victims and witnesses.
“Beaumont is moving to a different form of service at the end of the year,” said Gina Yeager, coordinator of DA Dogs and Beaumont’s handler. Yeager also coordinates area victim services and violence prevention programs.
Beaumont completed the requisite training not long before responding to the Aztec High School shooting in December of 2017, Yeager said.
“This dog hit the ground running,” she said proudly of Beaumont.
These dogs can be brought to places outside of their normal assigned areas but their handlers try not to overwork them, Yeager explained.
Beaumont is one of four dogs that currently participate in the program, which started in 2014 and has had eight service dogs providing comfort and support over the years. 
They accompany victims and witnesses to court proceedings and provide them with support and comfort. The Fifth Judicial District serves residents of Chaves, Lea and Eddy counties.
The work can be difficult for dogs because they have to spend hours in court while lying on the ground and remaining still so they don’t distract from what’s going on in the courtroom, Yeager explained.
Before COVID “the dogs could end up in court a couple of days a week,” she said. “We needed to make sure they had time to recoup, to get out to play and be dogs.”
Court service is the first priority for these animals. But these service animals can also be taken into the community to provide support to crime victims and witnesses. When there have been events that have traumatized youths at area high schools, one or more of these service dogs were brought to campus to aid those students, Yeager explained. 
The dogs have also helped people in the wider region when needed, and not only in Aztec. They have aided people affected by the Clovis-Carver Library mass shooting in August 2017 as well as the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, she noted. 
The Clovis shooting left two people dead and two others injured while the Uvalde shooting resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two adults with 17 others wounded, according to past reports by the Associated Press. 
The area program was inspired by a similar support service provided by Court Appointed Special Advocates, CASA. 
The CASA program pairs therapy dogs with children — who have often been abused or neglected — when they are required to participate in court proceedings. The dogs provide the children with much-needed comfort during that stressful time.
People interested in helping fund the program can send money, toys, blankets or treats specially manufactured in the United States.
The dogs adhere to special diets to help them remain healthy and many dog food manufacturers that produce their products outside of the U.S. can use ingredients that can be unhealthy or even harmful to the dogs. Call 575-626-2422 for details.
Terri Harber can be reached at 575-622-7710, ext. 308 or at [email protected].
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